Billotte served in the 1st Compagnie of the 41st Tank Battalion, equipped with the Char B1 heavy tank.
René Char | Char Aznable | Arctic char | Char B1 | Char Dham | Char Asiab District | char | Arctic Char | Rene Char | Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack | char kway teow | CHAR-FM | Char D2 | Char 2C | Char |
The Char D1 had already departed from the pure infantry support concept and evolved from a light into a medium tank, capable of fighting enemy armour; this made it the obvious candidate to be quickly changed into a lighter alternative for the Char B1 battle tank, needed because the latter type was in danger of being forbidden by an expected armaments limitation treaty under the auspices of the League of Nations, imposing an upper weight limit of twenty metric tonnes for armoured fighting vehicles.
The Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée (FCM), located at Toulon, had some previous experience with tank production as it had constructed the ten giant Char 2C tanks in 1921 and had been involved in the development of the Char B1.