Fall Gelb 1940 (1): Panzer breakthrough in the WestNever in the history of warfare has the clash between such great and apparently equal forces been decided so swiftly and conclusively as the German conquest of France and the Low Countries in May and June of 1940. Not deigning to spend itself against the extensive fortifications of France's Maginot Lines, Hitler's Wehrmacht planned to advance its 136 (of 157) divisions through Belgium and northern France in order to destroy the Allied forces there and gain territory from which to prosecute continued combat operations against France and England. Beginning on 10 May 1940, this title follows the fortunes of Heeresgruppe A as its three Panzer Korps moved stealthily through the dark, hilly, and thickly forested Ardennes in southern Belgium before forcing a passage across the river Meuse and racing through France to the Channel in one of the most daring campaigns in history. |
Contents
| 5 | |
Chronology | 9 |
Opposing Commanders | 11 |
Opposing Plans | 15 |
Opposing Forces | 19 |
The Campaign | 31 |
Aftermath | 88 |
The Battlefield Today | 91 |
Further Reading | 93 |
Glossary | 94 |
| 95 | |
| 97 | |
| 98 | |
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Common terms and phrases
1ère Armée 2e DCr 9e Armée AASF advance aircraft airfields Allied anti-tank guns Ardennes Armeekorps armoured Arras arrived assault attack Aufkl.-Abt battalions battle Belgian Belgium Blenheims bombers bombing bridgehead Brigade British Bulson campaign Canal casemates cavalry Char B1 Char B1 bis command Corap counter-attack defenders destroyed Dinant Division d'Infantrerie Dunkirk enemy Fall Gelb Fall Rot Field Artillery Rgts fighter flak flank Fliegerkorps forces France French Army Gamelin Général Generalleutnant Generalmajor Generaloberst German GRDI Guderian Heeresgruppe Hitler Huntziger Infanterie-Division infantry divisions IRGD Kempf’s Kirchner's Kleist light tanks Luftwaffe Maginot Line Meuse River miles Montcornet Monthermé motorized infantry Oise ordered Panzer Panzer-Division Panzer-Division's Pion.-Bat pontoon bridge Pz.-Rgt PzKpfw PzKpfw III RALD RATTT reconnaissance Régiment d’Infanterie regiments reserve riflemen Rommel Rundstedt's Sedan Spahis Squadron Stukas Thomas Laemlein troops units Wadelincourt XX XX XXXX