Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbuna
(Post 1760777)
Purely down to armour thickness :)
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Aye, though the gun weren't too shabby either. 47mm compared to the 20mm on the Panzer II and the 7mm MGs on the Panzer I. The primary advantage, in armament anyway, the Panzer II would have is the quick firing KwK-30, other disadvantages the Char Bis had was the lousy one man turret, it's slow speed, its fuel economy (or lack of) and bad communications. However it they had been deployed differently and if the BEF had not gone into Belgium and held the line on the French border, then the Battle of France could have gone a different way. Of course, the whole French leadership (and most of the British) were just not prepared for the German doctrine and the punch through the Ardennes. Coupled that with 'the day when it all went right' with the Luftwaffe providing superb ground support in co-ordination with the Wehrmacht (one of the few times when Fatty actually deigned to co-operate with another department) meant that the drive to the coast succeeded and bar the attempt to break through at Arras (which so very nearly worked, but thanks to bad communications and that the Flak 18s made good anti-tank guns...and in fact were the only guns that could penetrate the Matildas, meant that it all went wrong) it was pretty much all over for France. :dead: |
