Compiegne France Map
Feb0
Today is Armistice Day, or Veteran’s Day in the US. Ninety years ago today, on November 11th, 1918 the armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany in Compiègne, France, ending World War I.A History of the 5th Battalion the Lincolnshire Regiment
A History of the 5th Battalion the Lincolnshire Regiment by Colonel T. E. Sandall, C.M.G., T.D. was written in the 1920's. The book is an account of one regiment's actions in the Great War. The book is written in a very matter of fact manner and is all the more harrowing for it,
"The N.C.O.'s in command did excellent work, especially Sergeant F. Darley on the left and Sergeant A. Coppin on the right, after the officers became casualties. On the withdrawal C.S.M. Hamp assisted Captain Collins, who was wounded and had remained at the foot of the slag heap, back to our own trenches, but on the way back came across a badly wounded N.C.O. and remained with him in No Man's Land, while Sergeant Coppin obtained a stretcher, and not until all the wounded had been got in did Captain Collins and C.S.M. Hamp return to our trenches." - Part of the account of the Attack on Lens
Someone has produced a wonderful map of the place names mentioned in the book. The sidebar of the map lists the book's contents. Clicking on one of the chapter headings loads markers for all the place names mentioned in that chapter. When you click on one of the markers you are provided with a link to that page in the e-text of the book.
MyMap of Flickr Great War 1914 - 1918 Pool
A MyMap someone has produced of First World War photographs submitted to Flickr.
Essarts Road, Dec 1916
This is an incredibly personal and moving MyMap showing the location where someone's great-grandfather was captured by the Germans. Lance Corporal William Wenham, 1/5th Lincolnshire Regiment, was wounded and captured by the Germans (77th Reserve Infantry Regiment) on 6th December 1916.
The map shows the British and German front lines and the location of Corporal Wenham's capture.
Grandad's War
This Google Map mash-up identifies the positions of some of the places mentioned in the book "Grandad's War - The First World War Diary of Horace Reginald Stanley". Clicking on the map markers loads photographs from the book and a brief description.
The Great War Archive
The Great War Archive contains over 6,500 items contributed by the general public between March and June 2008. Every item originates from, or relates to, someone's experience of the First World War, either abroad or at home.
The archive is an incredible collection of letters, photographs, paintings and memoirs. Each item in the archive contains a 'Creation Place' link that will take you to its location on Google Maps.
WW1 Affects the U.S.
A MyMap showing the affect of the Great War on the USA and also the contributions made by the American army in France.
History Today
The History Today website has created this MyMap of famous military sites around the world. You can use the map to view the locations of key military events. Each marker contains a link to a related article about that battle or war.
Australian War Memorial
Panedia, a wonderful website showing panoramic photographs on Google Maps, has recently been busy shooting panoramas in the UK. Part of this new UK imagery includes this nice shot of the Australian War Memorial near Hyde Park in London.
World War I Monuments
A MyMap from WayMarking showing World War I Memorials and monuments throughout the world.
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In the center, the progress of German Army Group A was to be delayed by Belgian motorized infantry and French Mechanized Cavalry divisions (Divisions Légères de Cavalerie) advancing into the Ardennes. These forces however had an insufficient anti-tank capacity to block the surprisingly large number of German tanks they encountered and quickly gave way, withdrawing behind the Meuse. The German advance was however greatly hampered by the sheer number of troops trying to force their way through the poor road network. Kleist's Panzer Group had more than 41,000 vehicles.[30] To traverse the Ardennes Mountains, this huge armada of vehicles had been granted only four march routes.[31] The time-tables proved to have been wildly optimistic and soon a traffic congestion formed, beginning well over the Rhine to the east, that would last for almost two weeks. This made Army Group A very vulnerable to French air attacks, but these did not materialize.[32]
Although Gamelin was well aware of the situation, the French tactical bomber force was far too weak to challenge German air superiority so close to the German border. However, on 11 May Gamelin ordered many reserve divisions to begin reinforcing the Meuse sector. Because of the danger the Luftwaffe posed, movement over the rail network was limited to the night, slowing the reinforcement, but the French felt no sense of urgency as the build-up of German divisions would be accordingly slow.
