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Editions de Barbotin |
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Trackstory #1 - Somua S35 |
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Reviewed By Jim Pearsall, #2209 |
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1, Rue Amiral COURBET, 14.50 Euros + P&P e-mail ed-barbotin@wanadoo.fr 8" X 10" format, 54 pages, heavy paper, card covers Color printed, 1 foldout page From the publisher of Minitracks, a bilingual (French/English) monograph on France’s best tank of WW2, as well as its derivative, the Sau-40 self-propelled gun. Since I’m not an in-depth student of non US, British, or German military vehicles of WW2, I certainly learned a lot from this book. The general impression I had previously was that the Somua’s career came to an abrupt end in June 1940. Not so. The term is Beutepanzer, (Captured tank), and the Somua fits this category. But then the Germans used Czech tanks, why not French? The S35 was used in the Balkans, in Russia, and there’s a profile of one in Norway. Nice snow camouflage. There’s also the Tunisian Campaign. In 1941, the Vichy French Army convinced the Wiesbaden Armistice Commission that there was a need for a French tank squadron in Africa to defend against Free French influence. The force was sent to Senegal. It wound up in Tunisia, as part of an armored corps equipped with Valentines, Somuas, M-10 TDs and Stuarts which assisted the British 8th Army in cutting off the Cape Bon Peninsula, stranding 200,000 German and Italian troops. In 1945, Somua S35s were part of the French force which reduced the Royan Pocket. The unit had to buy their tools from hardware stores, but the Free French managed to put together a fighting squadron of Somuas at the end of the war. The Sau 40 SP gun: Imagine a Somua. Cut ahole in the glacis plate, and install a French 75mm gun. The result was an excellent tank hunter. But only 73 were built, and only the prototype had the 75. Due to production problems, the 72 operational units had the 47mm gun. Still useful. The 75 mm armed prototype was used in combat near Compegnie, in June 1940. There’s also a section on the maintenance and support vehicles, the order of battle, and photos of the interior and engine compartments. The book concludes with 9 color profile paintings of the S35, and one of the Sau 40 in combat markings. The foldout has 1/35 and 1/72 drawings of both the S35 and Sau 40. OK, time to drag out one of those Heller Somuas I bought (mumble) years ago, and BUILD it. |
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