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ARL 44
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The ARL-44 was a French heavy tank, later reclassified as a tank destroyer. While its design began during World War II, no ARL-44 tanks were completed until 1949. The tank experienced performance issues and was quickly outclassed, causing it to be discontinued before it ever saw combat.

History[]

Development[]

In 1939-1940 the only French tanks to have a 75mm gun were the Char 2C and the B1 bis but both of them had serious defects, this is why in 1938 l'Atelier de Construction de Rueil (ARL) launched a study of a tank taking the chassis of the B1 bis with a turret equipped with a 75mm. The ARL-40 project was still in the drawing state when the France was defeated in 1940, however during the occupation a Vichy France secret organization, the CDM (Camouflage du Matériel), continue to secretly work on the project under the armistice interdictions to a design of a 30-ton tank armed with a high-velocity 75mm cannon, in November 1943 the Wehrmacht occupied the Free Zone and these projects were temporarily halted. Later during the occupation, the Germans asked to French tank manufacturers firms like Hotchkiss or SOMUA to build a tracked vehicle that could remove snow from Luftwaffe airfields and Kriegsmarine ports. Under the pretense of building this vehicle, the engineers worked on a new tank design for use after the war.

By August 1944 with the liberation of Paris, the provisional government led by De Gaulle decided to re-establish France as a great power, combined with the goal of participating more massively to the allied effort. On October 9, 1944 the Ministry of War decided to start production of a "char de transition" (transitional tank), however due to the outdated pre-war light and medium tank design there was no way to quickly make up for the time lost and immediately improve their component quality a compromise had to be made. So as the British and American were behind Germany in term of Heavy tanks, they decided to compensate by sheer size and goes on a heavy tank capable of dealing with the Tiger II.

On November 25 an order of 500 tanks was made and the design was done by the DEFA (Direction des Études et Fabrications d’Armement) concentrating former APX and AMX engineering teams, to be built by ARL as soon as possible. This was the start of the ARL 44 project. As France was isolated from engineering developments in the rest of the world due to the occupation, the designers had to to work on earlier and outdated designs. At first the ARL 44 was nothing more than an evolution of the Char B concept, the second gun was removed and the front armor was sloped at a high angle, the tank was also equipped with an older suspension system similar to the Char B and the tank was armed with a 75mm SA Mle.1944 whose ballistics it inherited penetrated 80 mm of armor from a kilometer away. This was enough to combat medium tanks, but was not enough for Tigers and Panthers, thing that ARL understood this perfectly. On December 28 the order for the 75mm tank was reduced to 200 vehicles and the 300 remaining had to be fitted with a heavier gun like a 90mm gun and ACL1 turrets were ordered.

In February 1945 during a meeting between engineers and the Army, some pointed out that the tank in its original specs was no better than the M4 Sherman that could be obtained for free from the Allies, so they decided to upgrade the armor to 120mm and that the tank should be equipped with a much powerful gun but no 90mm gun was provided with by the Allies. Only a wooden mock-up had been completed by General Lavirotte's engineering team when the war ended. The project didn't end with the war as on May 23, 1945, an order of 150 vehicles was done which was reduced to sixty and the first prototype still with the 60mm armor, the ACL1 turret and an American 76mm gun was finished on March 1946. The turret was replaced with the Schneider turret fitted with a 90mm SA45 gun taken from the FCM F1 project. The trials started on June 27, 1947 and it was only in 1949 that all hulls produced in 1946 were fitted with the turrets due to the numerous armament changes.

Operational History[]

Finished after the war, the tank never saw combat and was proven to be unreliable during its service, often prone to accidents. The tank made its only public appearance during the 1951 Bastille Day parade. It was phased out in 1953 with the appearance of the more reliable M47 Patton and was ordered to be scrapped in December 1954.

In Girls und Panzer[]

Das Finale[]

BC Freedom High School fielded five ARL-44 (one commanded by Oshida), during the Winter Continuous Track Cup first round match against Ooarai Girls Academy. One was responsible for guarding BC's flag tank while the other four split from the main group, to deceive Ooarai making them believe they represented no threat. Leopon Team was tasked with following the four ARL 44s but they were quickly pinned down by a fire barrage from the French tanks. Three of the ARLs reunite with other BC tanks to flank Ooarai's main force on a river bridge while one stays behind to prevent Leopon Team from joining back to the main group. After BC surrounds Ooarai on the river, the ARLs bombard Ooarai's forces on the bridge while the back-guard tank is outspeeded by the Tiger(P)'s EPS. After Ooarai escapes from the trap, the four ARLs retreat and form up with the rest of BC's tank group retreating to the bocage, the ARLs were in charge of protecting Marie and assuring the last line of defense, however Ooarai tricked BC Freedom with their B1 Bis (which have the same turret as the SOMUA S35) and unleashed a friendly fire where Oshida's ARL destroyed a SOMUA, in retaliation two ARLs were destroyed by a SOMUA and Andou and one last SOMUA was destroyed by an ARL until Marie managed to pull rank. Oshida alongside Andou managed to destroy the disturbing Mallard Team and made an attempt to escape the bocage maze during which an ARL was destroyed by the Tiger(P) and the M3 Lee, another ARL was destroyed by Leopon Team just after it destroyed Rabbit Team. in the end the last ARL commanded by Oshida and Ooarai's StuG simultaneously destroyed each other.

Warning: The following information may not be inside Girls und Panzer's main core. It has some level of canonicity within the continuity, but reader discretion is advised.


Ribbon Warrior[]

Asparagus arrived on top of an ARL 44 commanded by Oshida to announce the rules and format of 2nd round of Tankathlon tournament called Cauldron.

Non-GuP core informations ends here.


Dream Tank Match[]

BC Freedom High School used some ARL 44 during several training before the Winter Continuous Track Cup:

  • During an annihilation battle, Marie fielded one ARL 44 commanded by Oshida against three others ARLs and two SOMUAs. All opposing ARLs were destroyed alongside SOMUAs, the ARL 44's role depend on the gameplay.
  • During two trainings to see who is the worthiest to protect the Marie's flag tank:
    • First Andou and her SOMUA face Oshida and her ARL 44. The SOMUA destroyed the ARL 44.
    • Then Oshida and her ARL 44 face Andou and her SOMUA. This time the ARL took care of the SOMUA.
  • During one last training Marie forced Oshida and Andou to cooperate against her, the SOMUA and the ARL were fielded against Marie's FT-17. Both tanks were destroyed by Marie.

Gekkan Senshado Magazine[]

It is said that Maginot Girls' College own a single model of the ARL 44 but never fielded it.

Trivia[]

  • It is the only post-war tanks that participated in Sensha-do matches.
  • On October 26, 1950 the ARL-44 was reclassified as a tank destroyer rather than a heavy tank.
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