The German advance forces reached the Meuse line late in the afternoon of May 12. To allow each of the three armies of Army Group A to cross, three major bridgeheads were to be established: at Sedan in the south, at Monthermé 20 kilometers to the northwest and at Dinant, another fifty kilometers to the north. The first units to arrive had hardly even a local numerical superiority; their already insufficient artillery support was further limited by an average supply of just 12 rounds apiece.[33]
Sedan
On May 13, the German XIX Army Corps forced three crossings near Sedan, executed by the motorized infantry regiments of 1st, 2nd and 10th Panzer Divisions, reinforced by the elite Großdeutschland infantry regiment. Instead of slowly massing artillery as the French expected, the Germans concentrated most of their tactical bomber force to punch a hole in a narrow sector of the French lines by carpet bombing punctuated by dive bombing. Hermann Göring had promised Guderian that there would be an extraordinary heavy air support of a continual eight hour air attack, from 8am until dusk.[34] Luftflotte 3, supported by Luftflotte 2, executed the heaviest air bombardment the world had yet witnessed and the most intense by the Luftwaffe during the war.[35] The Luftwaffe committed two Stukageschwader to the assault flying 300 sorties against French positions, with Stukageschwader 77 alone flying 201 individual missions.[36] By the nine Kampfgeschwader (medium bomber units - See Luftwaffe Organization) committed, a total of 3,940 sorties were flown, often in Gruppe strength.[37]
The forward platoons and pillboxes of the 147 RIF were little affected by the bombardment and held their positions throughout most of the day, initially repulsing the crossing attempts of 2nd and 10th Panzer Divisions on their left and right. However, there was a gap in the line of bunkers in the center of the river bend. In the late afternoon Großdeutschland penetrated this position, trying to quickly exploit this opportunity. The deep French zone defense had been devised to defeat just this kind of infiltration tactics; it now transpired however that the morale of the deeper company positions of the 55e DI had been broken by the impact of the German air attacks. They had been routed or were too dazed to offer effective resistance any longer. The French supporting artillery batteries had fled, and this created an impression among the remaining main defense line troops of the 55e DI that they were isolated and abandoned. They too went into rout by the late evening. At a cost of a few hundred casualties[38] the German infantry had penetrated up to 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) into the French defense zone by midnight. Even then, most of the infantry had not crossed yet, much of the success being from the actions of just six platoons, mainly assault engineers.[39]
The disorder that had begun at Sedan was spread down the French lines by groups of haggard and retreating soldiers. At 19:00 hrs on May 13, the 295th regiment of 55e DI, holding the last prepared defense line at the Bulson ridge, 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) from the Meuse, was panicked by the false rumor that German tanks were already behind its positions. It fled, creating a gap in the French defenses, before even a single German tank had crossed the river. This "Panic of Bulson," or phénomène d’hallucination collective involved the divisional artillery, so that the crossing sites were no longer within range of the French batteries. The division dissolved and ceased to exist. The Germans had not attacked their position, and would not do so until 12 hours later.[40]
In the morning of May 14, two French FCM 36 tank battalions (4 and 7 BCC) and the reserve regiment of 55e DI, 213rd RI, executed a counterattack on the German bridgehead. It was repulsed at Bulson by the first German armor and anti-tank units which had been rushed across the river from 07:20 on the first pontoon bridge.
General Gaston-Henri Billotte, commander of the First Army Group whose right flank pivoted on Sedan, urged the bridges across the Meuse River to be destroyed by air attack, convinced that "over them will pass either victory or defeat!"[41] That day every available Allied light bomber was employed in an attempt to destroy the three bridges, but failed to hit them while suffering heavy losses. The RAF Advanced Air Striking Force under the command of Air Vice-Marshal P H L Playfair, bore the brunt of the attacks. The plan called for the RAF to commit its bombers for the attack while they would receive protection from the French fighter groups. The British bombers received insufficient air cover and as a result some 21 French fighters and 48 British bombers, 44 percent of the A.A.S.F's strength, was destroyed by Oberst Gerd von Massow's Jagdfliegerführer 3 Jagdgruppen.[42] The French Armée de l'Air also tried to halt the German armored columns, but the small French bomber force had been so badly mauled the previous days, that only a couple dozen aircraft could be committed over that vital target. Two French bombers were shot down.[43] The German anti-aircraft defenses, consisting of 198 88 mm, 54 4 3.7 cm and 81 20 mm cannon accounted for half of the Allied bombers destroyed.[44] In just one day the Allies lost ninety bombers. In the Luftwaffe it became known as the "Day of the Fighters".[45]
The commander of XIX Army Corps, Heinz Guderian, had indicated on May 12 that he wanted to enlarge the bridgehead to at least 20 kilometers (12 mi). His superior, Ewald von Kleist, however ordered him to limit it to a maximum of 8 kilometers (5.0 mi) before consolidation. On May 14 at 11:45, von Rundstedt confirmed this order,[46] which basically implied that the tanks should now start to dig in. Nevertheless Guderian immediately disobeyed, expanding the perimeter to the west and to the south.
