List of World War II weapons of France

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This is a list of French military equipment in the Second World War.

Handguns[edit]

Rifles[edit]

Submachine guns[edit]

  • MAS-38 French submachine gun. Production of this gun had just started in 1940 when the Germans occupied France. They used the gun as a substitute weapon. Somehow one of the guns was obtained by a partisan who used the MAS-38 to murder Benito Mussolini the Fascist leader of world war II Italy.
    MAS-38
  • Erma EMP-35
  • Thompson M1928 and M1928A1
  • MP 28
  • MP40 Captured from German troops
  • Delacre machine pistol
  • Sten

Machine guns[edit]

Anti-Tank weapons[edit]

Anti-Aircraft weapons[edit]

Artillery[edit]

Grenades and mines[edit]

Mortars[edit]

Armoured vehicles[edit]

Armoured cars
Rear view of Lorraine 38L armoured personnel carrier. Was created from the Lorraine 37L armoured tank supply vehicle. Only armoured personnel carrier in battle of France
Armoured personnel carriers

Armoured personnel carriers

Armoured utility vehicles[edit]

Tanks[edit]

Light tanks
Medium tanks
Cavalry tanks
  • SOMUA S-35.One of the best tanks of its time in armour and firepower and outclassed German Tanks such as the Panzer III and IV in this respect. However overall they(Panzers) were better tanks as they granted far better vision, communication and ergonomics than French tanks which were mostly pretty bad in this regard due to things like a one man turret crew.
    SOMUA S35[1]
  • Char G1 (Prototype)
Armoured combat tanks
Heavy tanks
  • Char B1
    Char B1 bis variant. Originally the Char B1 was conceived as breakthrough tank using its Hull mounted gun to attack fortifications. Eventually became a Char de Bataille or battle tank that was meant to take on enemy armour. Heavily armoured and armed for its day and was inpenetrable to ordinary German Anti-tank Guns.
  • Char 2C
  • AMX M4 (Prototype for the AMX 50.)
  • AMX 50 (Later replace with the AMX 30.)
  • FCM F1 (Prototype)


See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Beckhusen, Robert (5 September 2019). "France's Somua S35 Was a Better Tank, so Why Did Nazi Germany Beat Them?". The National Interest. Retrieved 26 April 2020.