Blitzkrieg in the West. During the Belgian operation, the first tank battle of World War II took place - the Battle of Annu. Göpner's motorized corps defeated Priu's cavalry (tank) corps.
Breakthrough defense
The Anglo-French command acted as required by Hitler and his generals. Sent French and British armies to meet the Germans. The allies united with the Belgians and began to deploy along the borders of rivers and canals from Antwerp to Namur. It seemed that the enemy would be stopped, perhaps, and chased (in the north, the Allies first outnumbered the Germans). But the Germans acted faster than the Allies expected. The French and British sometimes did not even have time to get to the intended positions or gain a foothold in them. German mobile formations quickly moved forward, overturning the enemy in oncoming battles. In the Ardennes, where a strong blow was not expected, the Allies themselves weakened their positions by transferring additional forces and weapons to the northern sectors of the defense. The Ardennes arrows, as best they could, restrained the enemy, destroyed and mined roads, arranged blockages of stones and logs. However, German sappers quickly cleared the roads, and the German divisions passed the Ardennes and cut through the defenses of the 9th and 2nd French armies.
The Luftwaffe launched a series of strikes on Belgian airfields, in the very first days they destroyed a significant part of the Belgian Air Force and won air supremacy. The 6th Reichenau Army immediately crossed the southern part of the Albert Canal (capture of Eben-Emal). Belgian troops, hiding behind the destruction of communications and rearguards, retreated to the line of the river on the night of May 11-12. Diehl. The Belgians left the fortified area of Liege without a fight to avoid encirclement. The rapid fall of the first line of defense of the Belgian army stunned the Allies. They believed that the Belgians themselves would hold out for up to two weeks, while the Anglo-French troops would gain a foothold on the Dil line and tighten up the rear. On May 12, the Belgian king Leopold III (he was the commander-in-chief of the Belgian army) held a military conference with the French Prime Minister Daladier, the allied command. It was decided that the Belgians would take responsibility for the section of the Diehl line from Antwerp to Louvain (Leuven), and the ally for the northern and southern flanks.
The French 7th Army covered the northern coastal flank, and on May 11, the advance units reached the city of Breda in the Netherlands. However, the Germans had already captured the crossings at Murdijk, south of Rotterdam, preventing the enemy from connecting with the Dutch. And the Dutch army retreated to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The French did not dare to launch a counteroffensive and began to retreat to Antwerp; German aviation attacked enemy columns.
Battle in the central part of the country. Breakthrough of German mobile connections
The decisive battle in central Belgium took place in the Annu-Gembloux area. In this direction, the 6th Army's mobile unit was advancing - the 16th Motorized Corps under the command of Erich Göpner (3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions). The German divisions were armed with over 620 vehicles, but most of the tanks were T-1 and T-2 models with weak weapons and armor, and there were also a significant number of command tanks (armed with machine guns). As part of the 1st French army, which entered the Gembloux-Namur region, there was a cavalry corps of General Rene Priou, which was similar to the German mobile formations and consisted of the 2nd and 3rd light mechanized divisions. The tank units included 176 Somua S35 medium tanks and 239 Hotchkiss H35 light tanks. The French tanks outnumbered the German ones in both armor and firepower. Also, the French cavalry corps had a significant number of light tanks AMR 35, armed with a 13, 2-mm machine gun, they were equal to the German T-1- and T-2 or even surpassed them. An even greater threat to German tanks was posed by dozens of Panar-178 reconnaissance vehicles armed with 25-mm cannons.
Two tank divisions of the German 6th Army marched north of Liege and entered the Namur area, where they encountered French tanks. On May 12, 1940, the first tank battle of World War II took place - the Battle of Annu. The Germans were inferior in weapons and armor. However, they had an advantage in tactics: they combined tanks and other types of troops, actively used radio, which made it possible to more flexibly respond to the situation during the battle. The French used linear tactics inherited from the First World War. The French tanks did not have a radio. First, the Germans got the upper hand and blocked several French battalions. But then the French threw the main forces into battle and released their forward units. The Germans were defeated and were forced to yield. There were heavy losses in light tanks T-1 and T-2. All French guns (from 25 mm) pierced the T-1. T-2s held up better (they were additionally armored after the Polish campaign), but also suffered high losses.