In the original von Manstein Plan as Guderian had suggested it, secondary attacks would be carried out to the southeast, in the rear of the Maginot Line, to confuse the French command. This element had been removed by Halder but Guderian now sent 10th Panzer Division and Großdeutschland south to execute precisely such a feint attack,[47] using the only available route south over the Stonne plateau. However, the commander of the French Second Army, General Charles Huntzinger, intended to carry out a counterattack at the same spot by the armored 3e Division Cuirassée de Réserve (DCR) to eliminate the bridgehead. This resulted in an armored collision, both parties in vain trying to gain ground in furious attacks from May 15 to May 18, the village of Stonne changing hands many times. Huntzinger considered this at least a defensive success and limited his efforts to protecting his flank. However, in the evening of May 16, Guderian removed 10th Panzer Division from the effort, having found a better destination for it.
Guderian had turned his other two armored divisions, the 1st Panzer Division and 2nd Panzer Division sharply to the west on May 14. In the afternoon of 14 May there was still a chance for the French to attack the exposed southern flank of 1st Panzer Division before 10th Panzer Division had entered the bridgehead, but it was thrown away when the planned attack by 3 DCR was delayed because it was not ready in time.[48]
On May 15, in heavy fighting, Guderian's motorized infantry dispersed the reinforcements of the newly formed French Sixth Army in their assembly area west of Sedan, undercutting the southern flank of the French Ninth Army by 40 kilometers (25 mi) and forcing the 102nd Fortress Division to leave its positions that had blocked the tanks of XVI Army Corps at Monthermé. The French Second Army had been seriously mauled and had rendered itself impotent. While this was happening, the French Ninth Army began to disintegrate completely. This Army had already been reduced in size because some of its divisions were still in Belgium. They also did not have time to fortify and had been pushed back from the river by the unrelenting pressure of the attacking German infantry. This allowed the impetuous Erwin Rommel to break free with his 7th Panzer Division. Rommel had advanced quickly and his lines of communications with his superior, General Hermann Hoth and his Headquaters were cut. Using the Mission Command system to full effect, and not waiting for the French to establish a new line of defense, he continued to advance. The French 5th Motorized Infantry Division was sent to block him, but the Germans were advancing unexpectedly fast, and Rommel surprised the French vehicles while they were refueling on 15 May. The Germans were able to fire directly into the neatly lined French vehicles and overran their position completely. The French unit had "disintegrated into a wave of refugees; they had been overrun literally in their sleep".[49] By May 17, Rommel had taken 10,000 prisoners and suffered only 36 losses.[50]
Blitzkrieg
According to the original plan of Halder, the Panzer Corps now had fulfilled a precisely circumscribed task. Their motorized infantry component had secured the river crossings and their tank regiments had conquered a dominant position. Now they had to consolidate, allowing the three dozen infantry divisions following them to position themselves for the real battle: perhaps a classic Kesselschlacht if the enemy should stay in the north or perhaps an encounter fight if he should try to escape to the south. In both cases an enormous mass of German divisions, both armored and infantry, would act in close cooperation to annihilate the enemy. The Panzer Corps was not to bring about the collapse of the enemy by themselves. The plan called for the Germans to build up forces for a period of about five days.
On 16 May however, both Guderian and Rommel disobeyed their explicit direct orders in an act of open insubordination against their superiors. They broke out of their bridgeheads and moved their divisions many kilometers to the west as fast as they could push them. Guderian reached Marle, eighty kilometers from Sedan, while Rommel crossed the river Sambre at Le Cateau, a hundred kilometers from his bridgehead at Dinant.
The interpretation of the actions of both generals has remained deeply controversial and is connected to the problem of the precise nature and origin of Blitzkrieg tactics, of which the 1940 campaign is often described as a classic example. An essential element of Blitzkrieg was considered to be a strategic envelopment executed by mechanized forces which led to the operational collapse of the defender. It has also been looked at as a novel, revolutionary, form of warfare. After the war, Guderian claimed to have acted on his own initiative, essentially inventing this classic form of Blitzkrieg on the spot. The traditional interpretation accepts the novel character of the Blitzkrieg tactic but considers Guderian's claim to be an empty boast, denying any fundamental divide within contemporaneous German operational doctrine, downplaying the internal German conflict as a mere difference of opinion about timing and pointing out that Guderian's claim is inconsistent with his professed rôle as the prophet of Blitzkrieg even before the war. It is seen as an anomaly that there is no explicit reference to such tactics in the German battle plans. A second, later, main interpretation also sees Blitzkrieg as revolutionary, but denies that it was in accordance with established doctrine, vindicating Guderian. In this view the Battle of France is the first historical instance of Blitzkrieg
While nobody knew the whereabouts of Rommel (he had advanced so quickly that he was out of range for radio contact, earning his 7th Panzer Division]] the nickname Gespenster-Division, "Ghost Division"), an enraged von Kleist flew to Guderian's position on the morning of 17 May and after a heated argument, relieved him of all duties. However, von Rundstedt refused to confirm the order.
Allied reaction
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