28th May 1940
28th May 1940 (Part 1)
Belgium
At 0700 the lead tank elements of 1st Armoured division begin to move eastwards towards Puurs and Willebroek. Their cavalry reconnaissance element started off at dawn, and has stopped south of the N290 highway having encountered 9th Panzer's own screen. General Evan has split the division, keeping 1st Armoured Brigade concentrated in the area of Hamme (north of Dendermonde) in case 9th Panzer manage to push on over the Scheldt at Temse and threaten his flank, while 2nd Armoured Brigade drives on Puurs. His intention is to hit 9th Panzer on the flank, and to roll them up to the east. His Cutlass infantry tank units are behind 2nd Armoured, and if 9th Panzer isn't as far forward as expected, they will take care of any counterattack south. Once 9th Panzer has been dealt with, his orders are to re-establish the defensive line south of Antwerp, and hold it until relieved by the infantry of 5th British Division.
9th Panzer were intending to make a crossing of the Scheldt at Temse before pushing on to surround the French forces north of Antwerp, but the reports of British armoured cars by hisn own screen, and the report from the Luftwaffe late the previous evening of tanks massing in the area of Dendermonde has changed his plans. Now his intention is to block tne obvious armoured thrust from the south, then counterattack and then cross the river either at Temse or opposite Hamme.
The first indication that things are not going to plan was the reports coming in of the first actions with 2nd Armoured Brigade. With no clear identification of exactly who was approaching, General von Hubiki had assumed they were French tanks from a reserve formation; while the movement of 1st Armoured north from the Sedan area had been noted, they hadn't been expected to arrive here this soon, but the heavily motorised British units were far less dependent on the French and Belgian railways system. He had read the reports of the fighting in the Ardennes, and they indicated that the British tanks were capable opponents, which meant he needed to concentrate his medium tanks to stop them.
General von Hubiki was glad that the British hadn't advanced as fast as he would have done. He would have kept on driving, attacking 9th Panzer the previous evening while they were still moving forward, which would have placed him in a much more precarious position. The need by General Blanchard to coordinate the different formations in the areas, belonging to three different countries and all with differing movement speeds had made him be conservative in respect to his more mobile units. So 9th Panzer had been able to set themselves into a defensive posture, with mines laid where possible to help channel an attack, and with heavier guns brought up to supplement the divisions 37mm antitank guns.
The British tanks nevertheless pushed slowly forward despite the well-sited defence. Led by the Sabre tanks, they took a heavy toll of any of the lighter Panzers that were unfortunate enough to come into range, and proved a serious challenge for the Pz III and Pz IV's. Despite some losses in getting this far, 9th Panzer had 40 of these available, and all of them had been concentrated in front of the British advance. By noon, von Hubiki had lost twelve Pz III and three of his Pz IV tanks, but 2nd Armoured Brigade had themselves lost some 40 Sabre tanks, some disabled by mines or broken down, but the heavy antitank guns had been a serious problem.
The initial British plan, to push forward and cut the head of the panzer spearpoint, was now looking far too costly. The Sabres pulled back slightly into defence, while a battalion of the Cutlass Infantry tanks was moved in behind them. This time they would advance to support one of the armoured infantry battalions, while the Sabre tanks made sure no panzers would try and outflank them.
*********
The report from the Admiralty that some of their destroyers had engaged small ships carrying troops apparently to Zeeland had taken a while to work through the system. There was currently no good communication between them and the Army, so by the time it had worked its way through the rather sclerotic channels it had been overtaken by events.
At first light, German airborne units had landed, either by parachute or glider, in the coastal area south of Ternuzen, straddling the canal. The French forces in the area were the rear echelon of the infantry divisions fighting on the west bank of the Scheldt north of Antwerp, and were taken completely by surprise. While the airborne troops were in fact considerably outnumbered by the French, the surprise, and the fact that there were an elite unit and the French were support troops, let to them pushing the French back some five miles south as they expended the airhead. The initial reports of the fighting were very confused, and before the French command had been able to clarify things and work out what was happening, addition mountain troops were landed in Terneusan from smaller ships and craft to reinforce the airborne units.
The Germans added to the confusion in the French units by a series of heavy attacks by the Luftwaffe, which succeeded in their aim of causing more disorganisation in the units currently engaging the thrust west from Antwerp, and delaying an early response to the new invasion.
*******
The situation only started to clarify for the Allied High command by noon. The heavy air presence of the Luftwaffe had made it almost impossible to get any decent aerial reconnaissance of what was going on on the ground, and it was mainly reports from the units who had fallen back from the new assault that made General Blanchard realise his problem.
His initial thoughts were to bring up new troops to hold and then pinch out the combined aerial and seaborne assault. This would relieve the pressure on the forward French units, who for the next day would hold on where they were, British 1st Armoured would carry on their attack on 9th Panzer, to remove the threat of encircling the units around Antwerp and joining up with the airborne troops. He had a French infantry Corps on the way, but the were travelling by train, and would not attive until tomorrow, and would need another day to detrain and to get themselves organised. He had three British divisions and an armoured brigade that were available, and he would use these to form a defensive line and then push out the airborne troops.
British V Corps would advance east of Bruges and make sure the Germans didn't push west. He felt that unless the airborne troops were heavily reinforced, this was not too likely, although he wanted naval and air support to make sure no more troops were ferried over to add to his problem. British 5th division would position itself north of Ghen, to make sure the beachhead stayed where it was until he had organised a proper counterattack. As long as 1st Armoured stopped 9th Panzer, that shouldn't be an issue. While there were Belgian forces around Ghent, many of these were the disorganised elements of units badly handled in the initial invasion of Belgium, or made up of reserves, and he didn't want to have to count on them yet.
