http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/may40/f21may40.htm
British tanks strike back
Tuesday, May 21, 1940 www.onwar.com
On the Western Front...Rommel’s division is sharply attacked around Arras by British tank forces. The attack does very well at first largely because of the comparative invulnerability of the Matilda tanks to the standard German antitank weapons. After some panic on the German side the attack is halted, principally because of the fire of a few 88mm guns. The British force is too small to repeat the advance or to shake free from this setback. Weygand visits the commanders of the northern armies to try to coordinate attacks from north and south of the German corridor to the coast. By a series of accidents he misses seeing Gort, and Bilotte, to whom he has given the fullest explanation of his plans, is killed in a car accident before he can pass them on. The attack will never take place. The small British effort has already been made. The Belgians will try to free some more British units for a later effort but this will not be possible. The French themselves, both north and south, are already too weak.
In Norway... The French, Polish and Norwegian forces moving in on Narvik advance another stage and gain positions on the northern side of Rombaksfiord.
In Berlin... In a conference Admiral Raeder mentions to Hitler for the first time that it may be necessary to invade Britain. The German navy has made some preliminary studies before this but they have not been based on the availability of French bases. Little though is given to the possibility at this stage even after this conference.
My 4 Random Thoughts of the Day:
1. The French find the situation around Peronne “confusing?” I’m sure it is.
2. That map in the Times is at least 48 hours out of date. More like 72. And it’s based on what the French are letting out. But, as noted, they do find the pace of the fighting “confusing.”
2. Three American journalists have been allowed to be “embedded” as we now say with the German army. One of them is William Shirer. He is with Reichenau’s 6th Army as it pursues the BEF and French 1st Army westward through Belgium. I’ll post Shirer’s observations when I get home this evening.
3. The Times points out that the high level German commanders are a younger lot than their French counterparts. There is a significant difference in average age/rank comparisons throughout the mid-level officer corps of both armies. While there are a few “elder statesmen” in the Wehrmacht such as Leeb, Rundstedt and Bock, if discount them you find that the average German division or corps commander is the same age as the average French Major or Colonel. The average German regimental commander is 10-15 years younger than his French counterpart. It makes a huge difference in tempo of combat operations at these crucial operational levels of command. Not that the relative youth makes the Germans immune to stress. Reichenau, who is a fitness buff at 53 and who was the first German across the Vistula in Poland by swimming it in front of his troops, will have his health broken in Russia. Same for many of these other “young bucks.” But in the short campaign in France, the youth of the Germans is clearly running rings around the “experience” of the French. It kind of reminds me of Super Bowl XXVII; the young fast Dallas Cowboys against the “veteran” Buffalo Bills. Anyone recall how that turned out?
4. The article is playing out one of the brilliant strategic features of Sichelschnitt. By driving their wedge where they did, the Germans are exploiting the strategic differences of their allies. The BEF is interested in falling back to the Channel ports, and the Brits are already looking at evacuating the Continent for the Home Islands. The French are looking to cover Paris and the heart of their country. The German wedge is splitting the Allies apart along their strategic fault line.