Renault R 35

 was a French cavalry tank, widely used in Europe at the beginning of the war.

Background
Char léger Modèle 1935 R was a light infantry tank designed in 1933, in a bid to provide non-motorized infantry units with a cheap, readily available armored unit for combined arms infiltration tactics. Renault competed with Hotchkiss for French Army contracts and was the first to deliver a working prototype. As tensions rose, the future R-35 was pressed into production in 1936 to accelerate the modernization of the French tank fleet.

Designed from the ground up as an infantry support tank, it was slow, well armored, and equipped with a short barreled SA18 37mm gun paired with a Reibel MAC 31 7.5mm machine gun. Intended for distribution among infantry divisions, it was the most numerous tank in French service in 1939. A superior model with a 37mm gun more suited for tank-to-tank combat was developed and entered production in April 1940, shortly before the Fall of France. Surviving models were quickly pressed into service by Germans as Panzerkampfwagen 35R 731(f), used for training and policing duties. A number were converted as prime movers, ammunition carriers, and even as tank destroyers.

Modele 1935
The basic model of the tank.
 * R-35: A model of the R-35 in Romanian service. Romania negotiated with France for licensing R 35 production when negotiations were halted. As a stopgap measure, France sent 41 tanks over to maintain the contract. The number was increased by 34 after Romanians confiscated the tanks of the evacuating Polish units, after the fall of Poland.
 * R-35 Comanda: A command tank.
 * Panzer 35R(f) (SD2): Beutepanzer in German service.
 * Pz.Jäger 35R(f) (SD2): 4,7 cm PaK(t) auf Panzerkampfwagen 35R(f) is a converted Panzer 35R(f), with the turret replaced by a superstructure mounting the Czech PaK 36(t) (47mm kanon P.U.V. vz. 36 (Škoda A6)). An estimated 174 tanks were converted by Alkett between May and October 1941, to create a design matching the Panzerjager I. Although the R35 version proved to be inferior, the destroyers were issued to units in the Netherlands, France, and the Channel Islands, eventually fighting the Allies in Normandy.

Modele 19335 modifié 1939
Char léger Modèle 1935 R modifié 1939, better known as Renault R 40 or Panzer 40R(f) in German service, was an upgrade of the original R 35 created in 1939 and deployed in 1940. Intended to address issues with weight and suspension that made it unsuitable for off-road driving, the R 40 received both an upgraded suspension and a modernized gun.


 * Panzer 40R(f)

Vânătorul De Care
Vânătorul de care R-35 was an upgrade of the antiquated R 35s ordered after the Battle of Stalingrad demonstrated their ineffectiveness against modern Soviet tanks. Designed to act as a tank hunter, the R 35s wwere refurbished at the Army Arsenal in Târgoviște. The new tank was armed with a 45 mm gun salvaged from captured Soviet T-26 and BT series tanks, mounted in a turret modified at the Concordia Works in Ploiești (although with no secondary weapons of any sort). About 30 tanks were modernized in such a manner and refurbished with superior Romanian replacement parks, and served until Romania's defection from the Axis.
 * Vânătorul De Care R-35