Char B1 ter

The next development version, the B 1 ter, arose from a 1935 request to increase armour protection B 1 in the frontal areas up to 70 mm. ARL, FCM and Fives-Lille were involved in the development and production, with each company producing one prototype.
The machine itself took many design features from its predecessor B 1 bis, but differed from it in several ways.
The side plates were sloped, the frontal armor was thicker, it had a more powerful engine, etc. The armament remained the same, but an interesting feature was the elimination of the "Naeder" hydraulic system, which allowed the 75 mm gun to be sighted in the hull without the possibility of lateral aiming (the hydraulic system provided aiming, which was provided only by rotating the whole tank). It was replaced by a lafetation on the pivot with a total lateral measurement of 12 degrees. The gauge was to range from -4° to +9°. The pre-production tanks differed from the first prototype. The hull gun was moved lower, freeing up space above the gun. This gave the driver a side viewport through which he could observe the surroundings around the tank from the right side as well. This option was not available on its predecessors B 1 and B 1bis. The B 1ter type was to receive the newly designed ARL 2 turret, but apart from increasing the fighting space, it was again a turret for only one crew member. It was a fundamental problem, the importance of which somehow the French did not understand.
Although the first prototype was ready in 1937 (it used components from the old B 1 No. 101 prototype) the troubleshooting of many of the technical problems dragged on until the French invasion, and even then the type was not ready for series production.

A total of four prototypes are reported to have been built, one of which has not yet been completed. Three pre-production tanks were produced one each by three companies (FCM, ARL and Fives-Lille). According to historical sources, there was an effort to save the prototypes from German capture. A pair of pre-production tanks were first evacuated from Saint-Nazaire in 5/1940, and then, supplemented by the first prototype produced in 1937, the tanks were to be evacuated on the ship "Mécanicien principal Carvin" to Great Britain. They were embarked on 17/6/1940, but the freighter was sunk by German bombers off Gironde on 21/6/1940. The three prototypes thus ended up on the bottom of the Atlantic (there are efforts to recover these tanks). The last over-finished prototype was hidden by FCM (Marseille) in the free zone of so-called Vichy France and was later completed and underwent tests (its existence is confirmed as late as 1943).

Francois Vauvillier - The encyclopedia of French tanks and armoured vehicles 1914-1940, Histoire & Collections, published in 2014, ISBN: 978-2-35250-322-4
Pascal Danjou - Les Chars B, B-1 - B1bis - B-1ter, Trackstory no.3, ISBN 2-9520988-4-4
Svatopluk Hrubý - Char B-1, HPM no.3-5/1999, ISSN: 1210-1427
Ivo Pejčoch - Obrněná technika 7, France 1919-1945, published by Ares, Prague 2007, ISBN 978-80-86158-47-1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_B1
www.chars-francais.net
tankarchives.blogspot.com

There is a drawing made in 1/1935 by the designer Lavirotte, an employee of Puteaux, which shows a modification of the tank B 1ter. The main modification was the fitting of the SA model 1935 75 mm gun, which had a 5° measurement to each side. The ammunition layout or the positions of the air inlets were changed. This was one of the upgrades to the B 1 series. The RX designation can theoretically be explained as an abbreviation of Renault/Puteaux, but this is only conjecture. The meaning of the index N^o122 is unknown to me. The project has progressed no further than in drawing form.

Francois Vauvillier - The encyclopedia of French tanks and armoured vehicles 1914-1940, Histoire & Collections, published in 2014, ISBN: 978-2-35250-322-4
www.chars-francais.net
tankarchives.blogspot.sk

A modification of the B 1ter tank (pre-production tanks), which was developed in the spring of 1940. The modifications involved an increase in maximum armour thickness to 80 mm, and there was an increase in the diameter of the turret orbit (the original APX 4 turret had a diameter of 1022 mm, the new ARL 2 type turret was to have a diameter of 1218 mm). The air inlets were moved, the front part of the tank hull was also changed (moving the gun lower). It was to be the final form of the B 1 program.

Francois Vauvillier - The encyclopedia of French tanks and armoured vehicles 1914-1940, Histoire & Collections, published in 2014, ISBN: 978-2-35250-322-4
www.chars-francais.net
tankarchives.blogspot.sk