The Times makes it appear the “Weygand Line” is still holding, but re-reading Rommel’s “The Rommel Papers” and von Manstein’s “Lost Victories” last night, by this morning the battle is already decided. The French did fight hard, and they managed to hold up Kleist’s panzer group. But the problem with the French defense was that it was brittle and inelastic. The mobile reserves necessary to seal off and eliminate German penetrations had all been lost in Belgium. For all of the Times’ touting of the “Weygand tactics” of stopping the German armor, his defense was really the same defense that would have been put up in 1918.
Once the Germans broke into the clear, which by now they have accomplished in several places, it’s all a matter of mopping up on the Somme and Aisne, and chasing off after the remnants of the French army.
von Manstein, who commanded German 38th Corps (three infantry divisions and later one cavalry division) referred to this campaign as “the assault march to the Loire.”
I really get the impression that the Times think that this battle is going to settle into a set of stagnant lines as happened in the last war. Thus why they leave the impression that the Weygand Line is holding. I’m sure some of this is due to the reporting by the French on the matter, but I think the NYT also has an overdeveloped sense of optimism too. In reality, by now the French have been driven back as much as 20 miles from the Somme River over at least half of the front which means there are no more natural barriers between the Germans and Paris. This battle is like you say, over.