Renault R35 & Hotchkiss H35 (ENG)

At the dawn of the Second world war, the French war industry was one of the most advanced in Europe, heir to a technical and military tradition rooted in the successes of the Great War. However, behind the apparent modernity of its arsenals, France was building armoured vehicles that still reflected the defensive and fragmented mentality of the military doctrine of the time. It was in this context that two of the most emblematic and, at the same time, controversial light tanks of the Armée de Terre were born: the Renault R35 and the Hotchkiss H35. Two vehicles that were twins in design and use, symbols of an army that, while seeking to innovate, remained trapped between the past and the future of mechanised warfare.