For example, the 295th Infantry Regiment's 6th Company, 2nd battalion, was made up of four different companies which were drawn from three different battalions belonging to three different regiments. [46] The French lost 21 fighters in the operation. Napoleon was urged to place himself at the head of his troops for one final break-out attempt, but he recognized that further resistance would bring only pointless slaughter. [71] Yet it was not until 17 hours after the original order to advance to Bulson that the lead French tanks reached the Bulson ridge. Panzerkorps rolled into Sedan. The main thrust of Fall Gelb was to be conducted by Army Group A through the Ardennes in Luxembourg and southern Belgium. [6] The slow advance of artillery units to the front added to the German numerical inferiority, which was now 1:3 against. [25], General Charles Huntziger, commander of the French Second Army, was happy to rely on "concrete" to ensure the safety of Sedan as he rejected the idea that the Germans would attack through the Ardennes. [60] One of the premier German fighter units responsible for the heavy loss rate was Jagdgeschwader 53 (Fighter Wing 53), who later engaged French bombers who tried to succeed where the AASF failed. [41] The Luftwaffe was two hours late in appearing but the effort made was considerable. French soldiers commented on the massive psychological effect of the bombardment, in particular the siren of the Ju 87. The platoon of 75 mm short barrel artillery failed to knock it out. [46], The French 55th Infantry Division was not prepared for such an attack. Of that number, 7,000 were given to the cavalry divisions that were intended to delay a German advance through southern Belgium as well as to blockhouse points along the Franco–Belgian border. Consequently it arrived late at Donchery, after the 1st and 10th Panzer Divisions had initiated their assaults across the Meuse. Guderian decided it was better to mount an aggressive defence given the lack of any suitable anti-tank weapons for a defensive battle. They ran into and defeated elements of X Corps near Chemery. [85] French and British forces were dispatched from England and participated in the battles of June 1940, the French surrendering along with the rest of the French armed forces on 25 June 1940, when the Armistice of 22 June took effect.  • Lithuania [24], The French defences at Sedan were weak and neglected.  • Home front [48], The Luftwaffe's target was the Marfee heights which lay behind Sedan to the south east. However, one crucial disadvantage of the French tanks, considered as a very broad whole, was their low endurance. Most were located in the bunkers on the south side of the river Meuse-Donchery sector. PaK 36 in action 1940. The Second Army built 52,000 cubic metres (1,800,000 cu ft) of concrete fortifications along its front, but very little in the Sedan sector. [25], As the French constructed further fortifications, Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft picked up the activity and reported it. They found the Germans had beaten them there by a few minutes. They eased the 2nd Panzer's passage by knocking out several bunkers on their eastern flank and succeeded in cutting the Donchery-Sedan road. The division consisted mainly of reservists, most of who were over the age of 30. In collaboration, Bruno Loerzer's II. Some of its units cleared the Meuse bend. [20] The French concluded that at best, a German assault through the Ardennes towards Sedan would not reach the Meuse until two weeks after the start of any German offensive, taking between five to nine days to penetrate the Ardennes alone. Fliegerkorps, nicknamed the Nahkampf-Fliegerkorps (Close Support Air Corps), which contained Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 (Dive bomber Wing 77), a powerful concentration of dive-bomber units equipped with the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka precision ground attack aircraft. These units came from Luftflotte 2 and Jagdfliegerführer 3 (Fighter Leader 3). The speed of the FCM 36 was not designed to go any faster for this reason, so its top speed was only 24 km/h (15 mph). The artillery falling on the 2nd Panzer Division's eastern flank was stopped. [6] To the north and south of Sedan, the French X Corps and French XXXXI Corps (at the artillery fortress at Charleville-Mézières) could also add their artillery and shell Guderian's Panzer units as they crossed the bridgeheads. Here the position was truly hopeless. Initially, only limited numbers of air units were to be used, but the Luftwaffe's workload was greatly increased nearer the time of the battle. Some of the French 102nd Infantry division's batteries also joined in from the north west, at Charleville. The impressive escort was offset by the presence of German fighter units that outnumbered the Allied escort fighters by 3:1. The nine Kampfgruppen (bomber wings) of Bruno Loerzer's II. In desperation, the French cavalry attacked three times, showing a courage that the German gunners admired even as they obliterated their attackers. For the first few days the German air arm would be used mostly in support of Army Group B. [59] The AASF flew 81 sorties and lost 52 percent of its strength.  • Operation Keelhaul The First Rifle Regiment, 1st Panzer, had crossed the boundary into the 2nd Panzer's territory. The division consisted mainly of reservists, most of who were over the age of 30. Diverted from their success at Gaulier, near Sedan, the 2nd Panzer Company was rushed to the spot and managed to delay the French armoured advance. Most were located in the bunkers on the south side of the river Meuse-Donchery sector. Loerzer's Ju 87s flew some 180 missions against Sedan's bunkers whilst Richthofen's managed 90. [32], The German forces consisted of the 1st, 2nd and 10th Panzer Divisions. In the Netherlands the Germans made steady process. They managed to eliminate the anti-tank lines and entrenched French infantry.

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