What color would an Israeli Hotchkiss H-35 be painted? the only 2 photos I've seen in one was at a museum (basic green) and the other b&w. would it be tan or green or what?


-thanks

Hey William,
From what little I can find in my references, the Hotchkiss tanks that the Israelis used were acquired from France.
The one photo I can find in Steven Zaloga's Israeli Tanks and Combat Vehicles, Tanks Illustrated No.5, shows an unmodified (no Germanized cupola) Hotchkiss with the Russian Company in 1948.
There appears to be another Hotchkiss in the background with a split hatch cupola.
It's possible that some of these tanks had been one modified and used by the Germans.
With out any actual colour photos, I'd go with a green colour, maybe French military green.
Maybe even German dark yellow.
I'll be interested to see what you decide on.
Cheers

jjumbo

German Dark yellow sounds interesting and a bit ironic, I think I'll do that!



-Thanks

forgot to ask, what markings would there be on the tank if any.

According to Osprey Vanguard 19-Armour of the Middle East Wars 1948-78, it is "faded French olive green." The markings incuded two white diagonal stripes on the turret, behind which was the number 421.

thanks for the help

Having spent time in Israel many years ago, I agree with French Green but somewhat faded...

Gary

I am away from my book collection right now so this will have to be from memory:
I have seen a colour profile in the Concord book "Armour of the Middle East Wars". Here the Hotchkiss is in dark yellow with brown hard edge motteling. As far as I recall they were also captured machines, but might have been supplemented by machines bought from abroad.

The Minitracks book on the Hotchkiss has a couple of photos and a colour plate portraying a tank in a non-specific greenish shade. Exactly what colour the tanks may have been is anyone's guess - the French re-used some at the end of the war as part of their occupation force in the Palatinate, and these were painted monotone green, though who's green is open to question.

This pic is from Andrew Kirk's Tanks! site



IIRC the French tanks used by the Arabs were Renault R-35s

David

Thanks for all the help. I'm going yellow!

One little note I might add- very early Israeli armor (the "sandwich trucks", etc.) was painted yellow, but when the IDF was actually formed, the official color was US Olive Drab (the WW2 lighter shade), and I'm doing a Bronco Hotchkiss H39 in that color. (BTW, it has the IDF markings as an option.) Of course in that era, not all equipment were painted in official colors; vehicles were often in whatever color paint they can in when used for fighting. So you can go any color (within reason) and probably get away with it.