AMC 35

The AMC 35, short for Automitrailleuse de combat Renault modèle 1935 and also known as the Renault ACG-1, was a French medium tank developed in the 1930s, towards the end of the interwar period, and used in the Second World War. It was produced at the Renault plant in Issy-les-Moulineaux and was developed because of the change in specifications that had led to the design of the AMC 34, which now required a vehicle that was not only well armed but also well armoured. Because of financial and economic problems, production was delayed and limited. Belgium was the only user of this tank in active units before the war, and the AMC 35 was one of the only French tanks of the time with a two-man turret. Renault built 50 of the 75 tanks it could make, and the remaining 25 were accepted on 21 April 1938, of which 9 went to Belgium. The hull is 4,572 mm long and holds an 11.08 litre V-4 engine of 180 horsepower, a shortened version of the V-6 of the B1 tank; with riveted and bolted plates of only 25 mm, it reaches 42 km/h, slower than the specification demanded. Belgian AMC 35s fought German forces from 17 to 27 May 1940, French ones were hurriedly put into service after the German breakthrough at Sedan, and one is displayed at the Saumur tank museum.