Panzer 730C(f) is a German Tank unit. Exclusively available to the 16. Luftwaffe, the Panzer 730C(f) is a captured French Renault FT tank pressed into service. The Renault FT tank was a revolutionary light tank design in the First World War, but had already fallen into obsolence by the 1920s. Suffice to say, the dirt-cheap Panzer 730C(f) is a crawling anachronism on the battlefield, moving at an excruciatingly slow 10 – 15 km/h speed. It sports a weak 1000m gun that will fail to damage anything but halftracks and weakly armoured vehicles, but up to eight of them can be fielded at a stunningly low 20 point cost each.
Its sister tank, the Panzer 730M(f), is even cheaper at 10 points but is only armed with a 600m machine gun.
Overview[ | ]
The French Renault FT was developed during the First World War as a light tank. Production started in 1917 with thousands manufactured, and it was widely used on the Western Front in 1918. It was exported to various nations after the war, amongst others Finland, Belgium, Turkey and Spain and saw service in many wars in the Interbellum, such as the Russian civil war, the Spanish civil war and the Chinese civil war. Despite the tank being completely obsolete by 1940, France still had several battalions equipped with Renault FTs at the outbreak of the war, mostly as reserve units. These were sent into battle after the lost of modern equipent.
After the Fall of France, around 1700 Renaults were captured by the Wehrmacht and used as internal security, patrolling, driver training and policing vehicles. They seldom saw service on the frontline for obvious reasons, though a few tanks were used by Vichy troops in operation Torch (1942) and participated in the street fighting in Paris (1944). On these occasions, they were horrendously outmatched. Luftwaffe were issued 100 FT for internal security of their airfields. These FT from local Luftwaffe security units supported the 16. Luftwaffe.
Strategy[ | ]
- The tank is slow. Horribly, horribly slow. To press home just how slow this 10–15 km/h unit is, infantry units walk at 18 km/h speed. A towed 25-pdr without transport units moves at 10 km/h. Field it well in advance before you "need" it because it will only arrive on the battlefield many minutes later.
- Do not expect this tank to achieve anything on its own. Its gun, inaccurate and not posing any serious threat to most units, will at best draw some attention.
- The Panzer 730C(f) and the Panzer 730M(f) are the only phase A tanks available to 16. Luftwaffe. The Panzer 730M(f) can always be generally useful-ish as a close range support unit, but the Panzer 730C(f) has a much more situational use and is twice as expensive (such as countering the numerous M3 Halftrack units).
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