Swallows of Death:
Scenario Preview, Part Two
by Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
February 2023

Lately, we’ve made an effort to highlight some of the “outsider” heroes of the Allied cause in World War II. With Black Panthers we looked at African-American troops in the U.S. Army, and in Go For Broke we have the Japanese-American 442nd Infantry Regiment. And we’re back at it with Panzer Grenadier: 1940: Swallows of Death.

The French Army’s 1st Moroccan Division piled up a similarly impressive combat record in the very short 1940 campaign; many of its soldiers would fight on for the Free French cause. These “Heroes Without Glory,” as Moroccan historian Ibrahim Al-Qadri Bouchiche labelled them, were not even French subjects (Morocco was a French protectorate). But they had volunteered for service anywhere in the world, and following Moroccan troops’ participation in the First World War, they knew they would face the Germans when war returned.

Only the Moroccans managed to blunt a German panzer advance in 1940, smacking the XVI Motorized Corps at Gembloux. In the days that followed their victory there, they conducted a fighting retreat across Belgium and back into France. Let’s have a look at that story as told in 1940: Swallows of Death

Chapter Two
Retreat from Gembloux
For two days, the French IV Corps had held the German XVI Motorized Corps completely in check. Just like the handbook said, French artillery had dominated the battlefield, and when the Germans tried to force their way through behind their tanks, the combination of determined infantry and anti-tank guns had thrown them back. The Germans never broke into the French positions, and never threatened their artillery.

But that wasn’t the case everywhere else. At Sedan, to the south-east of Gembloux, the German XIX Motorized Corps punched through the French Second Army’s weak defenses on the 13th. On the following day, as the Moroccans repelled the first German assaults on Gembloux, panzer sprearheads began to spread deeply into the French rear areas from their bridgehead at Sedan.

Despite their victory at Gembloux, the French First Army could not remain in Belgium while the Germans cut them off from France. On the evening of the 15th the French units received orders to withdraw, and they fought off several German attacks. The battered panzer divisions needed a break themselves and pulled back to await the arrival of their corps’ infantry divisions before trying again. But that didn’t end the fighting.

Scenario Six
Défense à la Marocaine
16 May 1940
North-West of Gembloux, Belgium
Several hundred Moroccans dug in around the Sart-Ernage farm, north-west of Gembloux, on the 14th. By the next evening only a battered remnant remained, following hard fighting throughout the day. They’d seen the Germans withdraw as night fell, but as they’d been cut off from the rest of their regiment the order for their own withdrawal never arrived. With the Sart-Ernage farm burning, they sought shelter in the woods near the ruins of the village of Cortil-Noirmont and waited for the dawn.

Conclusion
The Germans didn’t resume their attack until about 0900 on the 16th, and then only tentatively following their own heavy losses on the previous two days of fighting. Apparently unaware of just how few Moroccans remained, they moved to encircle the woods and call in artillery and air support while the tanks rushed past toward St-Géry. The Moroccans fought off German attacks until about 1100, but only at the cost of even more casualties as three more officers fell. The remnants broke out, carrying their heavy weapons with them, breaking free of the encirclement by 1300 and reaching their own lines about two hours later.

Notes
This is an unusual scenario, with the Moroccans needing to hold their initial positions as long as they can before bolting for the edge of the world. How long should they try to hold? That’s up to you. The Moroccans do have some help from their divisional artillery, which actually outweighs what the Germans can muster.

Scenario Seven
In Napoleon’s Footsteps
May 16, 1940
Between Ligny and Les Quatre-Bras de Baisy-Thy, Belgium
Despite their victory at Gembloux, the Moroccans would have to abandon the Dyle line following Erwin Rommel’s breakthrough over the Meuse at Sedan. The 1st Morccoan Division initially fell back 10 kilometers to the west. With the 3rd Mechanized Division’s support, they set up a new line of defense along the railway between Villers-la-Ville and Marbais. In the early afternoon, German reconnaissance units began to probe the new Moroccan positions.

Conclusion
Marching along the exact same road taken by Napoleon in 1815, the 1st Moroccan Division withdrew without too much interference and established a solid defense along the railway. At 1530 the first Germans appeared, three armored cars from the 3rd Panzer Division’s recon battalion. German infantry soon followed and began to pressure the 7th Moroccan Tirailleurs around Tilly. The Germans had more success on Moroccans’ north flank , slipping past the 2nd Tirailleurs, but to the south the 1st Tirailleurs with armored support from 3rd Mechanized Division held firm at the famed Quatre-Bras crossroads. In the evening, the shouts of Allah Akbar heralded another fearsome bayonet charge as the 7th Tirailleurs broke contact with the Germans to allow another nighttime withdrawal.

Notes
This is a huge tank battle scenario, with the Moroccans (and French armor) brawling across six maps against the Germans and their panzers. The Germans may be on the attack, but the French have the mobile forces to toss them back. This one is extra fun.

Scenario Eight
Seneffe 
17 May 1940
Between Feluy and Seneffe on the Bruxelles-Charleroi Canal, Belgium
Steadily falling back from Gembloux in front of the panzers, the 1st Moroccan Division withdrew behind the Charleroi Canal between Seneffe and Feluy. There they found one battalion of a regular French regiment, the 122nd Infantry, already in place. By 1400 the lead elements of the 3rd Panzer Division began trying to cross the canal, pushing a single rifle company across. A company of motorcyclists followed, but attempts to expand their bridgehead ran into the 2nd Moroccan Tirailleurs.

Conclusion
By now fatigue began to take its toll on the Moroccans, who had marched steadily while under fire, as their opponents rode. Once again they fanned out into defensive positions, but when the Germans got across the canal the 2nd Moroccan Tirailleurs pulled back. Soon enough the Moroccans, along with the French infantry, turned back to resume their positions but this time only some of them advanced while the rest organized a defense of the nearby woods.

Notes
Both the Germans and the French have to advance; the French have the edge here in numbers and firepower, but their soaring Moroccan morale is beginning to wear away.

Scenario Nine
Bridgehead on the Escaut
20 May 1940
Bouchain, France
The Escaut (Scheldt) River gave the scattered French units some hope of forming a new defense line before they disintegrated. The Moroccans retreating from Gembloux became intertwined with French units pulling back from Maubeuge and the Mormal Forest. The French High Command had planned to form a new line of defense here anyway, but the situation on the ground bore little resemblance to that shown on their maps. Some bridges over the Escaut already had fallen into German hands, and if the river were to become the new line of defense, then someone had to take them back.

Conclusion
The battered Third Battalion of the 2nd Moroccan Tirailleurs had barely escaped from the Gembloux inferno. Over the previous three days the Moroccans had marched 140 kilometers, and now they drew the task of defending the Escaut around Bouchain. At the Boucheneuil hamlet a small bridge had been taken by the Germans, who repulsed a series of French attacks. Under the cover of growing darkness, the Moroccans attacked again, this time with tank and artillery support. Under clear skies the fierce Tirailleurs overcame mortar and machine-gun fire to take the bridge to that their sappers could mine it. But the explosives failed to completely destroy the bridge, and two S35 tanks were lost in the swamps/

Notes
The Moroccans are on the attack, and in this small scenario they have numbers, morale, armor and artillery superiority; but the Germans are holding a strong position. The Moroccans need to get through the swamp and capture the bridge, then blow it up, all the while under German fire.

And that’s it for Chapter Two. Next time, Chapter Three.

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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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