| Renault FT tanks, a Char B1 bis tank, and in the distance Renault R35 tanks are waiting for distribution to Nazi occupation forces. These are Beutepanzer (“captured tanks”) The R35s were designed Panzerkampfwagen 35R 731 (f) in German use. Around 150 were converted into a 47 millimeter (1.85 inch) tank destroyer designed as 4,7 cm PaK(t) auf Panzerkampfwagen 35R(f) ohne Turm. The Wehrmacht captured 1,704 FTs and designated them as Panzerkampfwagen 18R 730(f). They used a 100 for airfield defence and about 650 for patrolling occupied Europe. Some were used by the Germans in 1944 for street-fighting in Paris, but by this time they were hopelessly out of date. Nazis took the Char B1 bis into combat during Operation Barbarossa. Designated Panzerkampfwagen B2 740(f), they modified it to carry a flamethrower. The size and weight of the vehicle made it unsuitable for the rasputitsa (literally “season of bad roads”) when rain and snow turned roads to mud. This photo was published in the Berliner Volks-Zeitung on August 21, 1940. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2208.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.66 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4729 x 2985 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 1, 1940 |
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| Country | France |
| Archive | Berliner Volks-Zeitung |
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| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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