My wife bought me the RPM UE with 3.7cmPAK 36 (not a top of the line kit, but I don't need a top of the line kit and it was at the LHS and CHEAP). Now I have a question, I know that the Germans had a command version of the UE in France in '44, but would it be acceptable to have the PAK 36 version in a France '44 setting? I realize that by 1944 the PAK 36 was little more than a pea shooter, but is it possible that this might have been used in some kind of security or rear area role or am I out in left field?

Good question.

I'm going to generalise in a huge way here but....
Most captured French equipment was used in the following roles:

1. Operation Barborrosa (and other 1941/42 operations), where it didn't really fair very well against Russian tanks and winter and most of this equipment was lost abandonned or relegated.

2. Given to German allies, such as Romania who didn't have the ability to equip it's own armoured divisions and who wasn't deemed 'worthy' of German armour (especially as there wasn't enough to keep German units at full strength).

3. Used in 'police' roles against partisans and to keep the local popoulation suitably quiet (eg. A Renault R-35 is still impressive to your average civilian who doesn't know about combat performance).

Your vehicle could happily fit into the latter option as many french vehicles were left in France and encountered by the allies during the campaign there (some were even re-captured and used by Free French units ironically). I can't guarantee this particular variant was around in France as those I have seen look to be more Barborrossa era/area vehicles, but never say never.

There are plenty of photos around showing Germans messing around on UE's in rear areas and one in a french looking setting with a different gun mounted on the back. So they would certainly have been about in abundance. (21st Pz div in Normandy I beleive was equipped almost entirely with captured stock).

I did a UE a while back see here and so had some research on them in German hands. If you are interested drop me a PM and I'll see what I can come up with. However, I have since had a hard drive die on me so I can't guarantee I still have this research.

Hope This helps,

James

The academc in me doesn't like that answer, the modeller in me (not a rivit counter), says THANK YOU, that's close enough for government work. Actually you have gven me some varibles on the diorama I have planned. Thanks again. BTW, it was your UE project that inspired my project.

The Germans used some UEs to patrol airfields and as artillery haulers. I've seen pics of some pulling 37mm paks and 50mm paks. There are some pics of some destroyed by the Allies during the Normandy fighting.

I picked up the RPM kit back int he mid 90s...though I think it was boxed as a Mirage offering at the time. I was going to use the UE to pull a Heller French 2cm ATK gun. The worst part for me was the individual tracks. They were extremely brittle and I lost way too many tryign to get them off the sprues. And what you could get off really looked bad when assembled. I ended up stashing it unfinished for a decade. I did away with the RPM/Mirage kit after I got the Tamiya version.

James, nice work on that UE. Next go around I'll just have to try an interior.

Matt;

The Renault UE - maybe as many as 3000+ used in many support roles - some in the Russian Front back lines as tow vehicles, etc. Others as mentioned off to the less-fortunate armies, etc. The UE largely stayed nearer to France and northern Europe, with many being assigned to or handed over to the Luftwaffe for airfield tows, supply carriers, and security vehicles. The pictoral history is pretty replete with pics of these things in back-lines use.

The PaK 36 conversions were short-lived and done / used in France+ in 1940 and in the Balkans into 41. Few made it to Barbarossa. None of these gun-tracks were apparently encountered or used in France ca 1944.

Many other UE versions were seen in western and northern Europe to the end of the war - the mentioned (and kitted) security vehicles and observation - spotter vehicles (mostly Luftwaffe airfield uses), basic UE used as field tow vehicles, etc. And a couple dozen which were converted in France in 1944 to serve as rocket-launchers. Two Mirage kits depict these two documented versions.

Probably the "gun" versions did not survive long in use because the vehicle was way over-loaded, and, as doc'd in several interesting photos one can see around the web, notoriously top-heavy and unstable. The UE was actually known to easily tip over when cornering at even modest speed... That, and of course there was hardly any room for, let alone any shelter for, a gun crew.

Notably, the UE apparently missed being mounted with Flak 38 guns - something which did appear on almost every other vehicle in the German inventory after 1941.... I'd bet that the carrier was really too tiny and too un-stable for this rather modest weapon.

I built the Mirage kit with the top-mounted rocket frames - actually pretty cool, and, once I got used to those tiny track links, those were OK - if a little tedious. The Mirage kits are a little soft on the details, but can come out pretty nice with a little scratch or fiddle-work. I've attached a pic below of this modest effort for your entertainment.

I'd say that you would be safer using your PaK 36 UE in a Balkan theatre dio - there MAY have been some surviving and being used in Norway, Denmark or The Low Countries or maybe France on an airfield (as were ex-French tanks) or in an anti-partisan role, but again the survivability of the exposed crews probably ended that quite quickly. It would actually be safer to use such as a fire-support weapon for infantry attacking a village then for it to be used to patrol a road, where partians would simply wait to snipe the crew once it was a-breast of passed...

But that kit is pretty cool, IMO!



Cheers!

Bob

@GAB I assumed it was a reboxed Mirage kit. I noticed the tracks, whch gave me pause, but then I realized I could use them to my advantage for the scence I have planned.

@James, thank you for reminding me about 21st panzer division, that gave me all the info I needed to finalize my dio.

@Bob, thanks for posting your kit. I did some research on the 21st pz at and it looks like they might have had at least a few PAK 36 mounted vehicles if my sources are accurate.

There are also pic's of them pulling aircraft around the airfeilds.

Hi Matthew,

I think the most easiest is to put it somewhere without a reference to a specific country, like I did with my Mirage UE:


(dio build in progress)



Jelger

The problem with that idea is that I am first and foremost a figure painter, so therefore I must have figures. Going on the assumption that 21st pz div had at least one UE 630 (f) during the Normandy Campaign, I think I am going to go with that, and have the vehicle surrounded by a group of British/Commonweath soldiers; though I might go with some sort of a scene at the end of the war with a derelict vehicle.