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Lorraine 40t

The Char de bataille de 40 tonnes (40 tons battle tank), also known as the Lorraine 40t (Lorraine is both a region of France and the company that made this tank). French engineers never managed to create a heavy tank with acceptable mobility and powerplant power. At the end of the 1940s, during development of the AMX-50 heavy tank project, French engineers on the basis of competition with the firm AMX, also decided to try creating a lighter tank that could serve the same role as the AMX-50.

For a long time, French armored vehicles frankly lost to both German tanks and Allied vehicles. The successes of the German and Soviet engineers in the face of Tiger II and the IS-2 (and later the IS-3 ) did not give rest to the minds of French generals. The solution to this problem was to be the coveted AMX-50, with the advent of which the attitude of the French command to heavy tanks has changed. Initially, the required characteristics could not be achieved, and the designers had no choice but to deliberately reduce the tank mass by reducing the armor.

The project was initially designated “40 ton battle tank”. Later, the vehicle was called the Lorraine 40t, based upon the name of the region in which the experimental prototypes of it were built. The tank used many of the same technological developments of the experimental AMX prototypes, and was clearly influenced by the German Tiger II, Panther/E-50, and the Soviet IS tanks.

With armor plating at a maximum thickness of 45mm, the Lorraine 40t isn’t as well armored as the AMX-50. The designers, however, set the armor plates on the Lorraine 40t at clever angles and implemented a chevron shape for the front of the hull (for which the tank is known). This effectively armored the most vulnerable parts of the front projection and effectively exceeded the equivalent of 90mm armor.

In addition, the Lorraine 40t’s lighter armor significantly reduced its weight, thereby increasing its speed and allowing the use of steel paired roller wheels with bulletproof tires. The smoothness of the course was noted as very good, which made it possible to conduct shooting more confidently on the move. Combined with the 850 horsepower German Maybach engine, the Lorraine 40t could reach 60 km/h, move smoothly and fire effectively at low speeds. To increase the combat power, it was decided to install 100 mm, and then 120 mm of the gun, but it was not accepted for service.

Two prototypes of the Lorraine 40t were completed in 1952. But the tank never reached production. The USA supplied surplus M47 Pattons to the French during the outbreak of the Korean war, interest in the AMX-50 and Lorraine 40t wavered. The high cost of producing and maintaining these vehicles eventually caused the cancellation of the tanks related to the M4 project in favor of the vehicles provided by NATO. Further development of a French main battle tank would not surface again until the Franco-German collaboration which sprouted the Leopard and AMX 30 in the late 1950s. The Lorraine 40t and its variants were the final attempts of Lorraine to reenter the military market.

French attempts to repeat the experience of their foreign counterparts were not crowned with the same success, but nevertheless they were not failures; on the contrary, quite remarkable samples of equipment were obtained.