Soon after the attack was launched it was obvious that the great stratagem was working immaculately and it was reported that when Hitler was told, he almost wept for joy.
To the south, the seven armoured German divisions leading the principal offensive were feeling their way through the Ardennes.
Believing a passage to be impossible here, and, relying on the massive fortifications of the Maginot Line, the French had largely neglected this region, and the Germans had to contend with little more than a bemused Belgian horse soldier, peering incomprehensibly through the trees.
Although the French airmen observed the German movement, their reports were ignored, so the vast assemblage edged on unhampered towards the river Meuse and France.
The river Meuse was the one great obstacle confronting the invaders. It was reached on the morning of 13th May. Despite skirmishes, the defenders still remained in ignorance of the scale of the impending onslaught. Away to the north a large clash of French and German armour confirmed the allied command in their mistaken analysis of German intentions.
The Meuse was to be crossed at three points. Exploiting German air superiority, the defenders at Sedan were subjected to an intensive bombardment lasting six hours. It was a murderous onslaught, and Guderian’s engineers crossed the river swiftly afterwards, followed by the first infantry.
By evening, the Germans had smashed their way across and were on the other side in strength, having at last broken the shattered French forces. The two other crossings had also been successfully forced, a crippling blow to the whole allied defence.
In front of the Germans lay long stretches of ideal tank country held mainly by poorly trained, ill-equipped and elderly reservists. The flying artillery of the dive bombers was already at work wreaking wholesale destruction and inspiring widespread terror. Behind the spearheads extending back from the Meuse nearly to the Rhine itself, crowded the 25 divisions of the supporting infantry.
That same day, 15th May 1940, Holland surrendered.
On the following day, as the breach ripped in the southern French defences widened dramatically, it was belatedly apparent to the allied command that a potential catastrophe was in the making. The slow, clumsy bombers sent against German targets were sharply repulsed. The armies, attempting to make a hasty retreat from the Lowlands, found the roads choked with panic-stricken refugees.
For transmission of orders and reports, the allied command relied heavily on despatch riders and on the telephone network. Except that now, neither could be relied upon. In the aftermath of invasion, hundreds of French aircraft had been hurriedly removed to safe locations, and no one could find them. The skies were becoming the unchallenged domain of the Luftwaffe.
In many allied units morale and discipline were evaporating. The twin German spearheads thrust on, piercing deeper into France.
The most significant advance was made by the 7th Panzer Division commanded by General Erwin Rommel. His tank force advanced quickly through the lightly defended areas in Belgium. When they ran into heavier defended areas in France, they used their speed, surprise and weight of fire to overwhelm the enemy. This unit became the first to cross the river Mouse. Once across, they continued their advance towards Arras. The 7th Panzer Division was advancing so fast that they were given the unofficial nickname of the ‘Ghost Division’. The ‘Ghost Division’ had good reason to celebrate Hitler’s Czechoslovakian adventure. They were mostly equipped with 38(t) tanks.
A Panzer III rumbles by a dispirited British soldier in the wake of the allied collapse in Greece.