Somua AC (AC 1 alebo AC 2)

On 24.12.1931 the final specifications of the AMC (Automitrailleuse de Combat) armoured fighting vehicle development programme were completed and approved on 23.1.1932. The 1931 program followed the similar AMC N^o2 program of 1924, but the necessary specifications were adapted to new trends in armoured vehicle development.


Specifications of the 1931 AMC program:
- maximum weight was not to exceed 9 tons
- the crew was to consist of 3 men, two of whom were to be in the turret (4 men if the vehicle had reverse steering)
- minimum armour thickness in exposed areas was to be 20 mm
- the vehicle had to be able to negotiate all terrains, barbed wire barriers and be able to negotiate a 1 metre wide trench
- the vehicle should be able to move on roads at an average speed of at least 30 km/h


Somua was in a bit of a hurry and its design of the vehicle was ahead of the approval of the final specifications. It thus created a vehicle to AMC N^o2 specifications. For her project, she decided to use a semi-axle chassis. However, the vehicle did not impress military officials and the prototype was not accepted for mass production. A competing project Fromajet by Batignolles-Chatillon ended the same way. Third in the competition was a design by Renault, known by its corporate name Renault YR. This design won the competition, and its production form bore the designation AMC 34.
Interestingly, the prototype abandoned on the road fell into the hands of German troops during the occupation of France in 1940. As for the designation of this vehicle, Francoise Vauvillier cannot identify the numerical designation in his encyclopedia. He states that it may have been an AC 1 or an AC 2. On the Russian site listed below, this vehicle bears the designation AC 1. It was probably drawn from GBM Nos. 105 and 106, which were issued just prior to the aforementioned encyclopedia, and may contain the identified designation of this vehicle. The designation AC 2 was intended to be carried by a heavier vehicle.


*Source:
Francois Vauvillier - The encyclopedia of French tanks and armoured vehicles 1914-1940, Histoire & Collections, published in 2014, ISBN: 978-2-35250-322-4
Pascal Danjou - Juin 1940, L´Impossible Sursaut, Trackstory no.5, Editions du Barbotin, published in 2006, ISBN: 2-9520988-4-0
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