History :

The Elzass E3M was a light infantry tank built by the Gallian Empire at the beginning of the Great Continental War. The design for this vehicle had some advanced features, including a fully cast hull, and a very good autonomy for it’s time. Just prior to the invasion of the Teutonian Reich, the E3M proved itself to be a tactically effective type, serving as a pretty effective recon vehicle, aswell as having good performances in cross-country environment.

Design :

Designed from 1933 onwards and produced until 1941, the type was intended as an infantry support light tank, equipping tank battalions, that would be merged with infantry divisions to assist them in executing offensive operations. To this end it was relatively weakly armoured, but had a good antitank-capacity, fitted with a new 37 mm gun, aswell as a good suspension. At the outbreak of the war, the antitank-role was more emphasized leading to the development and eventual production from 1939 of a subtype with a more powerful longer gun, the E4M “Special”, armed with a 50mm gun. It was planned to shift new production capacity to the manufacture of other, faster, types, but it was decided to prioritize the construction of larger and more amoured tanks, and thus only 100 of the 1500 E3M’s were converted into E4M. A third variant, the E3MA (Also nicknamed as “Emma”) was equipped with a new and more powerful engine, aswell as a new turret. Only 250 E3M’s would be converted into this variant, because of the arrival of new, more modern designs.

Controls :

-Pitch/Roll = movement
-VTOL/TRIM = Turret traverse/depression
Group 1 : Lights

Specifications

Mass : 11.1 tonnes
Length : 5.4 m
Width : 3.1 m
Height : 2.8 m
Crew : 3 (driver, turret gunner, commander)
Armor 30 mm slopped (hull front)
30 mm sloped (turret front)
25 mm (hull sides and turret sides)
10 mm (top)
Main armament : 37 mm TG-1938 gun
Secondary armament : 7.5 mm Lacrosse mle 1931 x1
Operational range : 250–330 km
Speed : 36.0 km/h