Panzer Grenadier: 1940 The Fall of France
Scenario Preview, Part Seven
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
October 2022

During the 1930’s, French Lt. Colonel (later Colonel) Charles de Gaulle wrote extensively on his theory of warfare. His Vers l’armeé de metiér (“Toward the Army as a Profession”) strongly advocated for a force of full-time professionals rather than reservist citizen-soldiers, including a strong corps of armored units. DeGaulle felt that in order to be effective, armored units in particular needed to be manned by long-service regulars.

While it appears that Charles de Gaulle exaggerated his influence on German practice, he had a major impact within France and armored divisions appeared from both the infantry and cavalry branches (with two different tables of organization, equipped with different types of tanks). De Gaulle also built political networks for himself, both within government and the army, which would propel his later career as leader of the Free French movement and President of France.

The fifth chapter of Panzer Grenadier: 1940 The Fall of France addresses De Gaulle’s counter-attack against Heinz Guderian’s XIX Corps, as the French and German theorists moved their ideas from paper to the battlefield. Let’s have a look at the scenarios.

Chapter Five
De Gaulle’s Counterattack
Col. Charles de Gaulle had become well-known as a theorist of armored warfare and energetic commander, but just before the war began, he had fallen out with his former patron Henri Pétain. When war came, he was passed over for command of an armored division. But he had still more friends in high places, and in March 1940 Finance Minister Paul Reynaud, a fan of his writings, wrangled for De Gaulle the command of 4th Division Cuirassée, due to form in May.

The new division became official on 10 May, the same day on which the German launched their offensive. The first units arrived on the 15th – three battalions and a separate company of tanks, a battalion of motorized infantry and a motorized artillery regiment. Two days later, De Gaulle committed them to combat

Scenario Twenty-Five
Early Montcornet
15 May 1940
Montcornet, France
The small crossroads town of Montcornet lay at the nexus of the Reims, Laon and Vervins roads, giving it a special strategic importance. The German “sickle-cut” plan had confused French forces as to the real objectives of the attack, throwing them into disarray as they moved hither and yon to cope with a ubiquitous enemy. Some motorized elements of the 2nd Division Cuirassée were shifting positions around Montcornet when they met a recon column from 6th Panzer Division closing on the town.

Conclusion
Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck’s column approached Montcornet from the east around 1700, just as a detachment from 17th Bataillon de Chasseurs Portés (motorized infantry) approached the town from the north. Spotting the Germans, the French formed a defensive line around the railway station at the north edge of the town. The combined attack of the German motorcyclists fording the small river and the tanks of the 6th Panzer firing from the rear eventually wore down French resistance. Combat ended around 2000 with heavy French losses: three officers, nine NCOs and 45 chasseurs wounded or killed and ten 25mm guns lost along with their trucks.

Notes
This is just a small scenario, but the Germans have motorcyclists and tank support, if you can call it that (just light tanks) but the French have a strong contingent of anti-tank guns to take them out. Except for the small French garrison that starts the game on the map, both sides are mobile and have good morale.

Scenario Twenty-Six
Lost Children
17 May 1940
Montcornet, France
The Germans had achieved amazing success in the first week of the campaign, crossing the Meuse at three different points and advancing westward while severely battering French armored forces. Continuing the advance would expose the German southern flank to French counterattacks, but Guderian pressed his XIX Corps forward nonetheless, counting on speed and continued confusion among the French to prevent any effective response. It worked better than he could have hoped, but the anticipated counterattack finally came from Col. Charles de Gaulle’s 4th Division Cuirassée. Although understrength, not fully trained and lacking intelligence on the enemy, 4th DCR advanced towards the Serre river crossings at Montcornet.

Conclusion
At Chivres the French destroyed a German artillery column, but then had to leave their heavy tanks at Clermont for refueling while sending the lighter R35s ahead to Montcornet. The small German garrison there held off the French attack, destroying seven French tanks and forcing the rest to withdraw. Some of the French heavy tanks then arrived, shooting up everything in their path, but German dive bombers and 88mm shells drove them off again. The disjointed and poorly-planned attack accomplished nothing.

Notes
Charles de Gaulle’s division arrives on the scene in piecemeal fashion, with waves of tanks crashing on a very small defending German force. But the Germans will eventually have two deadly batteries of 88mm guns, and have much better morale than the French. The French have almost no infantry, yet they have to capture town hexes. That’s not an easy task with a force made up almost exclusively of tanks.

Scenario Twenty-Seven
Allez! De Gaulle!
19 May 1940
Crécy-sur-Serre, France
Having failed in its first offensive action at Montcornet, the 4th DCR regrouped and received more of its still-missing elements. De Gaulle hoped to strike the exposed southern flank of Guderian’s advancing German XIX Corps with a large-scale attack that would cut enemy communication and supply lines by seizing the bridges over the Serre. But DeGaulle’s hastily-assembled 4th DCR would have to attack without infantry, without aviation and without anti-aircraft defenses.

