Panhard 178

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The Panhard 178 (officially designated as Automitrailleuse de Découverte Panhard modèle 1935, 178 being the internal project number at Panhard) or "Pan-Pan" was an advanced 4x4 armoured car that was designed for the French Army before World War II. It had a crew of four and was equipped with a 25mm main armament and a 7.5mm coaxial machine gun.

A number of these vehicles were taken over by the Germans after the Fall of France and employed as the Panzerspähwagen P204 (f). After the war a derived version, the Panhard 178B, was taken into production.

Contents 1 Development 2 Description 3 Operational History 4 Modified Panhards 5 Panhard 178B 6 Further reading 7 External links

[edit] Development

In 1931 the French Cavalry conceived a plan for the future production of armoured fighting vehicles. One of the classes foreseen was that of an Automitrailleuse de Découverte or AMD, a specialised long range reconnaissance vehicle. The specifications were formulated on 22 December 1931, changed on 18 November 1932 and approved on 9 December 1932. They call for a weight of four metric tons, a range of 400km, a speed of 70 km/h, a cruising speed of 40 km/h, a turning circle of twelve metres, a 20 mm gun and a 7.5 mm machine gun.

In 1933 one of the competing companies that have put forward proposals, Panhard, is allowed to build a prototype. The vehicle is ready in October and presented to the Commission de Vincennes in January 1934 under the name Panhard 178. It carries a Vincennes workshop 13.2 mm machine gun turret, as the intended one isn't ready yet. After testing between 9 January and 2 February 1934 the type, despite having larger dimensions than prescribed and thus being a lot heavier than four tons, is accepted under the condition some small modifications are carried out. Of all competing projects it is considered the best. In the autumn the improved prototype is tested by the Cavalry. End 1934 a first production order of thirty is made, under the name AMD Panhard Modèle 1935. The vehicle is now fitted with the APX3 turret. After complaints about reliability, between 29 June and 2 December 1937 a new test programme takes place, resulting in many modifications. On 1 September 1939 219 vehicles had been delivered; at the time of the armistice 527 made. It had been intended to built sixty Panhard 178s each month for the duration of the war.

[edit] Description

In order to function as an effective long range reconnaissance vehicle, the Panhard 178 had been kept as light as possible. The vehicle was thus rather small, only 479 cm in length, 201 cm in width and 231 cm in height. Also the engine compartment, where a Panhard ISK4 V4 110 hp motor had been installed, was built very low, giving the vehicle its distinctive silhouette, with a protruding fighting compartment. The use of a large turret with 26 mm frontal armour and 7-20 mm bolted and rivetted armour plate for the hull had compromised weight considerations however, so the vehicle still had a mass of 8.2 metric tons. However the mobility was rather good for a French AFV of the period: a maximum speed of 72.6 km/h; a practical range of about 300 km, made possible by a 145 litres fuel tank; a wading and a trench crossing capacity of sixty centimetres; it could overcome a thirty cm vertical obstacle, assisted by two small bottom wheels in the front hull. Steering could be switched into reverse immediately to allow the assistant-driver, facing the engine, to drive the vehicle backwards in case of an emergency, using all four off-road gears. He doubled as a radio operator in the platoon commander or squadron commander vehicles, operating the short range ER29 or medium range ER26 set respectively. To make long range communications possible, one out of twelve armoured cars was a special radio vehicle, with the turret fixed in place and without armament but equipped with the ER27 set, giving a range of 100 km, and two ER26ter sets with a range of sixty kilometres for communications within the squadron.

The APX3 turret was rather large and could accommodate two men, like with the AMC 35; this was at the time exceptional for French AFVs. In the electrically-traversed APX3, the commander and gunner benefited from a rudimentary turret basket, and sufficient vision devices including one periscope (which were of the Gundlach type on late examples) per man and PPL.RX.168 episcopes. Armament consisted of the 25 mm SA 35, a shortened L/47.2 derivation of the standard French antitank gun, the 25 mm Hotchkiss modèle 34. It was fitted with the L711 sight. To compensate for the shorter barrel, the rounds use heavier charges, giving even a slightly superior muzzle velocity of 950 m/s. The gun had a maximum penetration of about fifty millimetres when using a tungsten round; the light 380 gram projectile was easily deflected by sloped armour though, even a 45° angle giving about 100% extra protection over the armour thickness measured along the horizontal plane. German tanks had many vertical plates however and were vulnerable up to about 800 metres; on the other hand the light round, even when penetrating, often failed to set fire to an enemy vehicle; it sometimes took fifteen shots to achieve this; 150 rounds of ammunition were stored. The secondary armament was an optionally coaxial Reibel 7.5 mm machine gun, with 3750 rounds, 1500 of which armour-piercing. A reserve machine gun was carried, that could be mounted on top of the turret for anti-aircraft defence.

