2C

This page is about the French heavy tank 2C. For the other version, see 2C bis.

2C

2C

Description

The Char FCM 2C is a rank French heavy tank with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update "Sky Guardians".

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour protection is mediocre, at best. The frontal armour will do little to stop standard guns like the American 37 mm or the Soviet 45 mm, and the sides are vulnerable to autocannons or even the infamous M2 Browning at close ranges. What you do have, however, is a whopping 12 crewmen, which means that even if your main crew has been disintegrated, you are still in the fight as long as you don't get ammo-racked.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

Mobility

The mobility of the 2C is sluggish; you will have little chance capturing points at the start. The 2C does have an electric transmission, giving it the benefit of being able to quickly reverse from a bad situation instead of needing to turn 180 degrees like most tanks. It is also the most crewed tank in the game toghether with the 2c bis it has an astonishing 12 crew all sitting pretty far away from eachother meaning that it is a real bullet sponge.

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade				646			__.__
Realistic				442			__.__

Armaments

Main armament

The 75 mm, despite looking impressive, is best attributed as lackluster, even underpowered. Your penetration is on par with German short 75 mm guns, but unlike the German versions, the 2C's gun only has access to its basic APHE round and a HE round. There is no HEAT shells available to counter Matilda or Churchill tanks, and you will suffer against M4 Shermans without proper support. Even the reload rate is inferior, with 5.5 seconds at max crew where pre-F2 Pz.IVs can already achieve about 4 seconds out of the box.

75 mm APX Canon de 75 mm modèle 1897					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	128	±20°	±140°	-	8.1	11.2	13.6	15.0	16.0	7.15	6.32	5.83	5.50
Realistic					5.9	7.0	8.5	9.4	10.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
Mle1900	HE	11	11	11	11	11	11
Mle1916	APHE	66	65	58	51	45	40

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
Mle1900	HE	500	5.3	0	0.1	695	79°	80°	81°
Mle1916	APHE	558	7.44	1.2	14	350	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the 2C

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
128	97 (+31)	67 (+61)	61 (+67)	55 (+73)	28 (+100)	1 (+127)	No

Machine guns

The two machine guns on the 2C are of dubious utility. The front one has limited traverse arcs by virtue of being bow-mounted, so its use is limited to whatever you point your tank towards. The rear turret is of more doubtful use, however, as it cannot fire to the front and, being a normal MG, lacks the power to damage anything short of open-tops.

8 mm Hotchkiss Mle 1914
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Bow	5,000 (150)	600 rpm	__°	__°
Rear turret	5,000 (150)	___	__°	__°

Usage in battles

Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Neutral steering gives the tank decent reflex mobility
• Can climb over rough terrain with ease due to its World War I design
• Reverse gearbox lets you pull out quickly of dangerous situations
• Has a dozen crew members, highly survivable
• Flank attacks from behind are easily shrugged off due to containing no essential crew
• Large unoccupied zones, can absorb shells

Cons:

• Awfully slow top speed
• Armour is mediocre at best, very vulnerable to high calibre HE or autocannons
• Limited turret traverse, very prone to flanking
• Poor elevation and depression angles
• Extremely large, easily spotted and hit

History

The FCM 2C was a French "super heavy" tank designed to conquer the "no man's land" of WW1. It was dimensionally the largest tank ever produced, and for a time the heaviest. Ready for production by February 1918, the war ended before any of the vehicles were completed, and so the order of 300 was eventually reduced to just 10, finished in 1921. The standard 2C mounted a 75 mm APX 1897 field gun, similar to the cannon which would be mounted on the M3 GMC tank destroyer. The 2C had many innovative design features for the time, including a hybrid drive, leaf spring suspension, the world's first three-man turret, and stroboscopic cupolas. All of the 2Cs were named after ancient regions of France.

One 2C, No. 99 "Champagne", was given a new two-man cast turret with a 155 mm howitzer. The commander was given his own compartment behind the turret. The side machine gun ports were also removed. This variant would be known as the 2C bis. Eventually, Champagne would be returned to its original configuration and its turret would be used as a makeshift static emplacement in the Mareth Line. Champagne would be the only 2C to survive the invasion of France, with the other nine tanks either being scuttled by their own crew to prevent capture, or breaking down.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the 2C from live.warthunder.com.

See also

Related development

• 2C bis

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

France heavy tanks
B1	B1 bis · B1 ter
2C	2C · 2C bis
ARL-44	ARL-44 (ACL-1)
AMX-50	Somua SM · AMX-50 Surbaissé · AMX-50 Surblindé
USA	▄M4A3E2