Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today marks the eve of Forgotten Hope 2's 13th birthday: version 2.0 was released on Friday 14th December 2007. Since then we have also managed to have 13 major updates, and we are still here working away at number 14 for you.

In other good news, we'd like to thank all of you who voted for us in the first round of ModDB's Mod of the Year awards. We have successfully made it into the second round, and would appreciate your votes once again.

So with all of that out of the way, today we thought we'd show you yet another weapon that you will be able to use against the incoming panzers in France.

France was one of the major users of the tank in the First World War, and while the Germans never were able to catch up some thought was still put towards developing something that infantry in the front line could use to defeat attacking tanks. Two ideas would be prototyped, a 13mm anti-tank rifle and a high velocity 17mm gun that could use the mount of the existing SA 16 37mm infantry support gun. The armistice put an end to this experimenting, but the idea of a high velocity low calibre gun remained.

In 1926, Hotchkiss presented the army with a 25mm anti-tank gun on a light portable carriage. It would take until 1934 after extensive trials and the threat of German rearmament before it would be adopted as the SA 34. It was a very small and portable gun, weighing only 490 kg total, and could easily be manhandled by its 6 man crew into all sorts of unusual positions. The 25×193.5mmR ammunition was potent, and could easily deal with any German tank in 1940 out to 500 metres or more. There was only solid shot available, either with or without tracer. The main downside of this low weight was fragility - it could not be towed at more than 15 km/h.

There would be a couple of variants made: the shorter barrel SA 35 for mounting in vehicles and an even lighter weight SA 37. In total, about 6000 were made, of which 300 were traded to the BEF in 1939 in exchange for Boys anti-tank rifles. Finland also ordered 50 during the Winter War, though only 20 arrived in time to be used. They would buy 200 more from the Germans before the Continuation War. They would continue to serve with various Axis powers and the Free French up until about 1943, at which point they were generally discarded as being totally outclassed by newer tank armour. Our SA 34 was made by Seth Soldier.

Finally today we can show off another render featuring more of the little miscellaneous statics that will really help to bring our French maps to life. CptBocquier made the 25mm ammunition and boxes and converted Kraetzer's UE into a static, while Seth soldier made the 7.5mm ammunition boxes and the SA34 gun.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

It is the start of December once again, which may or may not come as a surprise to you in this year where time has been meaningless, and December means that ModDB are running their Mod of the Year competition yet again.

There are still 5 days to vote for your favourite mods to get into the Top 100 for the second round of voting. We would be especially grateful of any votes you might wish to send our way, but don't forget to vote for any other mods that you like as well!

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today we are showing off a render of the most important weapon for the French Infantry, the FM 24/29 light machinegun.

In the immediate aftermath of the First World War, the French began a re-armament program to finally replace the large quantities of obsolete and substandard arms they had accrued before and during the war. Of prime importance was the light machinegun. The Chauchat had been recognised as an incredibly important weapon, but was clearly a design of war necessity. In 1922, the French evaluated a number of existing designs and selected the BAR as their preferred choice. In the end, it was decided to instead go with a domestic design.

Taking a heavy influence from the weapons just evaluated, Lieutenant Colonel Reibel developed what would be finally adopted in 1924 while working for the Châtellerault arsenal. The FM 24 would begin production in 1925, and was soon in the hands of the army. It was well liked by those who used it, but a significant flaw would require all the guns to be recalled. The new 7.5×57mm ammunition was very easy to mix up with German 8mm Mauser, and chambering and firing the latter in the FM 24 would lead to a destroyed barrel at best.

The solution to the ammunition problem was to shorten the case to 7.5×54mm and re-chamber the guns. This would become the FM 24 M29. It would become the primary automatic fire-power for all French infantry and cavalry squads by the start of the Second World War, and served on afterwards into the 1960s. There was a fortress mount modification, and the design formed the basis of the M1931 Reibel that armed French tanks and armoured cars. Our FM 24/29 was made by Seth Soldier.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.

Hello and welcome back to another Forgotten Hope 2 update.

Today for Armistice Day, we are showing off a render of perhaps the most important of the French artillery pieces in the first half of the 20th century, the famous Canon de 75.

In 1891, the patent for a hydro-pneumatic recoil system was sold by its German inventor Konrad Haussner to a commercial firm. Krupp was known to the French to be working on a design using this patent, and the opportunity to buy rights for themselves was appealing. Upon reviewing the blueprints, it was decided instead to work around the patent. Such was the secrecy surrounding this development, that the leaking of documents to the Germans sparked off the Dreyfus Affair, that split public opinion when evidence that the original conviction for treason might have been made on false evidence emerged.

In 1894, the final experimental 75mm artillery gun was ready. It initially showed promise, but further testing showed that it suffered the same oil leakage problems that had stalled the German attempt. This would be solved by a redesign of the piston that separated the oil from the compressed air. Fitted with an automatic fuse setter for shrapnel shells, the gun would finally be accepted into service in 1897.

The French 75 would prove itself in the First World War, with its ability to fire up to 30 aimed rounds a minute proving deadly in the battles of the Marne and Verdun. The French started the war with 4100 guns, and would build another 17500 in the following 4 years. By the Second World War, many of these guns were still in French service essentially unaltered, with thousands more in the hands of the Polish and Americans.

The modifié 1938 exchanged the solid wheels for tyres, allowing the gun to be towed by motorised vehicles instead of horses. Ours was made by Seth Soldier, who also made the ammunition statics. CptBocquier and Luacha 2000 made the ER 22 radio.

That's all for this week, but be sure to come back next time for another update. Until then, feel free to visit our Discord, our public forums, our Twitter, our subreddit, and/or Facebook pages to discuss this update and other news.