The crew of Char B1 bis No. 257 "BOURRASQUE" captured at Mortiers on May 17th 1940

In the evening of May 16th 1940, 1/15e and 2/15e BCC B1 bis tank crews are exhausted after traveling 160km and engaging in heavy fighting without sleep for two days. Low on fuel and ammunition and with some vehicles battle damaged, some are separated during the night.
Of five B1 bis tanks "TEMPETE", "BOURRASQUE", "TOULON", "MARTINIQUE" AND "AQUITAINE", the latter two were deemed unsalvageable and destroyed by their own crews. "BOURRASQUE" then sets off southwards with the damaged "TOULON" and "TEMPETE" in tow in an attempt to evade German forces. At around six in the morning, the tanks encounter a German truck that is destroyed with a 47mm shell and then move on until just short of Pargny-les-Bois where "BOURRASQUE" runs out of fuel. It takes on what is left in the other tanks' reservoirs and heads off alone in search for more fuel.
"BOURRASQUE" makes it across Pargny-les-Bois and Crécy without incident then heads East towards Dercy, where elements of 1. Panzer-Division are encountered. The tank charges at the German forces with guns blazing and under heavy fire, breaking through to continue down the road where several trucks and motorbikes as well as two armored cars are met and destroyed.
Arriving at Mortiers, "BOURRASQUE"'s last remaining fuel are exhausted and the tank is unable to move any further. Surrounded by German forces from different directions and with the 75mm gun in the hull useless if the vehicle cannot be moved, the crew has no chance of escape and finally surrenders just before noon on May 17th 1940. Tank commander Lieutenant Sauret is taken prisoner along with two other members of his crew, as well as Lieutenant Vaucheret and Sergent Courberand, commander and driver of "MARTINIQUE" respectively that had joined with "BOURRASQUE" on her relief mission. The footage depicts the surrender, with some sources stating that this was not the actual event but a reenactment that the prisoners were forced to act out for the benefit of the camera.
The remaining crew with "TOULON" and "TEMPETE" stayed with their tanks and destroyed several German vehicles that approached as they waited for "BOURRASQUE" to return. It soon becomes clear that they are waiting in vain so the tanks are destroyed to prevent capture and the men make their way towards French lines on foot, and are forced to swim across the Oise as the bridges spanning the river had been blown. They eventually rejoin friendly forces on May 19th.

[@angloirishcad]

Beautiful tank...one of the best at that stage in the war

[@ichbins8588]

I fully agree (being german), if lead properly, the french tanks would have given their opponents a very hard time

[@Losowy]

Till you realise how badly the french connected the armor parts

[@augustiner3821]

yeah, but with a mobility of a stranded walrus and without radio lost to modern warfare

[@theblitz6838]

Ehhh... It certainly came with a list of painful flaws.

[@jackkruese4258]

Possibly the best tank in 1940, totally capable of holding its own against a Panzer 3 or Panzer 4 but deployed using an out of date doctrine by the French. As were we the Brits.

[@SMJ495]

Those men did all they could. The lie that the French were cowards in ww2 never fails to frustrate me!

[@kameronsharp8691]

Yeah people fail to forget all the shit they did and the fact that they acted as a buffer for Britain to get it's shit together to an extent.

[@l337pwnage]

I think that propaganda was pushed because the French didn't really want to be part of the war and I think the other allies wanted them to just be cannon fodder and just fight to the last man. I know some French companies had to pay reparations, I'm not sure if the French gov't was/is.

[@Bagration421]

Indeed … they didn’t had 2600km to fall back and millions of lives to sacrifice like the Russians, they didn’t had a channel sea to protect them from land invasion like the British and the country was not on the other side of the world like the Americans.

[@bruhism173]

They were in a tank and did nothing it looks

[@johannesbauer4490]

Their gov't was pressured by the Brits into jointly declaring war on Germany. Probably shouldn't have done that. Always sad for the brave soldiers who are sacrificed.

[@capthawkeye8010]

Tamiya made a model kit of this tank.

[@MrSebfrench76]

Actual events, no rrenactement here. No german soldiers look to the cameraman, it's lived , not staged.

[@dustycups]

If you’re going to disagree with the description that came with this video you’ll need to go into a bit more depth. Who were the sources were who said it was staged, and why are they wrong? There’s a bunch of people including the cameraman casually milling around the front of the tank and its guns with their rifles slung before the crew come out. I think even that alone says a lot.

