Tank Chats #28 Char B-1 Bis | The Tank Museum

In its day the Char B was regarded as one of the most powerful tanks in the world, yet still had many features which harked back to the First World War. The Char B was issued to tank battalions in armoured divisions and saw extensive combat in the summer of 1940, during the start of WW2.

This particular tank was captured by the Germans and used on Jersey during the occupation.

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[TheSonOfDumb]

I love how Mr. Fletcher praises and puts down tanks at the same time.

[AceTheMM]

This thing was a beast! One survived 130+ hits!

[Autechltd]

38 thousand years later:
Random Techpriest: This. Is. *Perfect* !!!

[ButtheadHghh]

David Fletcher is so great to listen to

[thethirdman]

Really highlights the performance of Lt Pierre Billotte at the Battle of Stonne. He would have had a phenomenal amount of work to do as tank commander, not only loading and firing but training the gun and communicating with the driver.

[alanpassat]

I had a book on tanks as a kid. I used to try and draw the tanks I saw in the book. I remember drawing this one and felt that gun in the front was cool.

[JoeDurobot]

*Yes! More of this man talking about ANYTHING please!*
*Always a joy to see the Tank Musuem uploading more videos.*

[The_elite_soldier]

The char b1 bis is my most favorite tank and im a big fan of it i never knew that it was that big and its huge

[dylanmilne]

The Germans actually managed to capture quite a number, 161 in fact. Some B-1's were used as training tanks, many were used in secondary tank units such as those on the channel island and in units which policed France and surprisingly the majority were sent all the way to the eastern front to see combat. On the eastern front they were used to aid pioneers in attacking fortifications in operation Barbarossa, sixty of those being flamethrower tanks and 16 being self propelled guns using 10.5cm howitzers.

A few of the B-1 Bis used as secondaries to police and defend France were re-captured by free french forces and pushed all the way into Germany as was the original design of the tank.

Additional to note is how 5 men were often used in the tank. Command tanks had a second radio operator assigned to the tank but he normally helped load the commander's gun. In regular tanks there were two engineers on each team of B-1 crew and it is reported that one would normally join them in combat to assist loading. Combat reports also suggest the regular loader helped the commander loading and that the radio operator sometimes helped load the 75mm as B-1's seldom communicated between one another in combat.

I find it interesting how the design is similar in layout to Tog-1.

[AdamMannD]

David Fletcher is so the man. I hope some day we get our US collection at Benning under the guidance of someone so knowledgeable and fantastic.

[revolverocelot]

I love this man, his English is so clean, makes learning English much easier for me :D

[autofox]

I use this tank in an online game called World of Tanks. Obviously its performance there doesn't really equate to real-world performance, but I've actually found that it's a very effective machine, especially against the kinds of vehicles it would have faced in 1940.

What one has to remember is that there were almost no German tanks at the time carrying a gun powerful enough to knock out a B1 from a safe distance, and even most of the towed anti-tank artillery of the day had a hard time of it. It was German experience in France against the B1 that greatly contributed to their fully adopting 75 and 88mm high-velocity guns in the anti-tank role. The famous German 88s were present in France, but it was primarily an anti-aircraft gun, and its capability as an anti-tank weapon was first proven largely against the B1; often, there was simply no other way to stop these things. It really is a shame that the French were never able to use these machines in large concentrations; I believe they would have played hell with the German advance if, say, a couple of hundred well organized, well supported and well led B1s had been available to face Guderian as he emerged with his forces from the Ardennes.

[vindolanda]

I had a plastic kit of one of these in the 1980s. It was so bizarre I loved it.

[DougsterCanada]

Good to see you again, David Fletcher! Hope you are enjoying your "retirement" and yet I (and many others) eagerly await more, and more videos. Wishing you good health, and happiness, sir.

[leighrate]

You always train and equip on the basis of the wars that you have fought. The Char is designed for trench warfare, or more accurately breaking through trench fortifications. For that purpose it is perfectly logical design. The 75mm is mounted in the hull for a couple of good reasons. 1) It is heavy so mounting in low down keeps the tanks center of gravity as low as possible. You can mount it higher but that means widening the tank. That is undesirable both in terms of being able to negotiate narrow country lanes, and in terms of (bearing in mind that we are talking about frontal attacks against fortifications) minimising the tanks front aspect. Narrower it is, the hard it is to hit. 2) The 75mm is your bunker buster. Only real vunerable point on a bunker is its firing slit. Which is low to the ground. In order to be effective, you shot wants to be parallel to the ground, so it strikes the firing slit square on. The 45mm and machine gun in the turret are really anti personnel weapons.

[jnb]

Those videos are amazing! Short, well done, consistent, no bs, straightforward information, just perfect!

[russwoodward]

I always enjoy David Fletcher’s frankness. Thanks.

[ElcomeSoft]

We need longer videos :) As good as they are I find myself wanting more and more. A good talking voice with good pace and great information.

[metalmadness]

the B1, my favorite tank! It's easy to compare it to later tanks in WW2, but I feel that is rather unfair. At the time it was used, the B1 was the best armed and armored tank in service. The B1, like all French tanks in the interwar period suffered from a lack of funding and support from the government, forcing the military to work with table scraps to just get these built.

[Illopportunity]

My favourite WW2 tank, and I love his WW1 look