The Capture of Stonne

The village of Stonne. positioned at the top of a height mass, could be used as an excellent starting point for a French counterattack against the Sedan bridgehead in the Meuse Valley. General der Panzertruppe Guderian. knowing that the bridgehead …

1940-05-15

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The village of Stonne. positioned at the top of a height mass, could be used as an excellent starting point for a French counterattack against the Sedan bridgehead in the Meuse Valley. General der Panzertruppe Guderian. knowing that the bridgehead was still unsafe, decided to act first and ordered the 10th Panzer Division, along with Infanten'e-Regiment Grossdeutschland to attack across the Stonne plateau. What was thought to be an easy task for the Germans soon evolved into a vicious fight. The French, well concealed inside the buildings. caught the overconfident tankers of the 10th Panzer by surprise and the streets were soon covered with wrecks. The situation was not stabilized until Grossdeutschland arrived. They pushed the French slowly backwards until the defenders. seeing they were being surrounded. fled from the village; only to retake it later that same day. The battle for Stonne would rage from 15 to 17 May, during which time the village changed hands 17 times.

Stonne, France

The Battle of Sedan or Second Battle of Sedan took place in the Second World War during the Battle of France in 1940. It was part of the German Wehrmacht's operational plan codenamed Fall Gelb for an offensive through the hilly and forested Ardennes, to encircle the Allied armies in Belgium and north-eastern France. German Army Group A crossed the Meuse river with the intention of capturing Sedan and pushing northwards towards the Channel coast, to trap the Allied forces that were advancing east into Belgium, as part of the Allied Dyle Plan.

Wikipedia: Battle of Sedan (1940)

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