Скачать или смотреть BATTLE OF HANNUT, WITH FINNTROLL 1984 (PANZERSTORM MAP BATTLEFIELD V) *creator: Jeff Wijns*

BATTLE OF HANNUT, WITH FINNTROLL 1984 (PANZERSTORM MAP BATTLEFIELD V)
Germany invaded the Netherlands and East Belgium on May 10 of 1940, with a paratrooper and bombing mission over West Holland and a raid of the underground Fort Eben-Emael using glider planes. But secretly, the main invasion was sent in via the Belgian Ardennes in the south. This Army Group A was supposed to stay away from the French First Army and not to break out of the Ardennes until May 15. This delay had to convince France that the main German attack were the troops coming in from Fort Eben-Emael, after it had been captured on the morning of May 11. Hitler wanted France to believe that this plan was an exact copy of the Schlieffen Plan in 1914, where the army marched through the heart of Belgium, in order to draw the French First Army as close to the German-Belgian border as possible. By doing so, the emerging Army Group A could cut off the spearhead of the French attack and make its way to the English Canal to surround the troops in Belgium. But the immense amount of German Panzer tanks that were heading through the Ardennes, a place that everyone had considered to be off-limits, had already been spotted by air force. However, with the focus on Eben-Emael, the airplanes were not ordered to bomb the Panzer divisions in the south. 2 German tank divisions with 26,000 personnel and 618 tanks arrived at the city of Hannut, located in the west of the Liège Province (the most eastern province in Belgium right next to the Dutch-German border). They were led by Colonel-General Erich Höpner and arrived on May 12 for a fight with the French troops, who had concentrated most of their defences at Gembloux in the west of the Namur Province adjacent to the Liège Province. 2 French armoured divisions with nearly 21,000 troops and 600 armoured fighting vehicles were supposed to hold back the German Panzer storm under command of General René Prioux. He would ultimately end up as a German POW to spend 2 years in captivity until the fall of the Vichy regime late 1942. The Battle of Hannut would take from May 12 until nightfall of May 14 and would become known as the largest tank clash in history up until then. On the first day and night, the French defences were victorious but in the afternoon of May 13, the French command was forced to order a retreat because there were simply too many different Panzer divisions and Höpner had been ordered to push through to Gembloux. Nevertheless, the Belgian anti-tank lines put up quite a fight, causing Hitler to admit after the 18-day Battle that it could have gone the other way as well. He praised Belgium for its tough struggle and saw it as the hardest fight of the war until the Battle for the Soviet Union. On May 14, an attack on Perwez came in the morning but without infantry, making it impossible for Erich Höpner to breach the French positions. The 3rd Panzer Division was led by General Stumpff and he had been ordered to attack the new Allied line near Gembloux. General Stever was supposed to defeat the centre of the new line at Perwez but his 4th Panzer Division saw heavy resistance in wooded areas around Perwez. After a hard fight and with extra help from the infantry, the French defences were destroyed. The 3rd Panzer Division was halted until nightfall because more French tanks were coming in, leading to German fear for a major counter-offensive from France. However, these incoming tanks were merely rearguard actions. Both sides suffered heavy losses and by nightfall the German Command regained its composure, ready for the next major battle at Gembloux on May 15 where France had support from French Morocco. Both of these battles were indecisive due to the fact that the survivors retreated. The ferocious fight at Hannut resulted in 121 lost French tanks, 49 lost German tanks, 111 damaged German tanks and 60 dead German troops. The amount of French and Belgian casualties is unknown. Other places in the Ardennes were also attacked between May 12 and 15, such as Sedan in the French Ardennes where Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt did manage to secure a victory for Germany.
creator: Jeff Wijns