[@frenzalrhomb6919]

The looks of despair on both the French Soldiers faces told you all the story of the second world war for the French that you needed to hear. The story Americans, in particular, put out about "French surrender monkeys," while at the same time NEVER thinking of having German Sodiers on their streets, for the third time in seventy years, is something that they, thankfully, never had to think about having happen to them.

[@-NINE-THREE-]

"French surrender monkey" is a direct quote from Jeremy Clarkson, from BRITISH Top Gear lol

[@frenzalrhomb6919]

@-NINE-THREE- But it's been Americans, and mostly in my experience, of the online variety that have used the phrase the most. And someone should point out to Clarkson, that it was the entire British Expeditionary Force's that were fleeing Belgium and France who, it was supposed, would be "just as happy as we would be with their new house guests." As it turns out, the "surrender monkeys," or should I say the "sly bastards" are the English, for trying to get the "f-k outta Dodge" before the War REALLY got "ugly!!"

[@derikuk2967]

It's in the same class(less) as "American cut-and-run allies", as in Vietnam, Afghanistan, soon-to-be Ukraine etc.

[@IvorMektin1701]

​@@frenzalrhomb6919 Roast beef vs. Frog 🍿

[@krle7970]

@@derikuk2967?

[@user-vc2od1wg9o]

Фюрер восхищался храбростью французских солдат,,в отличие от их командиров...

[@kimjanek646]

I also have a heart decal in WT on my French tanks :3

[@capthawkeye8010]

French Armor was using card symbology for unit organization.

[@bwilliams463]

0:05 I don't think I would climb onto an actively-burning tank. You can see a lot in the faces of the crew. Despair, yes, but also determination and pride.

[@ichbins8588]

the burning vehicle is in the background, it's not the Char B1

[@bwilliams463]

@@ichbins8588 I'll have to take a closer look. Thank you for pointing that out.

[@ichbins8588]

@@bwilliams463 you are welcome, sometimes these footages are confusing :)

[@OffizierHashem]

Lucky.

[@jimvenegas8168]

Plan madness back then and as today

[@alexdemoya2119]

french soldiers fought like lions. the politicians failed them

[@nandee6601]

Awesome footage! Any ideas to what happened to the crew?

[@BrownEyePinch]

Probably shot

[@sickfarce6275]

wikipedia.org/wiki/French_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II To get a rough idea of what might have happened to them.

[@sickfarce6275]

Most likely taken prisoner, but there is of course always the possibility of execution. The wiki article "French prisoners of war in World War II" gives a rough insight into what might have happened to them.

[@mikemulligan5731]

@@BrownEyePinch You would have anally probed them first, right?

[@brummel4606]

Blödsinn ​@@BrownEyePinch

[@matthewmcmacken6716]

Soon, they'll be frogwalked into captivity.

[@swann433]

Main reason France gave up rather quickly is due to losses they took in WW1 just 20 years before. They did fight hard but just got outmaneuvered. They were not cowards like Americans like to say ...

[@gotanon9659]

When you surrender when the germans only took like half of their country and the other half is free their navy is intact never mind the fact that they still have there overseas colonies in africa intact are they really not cowards...the brits would have fought tooth and nail heck the poles, the chezch and the norwegians who's country was under full ocupation escaped joined the allies and still FOUGHT...are they not really cowards

[@JohnSmith-ei2pz]

I disagree! The french navy had to be shelled by the Royal Navy, as they were going to side with the Germans!

[@Warmaker01]

It being 1940, I really do wonder how many of those soldiers made it to see the end of the war in 1945.

[@Hordalending]

*Notice how noble and highborn those German soldiers look compared to the French*

[@dustycups]

Looks like the crew may have been beaten up by the Germans before being forced to do a reenactment of the their surrender for the camera.

[@emdae921]

I noticed that too, they seemed angry and annoyed by what they were doing. But calmer than being captured, no panic looks. Germans also had rifles shouldered in the video, so i detect no threat to them also. Seems all a bit casual but still those french man were brave Also i noticed one of the crew so dirty looking, possibly from a hit to the tank disabling it? Wonder if the Germans used that B1 for themselves too after.

[@ichbins8588]

you've maybe watched too many bad war movies. Or how shall they look after their tank had been disabled, getting captured by the enemy?

[@DeltaEchoGolf]

@@emdae921 The Germans were trying to get the crew out of the tank. One German on the tank had a potato masher ready if they didn't surrender.

[@ichbins8588]

@@emdae921 must have been, as they created the designation "Pz.Kpfw. B2 740 (f)"

[@JurgenWolf-dd3ou]

You Do Not believe such Nonsens! You have obviously seen to many Anti-German Films and Propaganda!

[@blitzsturm5614]

That char smelled like Froggies and Onions