On May 13, the Germans took revenge. The French were ruined by bad tactics. They deployed their forces in a linear fashion, with no reserves in depth. The 3rd Belgian Corps, which was retreating through the Priou Cavalry Corps, offered support, but the French unreasonably refused. The Nazis concentrated their forces against the enemy's 3rd mechdivision and broke through its defenses. The French had no reserves in the rear and were unable to rectify the situation with counterattacks. They retreated. In the battles on May 12-13, the French lost 105 vehicles, and the Germans - 160. But the battlefield remained with the Germans, and they were able to repair most of the damaged vehicles. Hoepner's corps pursued the enemy as far as Gembloux. The French suffered serious losses. At the same time, the German Air Force was actively bombing French tank divisions. There, the French had already equipped anti-tank positions and on May 14, at the Battle of Gembloux, repulsed an enemy attack. Meanwhile, the Germans broke through the enemy defenses at Sedan, and Priou's mobile corps left positions at Gembloux. On May 15, the 1st French army, due to the failures of the allies in other sectors of the front, began to retreat.
As a result, on May 13, the Germans overturned two enemy mechanized divisions. The French were driven back to the Dil River. On May 14, the advanced units of the German army reached the r. Diehl. After the surrender of Holland on May 14, 1940, the troops of the 18th German army were transferred to the northern border of Belgium, which strengthened the position of the 6th army. Meanwhile, the troops of the 4th German army broke through the positions of the Belgian army and reached the Meuse south of Namur. The 12th Army and Kleist's Panzer Group also advanced successfully. On the first day, the Germans passed Luxembourg, broke into the defense on the Belgian border, on the second day they threw back the French trying to counterattack, on the third day they forced the Belgian-French border and occupied Sedan. On May 15, the Nazis defeated parts of the French 9th Army between Namur and Sedan.
In the areas of Sedan and Dinan, the Germans overcame the Meuse. Tank formations of the 4th German army, knocking down the resistance of the French, advanced on Cambrai. Kleist's attack tank group (5 tank and 3 motorized divisions - 1200 tanks), crossing the Ardennes, which were considered almost insurmountable allies, crossed the Meuse, passed through northern France and were on the coast by 20 May. As a result, the German army groups "A" and "B" in a huge semicircle pressed the northern grouping of the Anglo-French-Belgian troops to the sea.
Retreat to the coast
The breakthrough of the German divisions into northern France and further to the English Channel made the defense of central Belgium pointless. The Wehrmacht now bypassed the southern flank of the Belgian Allied grouping. The allies began to retreat to the r. Senna (left tributary of the Dil river) and further to the river. Dandre and the Scheldt. At the same time, there were no strong fortifications on the Scheldt, and there could not be strong resistance. The Belgians did not want to surrender the r. Diehl and its capital Brussels. However, on May 15-16, the French 1st Army and the British began to withdraw, so the Belgians also had to leave their defensive line "Diehl" (line KV). In the southern sector, Belgian troops left the Namur area.
In the northern sector, the Belgians, together with the 7th French Army and the British, held the KV line for some time. Then the French withdrew to Antwerp and further, to the aid of the 1st Army. When the French left, 4 Belgian infantry divisions remained in front of 3 infantry divisions of the German 18th Army. On May 16, the Belgians began to leave the fortified area of Antwerp. On May 18-19, the Germans took Antwerp.
On May 16-17, 1940, the British and French retreated behind the Brussels-Scheldt canal. Belgian troops withdrew to Ghent across the river. Dandre and the Scheldt. On May 17, the Germans occupied Brussels, the Belgian government evacuated to Ostend. After the capture of the Belgian capital, the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions were transferred to Army Group A. In the Belgian direction, the Germans had one mobile unit left in the 18th Army - the 9th Panzer Division. Allied forces at this time turned into disorganized masses. The prospect of German tanks breaking through to Arras and Calais demoralized the French.
The allied command was in disarray. The British tended to think about evacuating from the mainland. The commander of the British Expeditionary Army, John Vereker (Lord Gort), saw that the French had no clear plan, no strategic reserves. The French armies in Belgium have become disorganized crowds and are unable to break through the encirclement. In France, there are also no serious reserves for the release of the Belgian army group. Therefore, it is necessary to retreat to Ostend, Bruges or Dunkirk. The High Command demanded a breakthrough to the southwest, "no matter what the difficulties," in order to reach the main French forces in the south. At the same time, the British decided that some of the troops would still need to be evacuated by sea, and began collecting ships.
On May 20, it became known that the Germans reached the sea and the troops in Belgium were cut off. Lord Gort informed the arriving head of the British General Staff, Ironside, that a breakthrough to the southwest was impossible. Most of the British divisions were already on the Scheldt, their regrouping meant the collapse of the general defense with the Belgians and the death of the expeditionary forces. In addition, the troops were exhausted by the marches and battles, their morale fell, and the ammunition was running out. The Belgian high command announced that a breakthrough was impossible. The Belgian troops have no tanks or aircraft and can only defend themselves. Also, the Belgian king said that in the territory remaining under the control of the allies, there would be enough food for only 2 weeks. Leopold proposed to create a fortified bridgehead in the area of Dunkirk and the Belgian ports. In such a situation, a counterstrike to the southwest was suicidal. Everyone expected that the encirclement ring would be broken by French troops on the river. Somme. Under pressure from Ironside, on May 21, the British army launched a limited counter-attack on Arras. At first, the British achieved tactical success, but could not break through further.
