| Battle of Arras | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom |
 Germany |
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| Commanders | |||||||
 Major-General Harold Franklyn |
Generalmajor Erwin Rommel |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 50-75 killed or wounded (British) | 300 killed or wounded, 400 Captured | ||||||
The Battle of Arras (1940) took place during the Battle of France, in the early stages of World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Events 325 - The First Council of Nicaea &ndash the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Arras (Atrecht is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (also known as the " Desert Fox " Wüstenfuchs In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including It was an Allied counterattack against the flank of the German army, that took place near the town of Arras, in North-Eastern France. In general allies are people groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose A counterattack Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 The German forces were pushing northwards towards the channel coast, in order to entrap the Allied Forces that were advancing East into Belgium. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The counterattack at Arras was an Allied attempt to cut through the German spearhead and frustrate the German advance. Although the Allies initially made gains, they were ultimately unsuccessful.
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Background
Early in the Battle of France, German forces managed to defeat Allied forces and push them back considerably. In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries In an attempt to shore up defenses against the rapidly approaching German advance, the British Expeditionary Force reinforced the town of Arras. The British Expeditionary Force ( BEF) was the British army sent to the Western Front in France and Belgium on the outbreak of Arras (Atrecht is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. By May 20, the Allied forces in Arras found themselves surrounded. Events 325 - The First Council of Nicaea &ndash the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held
The battle
Lord Gort, commander-in-chief of the BEF, ordered a counter-attack in an attempt to delay the Germans and prevent British forces from being overrun. Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker 6th Viscount Gort VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MVO,
The counterattack would be led by Major-General Harold Franklyn; his forces, codenamed Frankforce, consisted of two divisions, the 5th Division and the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, plus 74 tanks from the 1st Army Tank Brigade and 60 supporting French tanks. In The British 50th (Northumbrian Division was a first-line Territorial Force division. A serious situation had developed to the South where the German spearheads had pierced the Peronne – Cambrai gap and were threatening Boulogne and Calais, cutting the BEF's lines of communication and separating it from the main French Armies. Cambrai (Dutch Kamerijk; old spelling Cambray) is a French town and commune, in the Nord département, Calais (kaˈlɛ in English often kæˈleɪ traditional English pronunciation /ˈkælɨs/ Kales is a town in northern France. A plan by General Weygand to close this gap included an attack by Frankforce, with the British 5th Infantry Division holding the line of the river Scarpe to the East of Arras, while the other two formations attacked to the South of that city. Maxime Weygand ( 21 January 1867 - 28 January 1965) (vɛgɑ̃ was a French military commander in World War I and World The British 5th Infantry Division was established by Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington for service in the Peninsula War and has been active for most of the The Scarpe is a River in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, left tributary of the Scheldt.
During the afternoon of 21st May, the attack by the 50th Division and the 1st Tank Brigade was seen progressing South from Arras. This was to be the only large scale attack mounted by the BEF during the campaign. The attack was supposed to be manned by two infantry divisions, comprising about 15,000 men. It was ultimately executed by just two infantry battalions, the 6th & 8th Battalions Durham Light Infantry supporting the 4th & 7th Royal Tank Regiment, totalling around 2,000 men, and reinforced by 74 tanks. The Durham Light Infantry (DLI was formed in 1881 from the 68th Regiment of Foot which had originally been raised in County Durham The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR is an armoured regiment of the British Army. The infantry battalions were split into two columns for the attack. The right column initially made rapid progress, taking a number of German prisoners, but they soon ran into German infantry and SS, backed by air support, and took heavy losses. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the
