Hello dear readers,
It’s been a while I have bought this quite unusual kit
at a show: Blitz Kit’s Renault ACG1 (Belgian version). It’s a very well moulded
resin kit that comes with a half figure of a 1940 Belgian tanker to be placed
in the turret (the figure is only included in the Belgian version). Until now I
only noticed small air bubbles that can easily be filled with CA glue or putty
and the kit seems really manageable for a resin kit thanks to the small numbr
of parts. I ‘m gonna use Friul tracks (the ones for the Hotchkiss – ref ATL 68
since these are the same than for the Renault ACG1) to replace the resin tracks
of the kit that need to be warmed with a hairdryer to get them correctly in
place… this seemed a bit hazardous to me…
OK… this was my first impression of the kit but before
starting to work on it here’s a bit of history about this rare subject.
The Belgian army in 1940 only counted about more or
less 250 AFV’s that can be considered as “tanks”:
- 200 T13 (3 different types were issued): these were self
propelled guns (tankhunters) armed with a Belgian 47 mm and a FN Browning rifle
in a semi open turret on a Vickers Carden Loyd chassis.
- 42 T15: these were small tankettes armed with a 13,2
mm Hotchkiss machinegun in a closed turret on a Vickers Carden Loyd chassis.
- 10 Renault ACG1 armed with a Belgian 47 mm and a
7,65 mm Hotchkiss machinegun in a closed turret.
The T15’s were weakly armoured and armed but quite
fast and theoretically used for reconnaissance purposes. The T13’s were really
efficient against any German AFV of that time thanks to the excellent Belgian
47 mm gun but they were also weakly armoured and the turret was half open which
immediately exposed the crew the enemy fire once it had opened fire. This being
said, in reality all these Belgian AFV’s were tactically used as tanks but only
the 10 Renault ACG1 were “real” tanks that Belgium could oppose to the German
Panzerdivisionen.
In 1936 Belgium ordered 25 of these to France for the
cavalry corps and for the Ardense Jagers (Chasseurs ardennais). One was
delivered in 1937 and tested during manoeuvres of the Ardense Jagers and the
order of the seven tanks for the Ardense Jagers was cancelled because these
were judged to be too heavy (15t) to move in the tortured natural environment
of the Ardennes. The budget of these was immediately devoted to the purchase of
T13’s. The delivery of the 17 left got delayed several times because of
technical and assembly problems. Therefore, the Belgian government asked to
reduce the total order to 10 tanks. The last three tanks were delivered in
August 1939!!!! Since the turrets were ordered separately, 15 turrets (out of
the 25 originally ordered) were used in fixed positions (bunkers) mostly on the
Belgian coast. The main differences between the French Renault AMC 35 and the
Belgian Renault ACG1 were features on the turret (the Belgian turrets were
called APX2 B):
- the
Belgian FRC 47 gun got installed in the turret instead of a French SA 35 47 mm
gun
-the shortened Belgian 7,65 mm Hotchkiss machinegun (these were taken from the old Renault FT17 that Belgium purchased at the end of WWI) was preferred to the French 7,5 Reibel
- the replacement of the machinegun implies that the diascope on the left side had to be moved to the facet behind because the drum magazine made it impossible to look through it in the original position
When war broke out in Poland on 1st September 1939, the Escadron d'Auto Blindés du Corps de Cavelerie, literally the "Armoured Car Squadron of the Cavalry Corps", was created. The squadron had three platoons: one platoon "Staff and Services" and two platoons of four tanks each. The personnel were a mixture of soldiers of the 2nd Lancers Regiment (the Dutch-speaking 2e Lansiers) and the francophone 1st Guides Regiment, both units sharing the same barracks (Caserne de Witte-de Haelen) at
Etterbeek.
When Germany invaded Belgium on the 10th of May 1940, the two tanks that were in the worst condition were cannibalised to keep the others running. The eight remaining tanks fought against the German Army until 28 May 1940. Only three survived the eighteen days campaign on 28 May 1940 when the Belgian army put down its weapons.
Stay tuned for the 1st update of the building!
