The Battle of the Sambre: 16–19 May 1940

Commanded by Rommel, in May 1940 the 7th Panzer Division was one of the major units playing a major role in the success of the German plan to isolate the Franco-Anglo-Belgian army group on the North Sea coast. It forcibly crossed the Meuse in Belgium on 13 May at Dinant, breaking through the French 18th Infantry Division after a day of fighting. The French hastily committed their reserves in an attempt to contain the Germans. Two first-rank divisions were therefore sent to block the Panzer route: the reserve 1st Armoured Division and the 4th North African Division, which was stationed between Anor and Trélon, on the line of French fortifications near the Belgian border. Coming up against the 1st DCR, the 7th Panzer was surprised by the powerful and numerous French tanks (B1bis and H39), but after a few severe losses, the German tanks, which were more mobile and better coordinated, avoided a confrontation and left it to the well-directed German artillery to destroy most of the B1bis one by one, paralysed by a lack of information on the enemy's action and the rapid exhaustion of their fuel tanks. Faced with the 1st DCR, it was more the 5th Panzer Division that was engaged and momentarily halted. The latter therefore followed the advance of the 7th panzer division westwards, a little further north and with a slight delay. The 4th North African Division fought and sacrificed itself between Dinant and France; it more or less disappeared on 15 May, although some elements managed to return to France. At the end of the day on 15 May, the remnants of the three French divisions (18th DI, 4th DINA and 1st DCR) arrived at Beaumont and, retreating, crossed the French border again. After clearing his route on the morning of 16 May, Rommel placed his forces between Beaumont and Sivry. It was then that the soldiers of the 84th Infantry Regiment, part of the fortified sector of Maubeuge, learned that the Germans were only a few kilometres away. Despite their initial optimism, they hardly had the means to stop the Germans, as this south-eastern section of the fortified sector consisted only of a line of light blockhouses, mostly equipped with automatic weapons. To the east of Maubeuge, only the fort at Boussois, although not completed, was a significant obstacle to the German advance. After the 84th RIF's thin curtain of blockhouses, the Sambre was the last possible barrage before Rommel's panzer division and the 5th panzer division that followed a little further north reached Cambrai and crossed the rear of the Franco-British expeditionary corps engaged in Belgium. The French high command therefore decided to recall several major formations to try and stop the Germans on the Sambre. These included several well-equipped North African divisions and a motorised infantry division, but above all the 1st mechanical light division, the elite of the French cavalry. While the French arrived in scattered order to plug the gap and avoid being surrounded in Belgium, Rommel pushed westwards with his reconnaissance battalion, sometimes taking ill-considered risks. Would the French arrive before Rommel on the Sambre, perhaps even managing to capture the fiery Wehrmacht general? Would the French tanks be up to the task of fighting the Panzers? —description from the publisher