The left column also enjoyed early success before running into opposition from the infantry units of Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division. Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (also known as the " Desert Fox " Wüstenfuchs The 7th Panzer Division was a German armored formation which participated in the Battle of France. The defending forces, elements of motorized SS regiment "Totenkopf" - later to be expanded into SS-Division Totenkopf - were overrun, their standard 37 mm PaK 36/37 anti-tank guns proving ineffective against the heavily-armoured British Matilda tank. SS Division Totenkopf ("Death's Head" or "Skull" is also known as 3 The PaK 36 ( Panzerabwehrkanone 36) was a German Anti-tank gun that fired a 3 Anti-tank refers to any method of combating military Armored fighting vehicles notably Tanks The most common anti-tank systems The Tank Infantry Mk II Matilda II (A12 (sometimes referred to as Senior Matilda was a British Tank of World War II. Generalmajor Erwin Rommel, commanding the 7.Panzer-Division committed some of his armour to local counterattacks, only to find the guns of the Panzer II and Panzer III tanks could not penetrate the Matildas' armour. Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (also known as the " Desert Fox " Wüstenfuchs The 7th Panzer Division was a German armored formation which participated in the Battle of France. Panzer II is the common name of a German Tank used in World War II. Panzer III is the common name of a Medium tank that was developed in the 1930s by Germany and used extensively in World War II. Desperate to prevent a British breakthrough, Rommel ordered the division's 8.8cm FlaK 18 Flak and 105 mm field guns be formed into a defensive line and fire anti-tank and HE rounds in a last ditch effort to stop the Matildas. The 88 mm gun ( eighty-eight) is a German anti-aircraft and anti-tank Artillery gun from World War II. Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense, is any method of engaging hostile military Aircraft in defence of ground objectives, ground or naval forces An explosive material is a material that either is chemically or otherwise Energetically unstable or produces a sudden expansion of the material usually accompanied The BEF's advance was halted with heavy losses. Then, with Luftwaffe support, Rommel launched a successful counter-attack, driving the British back. ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. Frankforce had been repulsed. French cover enabled British troops to withdraw to their former positions that night. Frankforce took around 400 German prisoners and inflicted a similar number of casualties, as well as destroying a number of tanks.
The operation had punched far beyond its weight - the attack was so fierce that 7th Panzer Division believed it had been attacked by five infantry divisions. The attack made the German commanders nervous, and it may have been one of the factors for the surprise German halt on 24 May that gave the BEF the slimmest of opportunities to begin evacuation from Dunkirk.
Aftermath
The battle is historically credited with shaking the confidence of the German High Command (OKW). For other uses of OKW see OKW (disambiguation. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ( OKW) ( English: "High Command Erwin Rommel is noted to have written a report of an attack by hundreds of Allied tanks, which was likely a contributing factor to the halt of the German offensive for 24 hours (though Hermann Göring's promises that the Luftwaffe could finish off Dunkirk was also a major factor). Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (12 January 1893 15 October 1946 was a German Politician, Military leader and a leading member ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. The main British force consisted of only 58 machine gun armed Matilda I and 16 QF 2 pounder gun armed Matilda II supported by a few lighter armoured vehicles. The Tank Infantry Mk I Matilda I (A11 was a British Infantry tank of the Second World War. The Ordnance QF 2-pounder (or simply "2 pounder gun" was a 40 mm British anti-tank and vehicle-mounted The delay by the OKW is one of the main reasons for the success of Operation Dynamo. The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British was the Evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk For this reason, Frankforce, in spite of being repulsed, could be considered one of the few allied successes of the 1940 French campaign. In total, more than 40 British and French (20) tanks were lost in the battle, compared to around a dozen lost by the Germans.
The British lost around 100 men killed or wounded in the attack, it is unknown how many French soldiers became casualties in the engagement but due to the small participation of the French it could be assumed casualties would have been light. The Germans lost 700 men, of which 400 were captured, mainly in the initial stages of the battle before the 8. 8cm FlaK 18 guns were brought about to engage the British forces.
Despite common misperception, the 8. 8cm FlaK 18 was not used for the first time as an anti-tank gun at Arras. Several years earlier, during the Spanish Civil War, the German volunteer unit Legion Condor had used 8. The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of The Condor Legion (Legion Condor was a unit composed of "volunteers" from the German Air Force ( Luftwaffe) which served with the Nationalist 8cm FlaK guns against armour and other ground targets. Rommel realised the defensive power of the eighty-eights and used them to great effect during his time commanding the Afrika Korps. The German Afrikakorps ( German: Deutsches Afrikakorps DAK) was the original German blocking force (Sperrverband = Armored Blocking Force in Libya
See also
- Battle of Arras - Other battles throughout history in the same area.
- Dunkirk: The Necessary Myth, NICHOLAS HARMAN. (Durham Light Infantry Archives)
References
External links
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