[edit] Operational History

During the Battle of France the Panhard 178s were allocated to reconnaissance units of the mechanised and motorised forces. The three armoured divisions of the Cavalry, the Divisions Légères Mécaniques, had a nominal organic strength of forty armoured cars, plus four radio vehicles and an organic materiel reserve of four vehicles. The Light (i.e. motorised) Divisions of the Cavalry, the Divisions Légères de Cavalerie, had a squadron of twelve Panhards plus a radio car and a materiel reserve of two in their Régiment de Automitrailleuses (RAM). Actual strength might differ.

Not only the Cavalry but the Infantry also employed the type, in the GRDIs or Groupes de Reconnaissance de Division d'Infanterie, the reconnaissance units of the Divisions d'Infanterie Mécaniques, that despite their name were largely motorised infantry divisions. These were 1e GRDI for 5e DIM, 2e GRDI for 9e DIM, 3e GRDI for 12e DIM, 5e GRDI for 25e DIM, 6e GRDI for 3e DIM and 7e GRDI for 1e DIM. Their organisation was basically identical to the units of the DLCs. After the start of the invasion several emergency ad hoc units were formed; these included the 32e GRDI for the regular 43e DI, having five Panhards. The 4e DCR, the armoured division of the infantry hastily assembled in May, got 43 Panhard 178's.

The DLMs used their Panhard units for strategic reconnaissance. In the case of 1DLM this entailed a movement well in advance of the main body of the division as it was supposed to maintain a connection with the Dutch Army during the Battle of the Netherlands. Within 32 hours the armoured cars of the group Lestoquoi covered a distance of over 200 kilometres reaching the environment of 's-Hertogenbosch in the afternoon of 11 May. After some successful skirmishes with German armoured cars belonging to the reconnaissance platoons of the German Infantry Divisions, they withdrew, as the Dutch were already in full retreat. They were asked by the Dutch to reduce the southern bridgehead of the strategic Moerdijk bridges, held by German paratroopers. As the cars were not suitable for such a task the commander understandably hesitated after he had been able to observe the bridgehead was strongly defended. While thus being immobile, this group of Panhards was surprised in open polder landscape by a Stuka-attack and quickly withdrew to the south.

The other two DLMs hurried forward to stop the advance of 3 and 4PD after the surprisingly swift fall of Fort Eben-Emael, their Panhards fighting a successful delaying battle against their Greman counterparts until the Battle of Hannut, the largest tank battle of the campaign. In general they had little trouble in dispatching with the lightly armoured German armoured cars, whose 20 mm main armament was not very effective against the Panhard frontal armour.

As the type was well-suited to German tactics, 190 Panhards were issued to German reconnaissance units for use in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 under the designation of Panzerspähwagen P204 (f), 107 would be lost that year.

[edit] Modified Panhards

Four Panhard 178s present in Indo-China had the APX5 turret, as used on the AMR 35 ZT2.

Though sufficient at a short range, the effectiveness of the 25 mm gun was far from optimal. In May 1940 Renault began to produce a new turret, capable of holding the much more powerful SA 35 47 mm gun. To provide enough room to operate the larger gun the back of the new octagonal turret was raised resulting in a wedge-shaped profile. At least one of the 47 mm Panhards took part in the fighting in June, being destroyed near Cosnes-sur-Loire.

After 1941 the Germans modified 43 cars as railway-protection vehicles; they could drive on the tracks themselves by means of special wheels and were fitted with large radio frame aerials.

In 1943 some of the remaining vehicles in German service were rebuilt with the 50 mm L/42 gun in an open-topped turret.

Under the armistice conditions the Vichy regime was allowed to use a small number of Panhards for police service. These had their guns removed and replaced with an aditional machine gun. Engineer Restany clandestinely produced new turrets, intended to be fitted with a 47 mm gun. These were hidden when the whole of France was occupied in 1942. In the summer of 1944 some were taken into use by the resistance.

[edit] Panhard 178B

After the war, in 1945, a new turet was designed by Fives Lille, the FL1. It had a cylindrical form and was equipped with a 47 mm SA35 gun and a machine gun. The type with the new turret was named Panhard 178B and taken into production at Firminy. It was used in France and the colonies, such as Syria and Vietnam. The last use was in Djibouti in 1960 by the 15e Escadron Blindé d'Infanterie de Marine.

[edit] Further reading

• Leland Ness (2002) Jane's World War II Tanks and Fighting Vehicles: The Complete Guide, Harper Collins, London and New York, ISBN 0-00-711228-9

[edit] External links

• WWII vehicles
• (French) Chars-francais.net

French armoured fighting vehicles of World War II
AMC, AMR, and Light Tanks
FT-17 | AMR 33 | AMR 35 | FCM 36 | H35/H38/H39 | R 35 / R 40 | AMC 34 | AMC 35
Medium/Heavy		Cavalry tanks	Heavy tanks
Char D1| Char D2 | Char B1		S 35	Char 2C
Armoured Cars and Half-tracks
Panhard 178 | Laffly Armoured Car | AMC P16
Armoured Carriers
Renault UE | Lorraine 37L
Experimental vehicles
FCM F1 | ARL 40 | Char G1 | S 40 and SAu 40 | ARL 44
French armoured fighting vehicle production during World War II
Unarmoured vehicles