Conclusion
DeGaulle’s division sent a powerful armored force into the opening, but unfortunately the tanks brought along almost no one else and came forward in piecemeal fashion. At first only the R35 light tanks of 2nd and 24th BCC advanced towards Crécy, they quickly retreated before a wall of German fire. On the German side, 10th Panzer Division had prepared a stout defense of the Serre bridges with numerous anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns and artillery; German engineers had mined all access roads. After the failure of the light tanks, the B1-bis of the 46th BCC attacked the village of Chalandry, east of Crécy, in front of the Serre and some of them crossed the river at Mortiers. At 1100 the R35’s resumed the assault on Crécy with the support of D2 tanks. A violent fight raged for control of the bridge at Crécy, where the French lost several tanks but failed to take the bridge. Without infantry to secure the tanks against enemy infantry ambushes or clear out German anti-tank guns, the French armor failed to take the bridges on its own and De Gaulle had to withdraw his division.

Notes
This is a brand-new scenario for the Playbook edition, and it’s an exciting one. The French have gobs of tanks, and they fling them against a much smaller combined-arms German defense that has really crappy 37mm anti-tank guns that will do nothing to the Char B1-bis, but also sports an 88mm battery that will shred them. And the Germans have the chance of air support. The French are going to be hamstrung by their lack of infantry, but they just might get their way through brute steel force anyway.

Scenario Twenty-Eight
Faire Sidi Brahim
19 May 1940
Chambry, North East of Laon, France
In 1845, a force of 10,000 Algerian horsemen overwhelmed the 540 men of the French 8th Chasseur (light infantry) Battalion; only nine Frenchmen survived and Faire Sidi Brahim became the Chasseurs’ motto.

Early in the morning of the 19th, the tanks of 4th Division Cuirassée plus some units of 3rd Division Légère de Cavalerie rushed northward to cross the Serre River at Crécy. To the east, 4th Bataillon de Chasseurs Portés and units from 39th Infantry Regiment and 10th Cuirassiers held the right flank of the French advance. On the German side, the 25th Infantry Division had sent Col. Gustav Dürrstein’s 13th Infantry Regiment to take the city of Laon as soon as possible and eliminate the French armored attack’s main supply base.

Conclusion
Taking his information from the retreating armored cavalry, Capitaine de Chavannes ordered the 4th Bataillon de Chasseurs Portés to settle down in the small village of Chambry, a few kilometers northeast of Laon. When Commandant Bertrand (commander of the 4th BCP) joined them on the eve of combat, all the Chasseurs knew that this defense would be “at all costs” just like at Sidi Brahim. The first German attack hit the northern entrance of the village at the same time as a flanking move from the west. The flank attack stalled, but the frontal assault (supported by heavy guns and helped by fires raging in the buildings) was only stopped by the iron will of the Chasseurs.

Notes
We had this scenario in the first edition, without explaining Faire Sidi Brahim. It’s been heavily revised, like all the Playbook edition scenarios, and it’s a quick one-board scenario in which a mixed French force led by high-morale Chasseurs tries to hold back a powerful German infantry attack. The French have decent numbers but most of their units are reservists of average morale or worse.

Scenario Twenty-Nine
Route Charlemagne
19 May 1940
Chambry, Northeast of Laon
No road led to Laon except the Route Charlemagne passing through Chambry, so the German 25th Infantry Division renewed their assault on the village later the same day. As for the French, De Gaulle’s attack had gone nowhere and Chambry (the anchor of the French right flank) had to be held as long as possible so that the 4th Division Cuirassee could withdraw. It would be another fraught stand for the chasseurs of the 4th BCP.

Conclusion
After some powerful preparatory fire from their self-propelled 88mm guns, the Germans renewed the attack on the eastern part of the village, concentrating on the chateau and its park. Soon the chateau was on fire and the encircled chasseurs had no choice but to fight or surrender. After a valiant resistance that took many German lives, they finally gave up around 1400. Frenchmen in the rest of the village had run low on ammunition but kept fighting until 1600, when a French motorcyclist arrived carrying the order to retreat. Fourth BCP pulled back to Laon that evening.

Notes
This scenario picks up the action from Scenario 28: Faire Sidi Brahim; it’s been pretty much replaced in order to better show the carryover from one action to the next. The defeated Germans have regrouped and are launching a fresh assault. Both sides have suffered losses, but this time the French have powerful tank support in the offing.

And that’s the rest of Chapter Five! Next time, we look at Chapter Six.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children, and new puppy. He misses his lizard-hunting Iron Dog, Leopold.

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