AMR 33s were kept in reserve. However, to create a larger number of motorised units, from 1 December 1939 till 15 February 1940 the last three cavalry divisions were disbanded and their personnel and matériel, supplemented with new motorized units, was redistributed among five new Divisions Légères de Cavalerie ("Cavalry Light Divisions"). It was first decided that these within each of the two battalions of their Régiment de Dragons Portés (motorised infantry regiment) would incorporate two AMR 33 platoons (half a squadron), which, together with six reserve tanks, would create a demand for five times 26 or 130 vehicles, slightly lower than the available total of 112. These later figures included the AMR 35s of the 1re DLC, inherited from the 1re DC. On 10 May, the day of the German invasion, this measure was shown to have been still insufficient. Only 5e DLC had its official strength of 26, the other three divisions having apparently not yet started to make an attempt to increase their strength: 2e DLC fielded 22 AMR 33s, 3e DLC twenty and 4e DLC 23, for a total strength of 91. There was thus a matériel reserve of 22 vehicles. In the Battle of France the type fared very badly. The DLCs in the Ardennes unexpectedly encountered the main German armoured force and could only fight a delaying battle for which the AMR 33 was not very useful. It was poorly armed and armoured – and very unreliable because of its one good point: its speed which wore out the suspension units. It was faster than any German tank of the time. Around 10:00 on 10 May near Vancé, AMR 33 N° 83950 of 3e DLC had the dubious distinction of being the first French tank to be destroyed in the battle, being hit by German anti-tank gunfire, killing the crew. During the first week of the fighting 75% of the AMR 33s was lost, often because of a breakdown. On 7 June 1940 the 7e DLM was created, an emergency unit, of which 4e RAM was part. That regiment had an allocation of fourteen AMRs; to this number probably nine AMR 33s belonged from the matériel reserve. All these vehicles would again be lost before the armistice of 25 June. Some captured AMR 33s were used by the Germans as the Panzerspähwagen VM 701 (f), probably mostly in France itself. A single vehicle survives