French tank production after 1940

This actually could apply to many vehicles or items of equipment, but I first thought of it in the context of tanks. When the Germans occupied Czechoslovakia and Poland, they kept/restarted existing factories in operation, building 38ts or Panzer IIs, ultimately switching to tank destroyers or self-propelled artillery.

I'm not aware of them making similar use of French factories. They did make considerable use of captured French tanks, either as tanks or by converting them to SP guns; but I am not aware of continued new production as was done in the Czech and Polish cases. The Hotchkiss and Renault factories were near Paris, in the German occupation zone.

The Lorraine 37L was an innovative armored tracked vehicle originally intended to supply ammunition to tanks in the field, also adopted as an armored personnel carrier. The Germans used captured 37Ls as tank destroyers (Marder I) and SP artillery, mainly 15cm. Their factory was in Vichy territory, and that regime produced small numbers of them, but again it seems that arrangements might have been made to build them for German use.

This seems to have been a missed opportunity. I recall reading that French factories contributed to Ju88 production for the Luftwaffe; was there some reason they could not build tanks or other weapons for the army?

 

It is likely because the Germans seized much of the machine tools and raw materials and shipped them to Germany to expand existing German plants. I believe much of the French/Belgian stell production was diverted to the same purpose.

 

It is likely because the Germans seized much of the machine tools and raw materials and shipped them to Germany to expand existing German plants. I believe much of the French/Belgian steel production was diverted to the same purpose.

 

Some of the French tank industry went into repairing what the Germans captured, while some went into doing all those Beckker conversions. The French auto industry was kept at making motor vehicles because the Wehrmacht couldn't get enough trucks and other vehicles in service to even keep up with losses.

 

Good point. When the Germans first captured arms factories, the natural first thought may have been to keep them building what they were (38 t) or whatever German model they could accommodate (Panzer II). A year later they may have focused on expanding production of the tanks they really wanted.