Best tank at the outbreak of WWII ?

Impressive, soldiers with higher motivation really are the best.

They used trucks against the best German Tanks and Artillery.

No wonder Rommel expected them to surrender quickly, and Auchinleck was hessitant to accept them.

The impression I got from the War Memoirs was they had tanks but they were the obsolete 1940s models, so thanks for setting me straight about it.

Although it seems like the S.35 was the better technical modell I still say the B1 was the best.

At Arras a single B1 destroyed all the German Tanks present, and de Gaulle openly complained about not having enough B1s in his War Memoirs, and in my personal opinion he has very high credibility on French Armor 1940 because of the role he played in promoting it before the war.

If you want I can get the exact quote I am reffering to.

 

Please do! That would be helpful

 

The B1/Somua comparison is a bit like the Panther/Tiger comparison later in the war.
The B1, as the Tiger was of course more powerfull and likely to show more impressiv results in single tank engagements,(for example destroying incredible numbers of ennemy tanks)but on the other, the Somua was much more suited for mobile warfare.(altough barely anyone in the french army in 1940 tought to use it that way).

 

I'm surprised that nobody seems to be raising the issue of the French habit of one man turret much in this topic.

 

The one man turret was a disadvantage of course, but if you look at tank battles in 1940, it didn't seem to be so much relevant.

 

It's been brought up several times. It's just that with the lack of alternatives (except the 38(t) tank) the disadvantage is more or less a necessary evil.