What is the true meaning of SNEB?

[Weasel Pilot]

Have seen Societe Nationale des Explosifs Brandt and Societe Nouvelle des Establishments Edgar Brandt, which...if either...is correct? (Of course neither is correct, since I didn't put the correct diacritical marks, but you get the idea)

 

[Michel Van]

offcial was it
"Societe Nouvelle des Etablissements Edgar Brandt"
in english: "New Compay Establishments Edgar Brandt"
today is TDA ARMEMENTS SAS part of Groupe THALES

because "Etablissements Edgar Brandt" merge with "Hotchkiss et Cie" In 1956
and was renamed la "société Hotchkiss-Brandt" (today part of Thomson-CSF)
SNEB came later

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

More info on the SNEB rocket can be found at this link (by the way, SNEB reached the operational phase and wasn't a paper project in a strict sense):

SNEB - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[dan_inbox]

A good short history of SNEB is on page 6 of this pdf: (in French)

http://www.eurosae.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Tugaye_Armements.pdf

Summary is that SNEB was created as a result of a financial restructuring of société Brandt in 1945.

BTW the text claims that Brandt had invented the shaped charge and passed it secretly to the allies after the invasion of France, resulting in the production of Bazooka. Wonder if anyone has more info on this?

 

[cardonet]

BTW the text claims that Brandt had invented the shaped charge and passed it secretly to the allies after the invasion of France, resulting in the production of Bazooka. Wonder if anyone has more info on this?

From "EBB, l'épopée industrielle", a TDA booklet

 

[TomS]

BTW the text claims that Brandt had invented the shaped charge and passed it secretly to the allies after the invasion of France, resulting in the production of Bazooka. Wonder if anyone has more info on this?

Seems like this is pretty complex. There is a very comprehensive history of the evolution of the shaped charge here, written by a US shaped charge experimenter. It includes the role of Swiss French engineer Henry Mohaupt (mentioned in the French article cardonet just posted). It also mentions that the French government asked Brandt to make grenades using the shaped charge effect but that this proved impossible due to the situation. So Mohaupt was sent to the US in 1940, where he contributed to the development of the bazooka.

Henry Mohaupt is credited (Ref. 74) with bringing the lined shaped charge technology to
the United States on 18 October 1940 and demonstrations were made to the U.S. Army
Ordnance Department occurred shortly after. The demonstrations were well received and
quickly led to the development of a 2.36-inch rifle grenade. Through an evolutionary
process, the grenade was soon provided with a rocket propulsion device which soon became
known in the U.S. Army as the "Bazooka."

Mohaupt continues in the 1966 published article:
"...by request of the French Government after the outbreak of World War II,
demonstration firings with antitank projectiles and 100 mm beehive demolition
charges were then conducted at Bourges Proving Ground. The penetration of these
charges had been further improved by the use of very precise cones and by the use
of cast main charges composed of mixtures of...(Pentolitc)...and similar cast charges
containing Hexogen (RDX) and TNT ...the French Government authorized immedi-
ate quantity production of these antitank projectiles by the Establishments E. E.
Brandt ...However the rapid deterioration of the military situation put an end to the
program and the French Governmeny authorized the release of the secret information to
the United States Government...In 1940, a French representative, Col. P. Delalande,
and (Mohaupt) were requested to proceed to the United States for this purpose..."

 

[Archibald]

When you think about it, mass production of shaped charges or bazookas could have helped a lot in the final stages of the battle of France. I mean: after Dunkirk (June 4) when the Germans assaulted the too-thin Weygand line the next day, June 5: all that was left of the French armies. Which resisted until June 10, before inevitably cracking: and after that, Paris fell...

Shaped charges: a nasty strategic surprise for the panzers attacking the Weygand line...

(but this belongs the alt-history section, not here)

 

[cardonet]

The previous document states:
« 1938: Eddar Brandt tries to revive the armament activities by proposing innovative solutions on (...) the additional propulsion for artillery projectiles. »

These additional-propulsion projectiles were cannon-launched shells with a propellant charge that provided additional impulse through aft nozzles. In 1937, Brandt was the first private company (at least in France) to order double-base propellant grains for this kind of projectile.