FCM-36

French Army Light Tank 1939

Char Legere FCM-36

Designed and built by the Forges et Chanterie de la Mediteranee (FCM), the Char Legere FCM 36 was in many ways ahead of its time.  While the majority of other tanks in production around the world were of either riveted or cast construction, the FCM 36 was of welded construction. The FCM 36 was also unusual for its diesel power plant (most tanks of the day were petrol driven), and its well-sloped 40mm thick armour.

While the FCM 36 incorporated these unique and highly advanced design features, the bad news was that the vehicle was designed to follow the French Army's requirement for a two-man light tank for infantry support.  The FCM 36 therefore lacked a radio (French tanks of the period still depended upon signal flags!), and was armed with the same obsolete Puteaux 37mm 18SA "trench gun" originally found on the WW1-vintage Char Legere Renault FT-17! The one-man turret layout, lack of radio, and weak armament was to hamper the FCM 36s combat performance against the German panzers once the invasion of May, 1940 started.

Adding insult to injury, the FCM company demanded a steep per-unit price for the new vehicle, so high that the French Army only purchased 100 total vehicles.  The new tanks were deployed into two independent tank formations, the 4th and 7th BCC (Battalions Chars de Combat), and were assigned to the French 2nd Army defending Sedan and the Meuse River near the Ardennes.  The FCM 36 crews fought with stubborn courage, but were unable to stem the German breach at Sedan.  France would fall less than six weeks later.

Approximately 50 FCM 36s were captured by the victorious Germans, and the vehicles languished for several years in storage, until 1944 when Alfred Becker, the son of a wealthy German industrial family and an officer stationed in Paris, began to systematically convert numerous captured French tanks and vehicles to more useful roles such as self-propelled anti-tank and artillery vehicles.  The FCM 36 was no exception; ten were converted to "Marder" style anti-tank vehicles mounting the standard German 7.5 cm PAK40 gun.  These new vehicles were designated 7.5cm PAK40(Sf) auf Geschutzwagen FCM(f), and were also known more generically as Marder I. 

These FCM 36 Marder conversions had a crew of three, and carried an MG34 light machine gun for anti-personnel defense.  The open-topped fighting compartment averaged a mere 10mm of protection, compared to the 40mm frontal armour of the original French chassis.   The excess weight of the new superstructure and armament made this Marder conversion slow and underpowered. 

Additional FCM 36 were converted to self-propelled artillery with 10.5 cm leFH 16/18 howitzers.  All served as part of Sturmgeschutz Abteilung 200 within the 21st Panzer Division during the Allied invasion of Normandy.  All were subsequently lost in the intense fighting in the weeks that followed the D-Day landings. 

AC-34 FCM-36 6 piece kit .............................................$12.50

AC-35 Marder I 13 piece kit..........................................$15.00

This page created 09/18/03  Modified 09/18/03  © Reviresco 2003