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To: Altair333
Um, it was Guderian, Rommel was on his right flank.

And there was plenty between them and Paris. They didn't go to Paris, they went to the channel, to cut off the Allied armies in Belgium.

They were also counterattacked heavily by large French and British armor formations, at and just after the point of breakthrough. But they blew through them with ease.

103 posted on 05/18/2006 3:28:17 PM PDT by JasonC
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To: JasonC

"Um, it was Guderian, Rommel was on his right flank."

What are you saying- that Rommel didn't cross the Ardennes and the Meuse in 1940? He did, as did Guderian.

"And there was plenty between them and Paris."

No there wasn't. Sure, there were forces but not enough to stop the armored spearhead which confronted them. As soon as the French leader heard about the forces which had crossed the Meuse, he called Churchill and told him the Battle for France was over. He knew at that moment that their entire strategic plan had failed.

"They didn't go to Paris, they went to the channel, to cut off the Allied armies in Belgium."

That's true, but at that point the Germans had different ways to finish off France. They chose to trap the BEF and accompanying French forces and then deal with Paris.

"They were also counterattacked heavily by large French and British armor formations, at and just after the point of breakthrough."

Yes, in particular at Arras where the British fought hard and exacted heavy losses on the Germans. But that was the British and French armies which had been sent towards the German feint into Holland defending themselves. Those troops were not between the point of the German breakthrough and Paris. The road to Paris was wide open- the Germans simply chose to deal with the troops along the Atlantic first.


108 posted on 05/18/2006 5:15:58 PM PDT by Altair333 (Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Mexico Right Over)
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