Battle of Montcornet
Battle of Montcornet | |||||||
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Part of the Battle of France of the Second World War | |||||||
Map of the Battle of Montcornet | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
France | Germany | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Charles de Gaulle |
Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
4e Division cuirassée | 1st Panzer Division | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
>103 tanks/AFVs disabled, destroyed or abandoned[1] | 140 captured[1] | ||||||
The Battle of Montcornet, on 17 May 1940 took place during the
Background
On 10 May 1940, the
Prelude
De Gaulle had just taken command of the new
The next day, De Gaulle was appointed commander of the 4e DCr, comprising 5,000 men and 85 tanks, with which he led a counter-attack on the village of Montcornet on 17 May. Montcornet had strategic importance because it cut the roads to Reims, Laon and Saint-Quentin, and was a point of transit for the supply echelons of the 1st Panzer Division.
Battle
As De Gaulle advanced, he commandeered some retreating cavalry and artillery units and also received an extra half-brigade, one of whose battalions included some heavy
De Gaulle ordered infantry to neutralise German defence pockets in Chivres and D2 tanks to secure Clermont-les-Fermes. Around 4:00 p.m., De Gaulle ordered a new attack on Montcornet but because the tank crews had not received detailed maps of the sector and came under fire from 88mm Flak guns, the attack failed. Around 6:00 p.m., German aircraft intervened and the 4e DCr retreated to its original positions. De Gaulle attacked again on 19 May and his forces were once again devastated by German Stukas and artillery. He ignored orders to withdraw and in the early afternoon demanded two more divisions from Touchon but was refused. Although de Gaulle's tanks forced the German infantry to retreat to Caumont, the action brought only temporary relief and did little to slow the spearhead of the German advance. It was one of the few successes the French enjoyed while suffering defeats elsewhere across the country. A number of the B1 bis tanks had to be abandoned when they ran out of petrol, and others when they sank into swamps.
Aftermath
The French lost 23 tanks in the attack, while taking around 130 German prisoners. De Gaulle fought another engagement at the Battle of Abbeville.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Forczyk 2017, pp. 195–200.
References
- Forczyk, Robert (2017). Case Red: The Collapse of France, 1940. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-4728-2442-4.