Last battles
The French were unable to organize a successful offensive on the Somme. The British, disillusioned with the allies, decided it was time to save their troops. The French and British retreated west to Dunkirk, the eastern flank covered by the Belgian army. The Belgians occupied the line on the river. Fox. On May 22, the new British Prime Minister W. Churchill visited the positions of the troops. He believed that the British and French, with the support of the Belgian cavalry corps, should make a breakthrough to the southwest, in the direction of Bapom and Cambrai, and the remaining Belgian troops should withdraw to the river. Ysere. This significantly reduced the front of the Belgian army. However, the Belgians had to leave Paschendale, Ypres and Ostend, almost the entire country. In addition, withdrawal without air cover led to heavy losses.
On May 23, the French again attacked the German positions, but without success. The Belgian troops left Terneuzen and Ghent under the onslaught of the enemy. The Belgians left most of the country, were driven back to the coastal regions, where there was no large-scale industry and defensive lines. There were no sources of supply. The troops experienced a shortage of ammunition, fuel and provisions. German aircraft dominated the air. On top of that, masses of refugees were huddled on the last piece of Belgian territory.
Winston Churchill and the new French commander-in-chief Maxime Weygand, who took command from Gamelin, insisted on a breakthrough. However, the British were afraid to abandon their positions only to the Belgians, who were supposed to cover the Allied breakthrough. The stretching of the Belgian troops could cause their rapid defeat, a blow to the rear of the counter-attacking allies and the fall of ports. That is, it could lead to the complete defeat of the allied group. On May 24, German troops broke through the defense of the Belgians on the river. Fox and seized the bridgehead. The German Luftwaffe inflicted strong blows on the Belgian army, almost the entire artillery park was defeated.
On May 25, the Germans crossed the Scheldt and practically separated the Belgian and British troops. The position of the Allies was disastrous. Control was disrupted, communication was interrupted, the German air force dominated the air. Allied aviation was practically inactive. The troops mingled with huge crowds of refugees. Some units still tried to counterattack, others held the defense, and others fled in panic to the ports. The allied command was unable to organize strong counterattacks from the south and north to release the grouping in Flanders and Northern France. The British, effectively abandoning positions and allies, began to withdraw to the sea to begin evacuating. On May 26, the Dunkirk operation began to evacuate the British army.
Surrender
The situation for the Belgians was hopeless. On May 25-26, 1940, the Germans occupied Boulogne and Calais. On the morning of May 27, German troops reached Dunkirk and could shell it. On May 26, the Belgian army left the line on the Fox, on the eastern flank the Nazis reached Bruges. The Belgians tried to organize a defense in the Ypres region. The British tried to keep the last hope for evacuation - Dunkirk, and began to retreat to the port. Thus, the British exposed the northeastern flank of the French army in the Lille region. While the British retreated, the Germans advanced and surrounded most of the French army.
The Belgian command was not even warned about the evacuation of the British. In the battles on May 26-27, the Belgian army was practically defeated. By May 27, the Belgian army was pressed to the sea in the Ypres-Bruges region, in a 50 km wide area, covering the allies from the east. The Germans broke through the defenses in the central sector. Ostend and Bruges were on the verge of falling. The Belgians did not have the opportunity to independently stay on the coast. They had no hope of evacuation and allied assistance. The Belgian king Leopold III was offered to flee, to abandon his subjects, as the Norwegian king and the Dutch queen did. But he fell into prostration, decided that the cause of the allies was lost. The king did not want to be an exile and sit in England. Deciding that further resistance was pointless, Leopold sent an envoy to the Germans on the evening of May 27 and signed his surrender at 23:00. On May 28, the Belgian 550,000-strong army laid down its arms.
Losses of the Belgian army: more than 6, 5 thousand killed and missing, more than 15 thousand wounded. The losses show that, although the Belgian army was in combat contact with the Germans for almost the entire campaign, the fighting was not very intense most of the time. Only at the turn of the river. Scheldt and r. Fox fighting activity has increased. The rest of the time, the Belgians mostly retreated. Here the Belgians were under pressure from the enemy and suffered significant losses at the junction with the British army.
London and Paris accused the Belgians of treason. The head of the Belgian government, Hubert Count Pierlot, refused to accept the surrender and headed the government in exile, first in Paris, then in London. The Belgian districts of Eupen, Malmedy and Saint Vit were annexed to the Reich. Belgium was given an indemnity of 73 billion Belgian francs. The country was under German occupation until the fall of 1944.