Belgium
At 0700 the lead tank elements of 1st Armoured division begin to move eastwards towards Puurs and Willebroek. Their cavalry reconnaissance element started off at dawn, and has stopped south of the N290 highway having encountered 9th Panzer's own screen. General Evan has split the division, keeping 1st Armoured Brigade concentrated in the area of Hamme (north of Dendermonde) in case 9th Panzer manage to push on over the Scheldt at Temse and threaten his flank, while 2nd Armoured Brigade drives on Puurs. His intention is to hit 9th Panzer on the flank, and to roll them up to the east. His Cutlass infantry tank units are behind 2nd Armoured, and if 9th Panzer isn't as far forward as expected, they will take care of any counterattack south. Once 9th Panzer has been dealt with, his orders are to re-establish the defensive line south of Antwerp, and hold it until relieved by the infantry of 5th British Division.
9th Panzer were intending to make a crossing of the Scheldt at Temse before pushing on to surround the French forces north of Antwerp, but the reports of British armoured cars by hisn own screen, and the report from the Luftwaffe late the previous evening of tanks massing in the area of Dendermonde has changed his plans. Now his intention is to block tne obvious armoured thrust from the south, then counterattack and then cross the river either at Temse or opposite Hamme.
The first indication that things are not going to plan was the reports coming in of the first actions with 2nd Armoured Brigade. With no clear identification of exactly who was approaching, General von Hubiki had assumed they were French tanks from a reserve formation; while the movement of 1st Armoured north from the Sedan area had been noted, they hadn't been expected to arrive here this soon, but the heavily motorised British units were far less dependent on the French and Belgian railways system. He had read the reports of the fighting in the Ardennes, and they indicated that the British tanks were capable opponents, which meant he needed to concentrate his medium tanks to stop them.
General von Hubiki was glad that the British hadn't advanced as fast as he would have done. He would have kept on driving, attacking 9th Panzer the previous evening while they were still moving forward, which would have placed him in a much more precarious position. The need by General Blanchard to coordinate the different formations in the areas, belonging to three different countries and all with differing movement speeds had made him be conservative in respect to his more mobile units. So 9th Panzer had been able to set themselves into a defensive posture, with mines laid where possible to help channel an attack, and with heavier guns brought up to supplement the divisions 37mm antitank guns.
The British tanks nevertheless pushed slowly forward despite the well-sited defence. Led by the Sabre tanks, they took a heavy toll of any of the lighter Panzers that were unfortunate enough to come into range, and proved a serious challenge for the Pz III and Pz IV's. Despite some losses in getting this far, 9th Panzer had 40 of these available, and all of them had been concentrated in front of the British advance. By noon, von Hubiki had lost twelve Pz III and three of his Pz IV tanks, but 2nd Armoured Brigade had themselves lost some 40 Sabre tanks, some disabled by mines or broken down, but the heavy antitank guns had been a serious problem.
The initial British plan, to push forward and cut the head of the panzer spearpoint, was now looking far too costly. The Sabres pulled back slightly into defence, while a battalion of the Cutlass Infantry tanks was moved in behind them. This time they would advance to support one of the armoured infantry battalions, while the Sabre tanks made sure no panzers would try and outflank them.
*********
The report from the Admiralty that some of their destroyers had engaged small ships carrying troops apparently to Zeeland had taken a while to work through the system. There was currently no good communication between them and the Army, so by the time it had worked its way through the rather sclerotic channels it had been overtaken by events.
At first light, German airborne units had landed, either by parachute or glider, in the coastal area south of Ternuzen, straddling the canal. The French forces in the area were the rear echelon of the infantry divisions fighting on the west bank of the Scheldt north of Antwerp, and were taken completely by surprise. While the airborne troops were in fact considerably outnumbered by the French, the surprise, and the fact that there were an elite unit and the French were support troops, let to them pushing the French back some five miles south as they expended the airhead. The initial reports of the fighting were very confused, and before the French command had been able to clarify things and work out what was happening, addition mountain troops were landed in Terneusan from smaller ships and craft to reinforce the airborne units.
The Germans added to the confusion in the French units by a series of heavy attacks by the Luftwaffe, which succeeded in their aim of causing more disorganisation in the units currently engaging the thrust west from Antwerp, and delaying an early response to the new invasion.
*******
The situation only started to clarify for the Allied High command by noon. The heavy air presence of the Luftwaffe had made it almost impossible to get any decent aerial reconnaissance of what was going on on the ground, and it was mainly reports from the units who had fallen back from the new assault that made General Blanchard realise his problem.
His initial thoughts were to bring up new troops to hold and then pinch out the combined aerial and seaborne assault. This would relieve the pressure on the forward French units, who for the next day would hold on where they were, British 1st Armoured would carry on their attack on 9th Panzer, to remove the threat of encircling the units around Antwerp and joining up with the airborne troops. He had a French infantry Corps on the way, but the were travelling by train, and would not attive until tomorrow, and would need another day to detrain and to get themselves organised. He had three British divisions and an armoured brigade that were available, and he would use these to form a defensive line and then push out the airborne troops.
British V Corps would advance east of Bruges and make sure the Germans didn't push west. He felt that unless the airborne troops were heavily reinforced, this was not too likely, although he wanted naval and air support to make sure no more troops were ferried over to add to his problem. British 5th division would position itself north of Ghen, to make sure the beachhead stayed where it was until he had organised a proper counterattack. As long as 1st Armoured stopped 9th Panzer, that shouldn't be an issue. While there were Belgian forces around Ghent, many of these were the disorganised elements of units badly handled in the initial invasion of Belgium, or made up of reserves, and he didn't want to have to count on them yet.
