Tankopedia
InterwarLightLight TankFrance

Hotchkiss H35 / H39

In service 1936 - 1945

The French cavalry light tank so well armoured the Germans kept using it for five more years.

Built byHotchkiss et Cie

Hotchkiss H35 / H39
Hotchkiss H35, Narvik — Bene Riobó, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Development history

Cast in curved sections, the Hotchkiss carried armour a light tank had no right to and moved briskly once the H39 got the 120 hp engine. Its flaws were French standard: a one-man turret leaving the commander to aim, load and lead, and the short SA18 gun on most vehicles. Hundreds of captured H35s and H39s went on to serve the Wehrmacht as garrison tanks, self-propelled gun carriers and anti-partisan vehicles in France, the Balkans and Norway, and a few fought for the Free French in 1944-45.

Variants

One canonical record, 4 recorded variants.

  1. H35

    1936

    75 hp engine, short 37 mm SA18

  2. H39

    1939

    120 hp engine, raised rear deck, some with SA38 gun

  3. Panzerkampfwagen 38H 735(f)

    1940

    German service, cupola replaced by hatch

  4. 7.5 cm PaK 40 auf Hotchkiss

    1942

    German self-propelled anti-tank conversion

Notable actions

  • Battle of France (1940)
  • Balkan anti-partisan operations
  • Liberation of France (1944)