La Jeep: France’s Forgotten Cousin of the American Jeep
Not many people are aware of this, but France actually built their own “Jeep” under licence for the French Army. You see, after WW2 the French were presented with over 22,000 surplus Jeeps by the United States. This was part of the post-war plan to quickly rearm Western Europe in the face of the growing Soviet threat. But these were second-hand units and half of them were not even in working order. Perfect to cannibalize for parts, but the French needed more working vehicles.
The Hotchkiss M201: France’s Solution
Etablissement de Réserve Générale du Matériel Automobile ended up taking up the task of attempting to make the older Jeeps usable. While those that were too far gone were scrapped for parts, parts which were used to build “New” Jeeps for the French Army. These new models were known as the Hotchkiss M201 and they would remain in service for decades.
The End of an Era
In 1981, the decision was finally made to retire La Jeep with the Peugeot P4, but the last Hotchkiss would not be officially retired until 2000.
~NC
