The Lawless Roads

As the British troops in Calais were preparing to defend the town, the Rifle Brigade received orders to escort a column of ten-ton lorries loaded with rations for the British at Dunkirk. A composite force of infantry and tanks was made up to handle this task. Unfortunately, by …

1940-05-24

J067

As the British troops in Calais were preparing to defend the town, the Rifle Brigade received orders to escort a column of ten-ton lorries loaded with rations for the British at Dunkirk. A composite force of infantry and tanks was made up to handle this task. Unfortunately, by the time the convoy moved out at 0400 hours, units of the 1st Panzer Division were already present in strength in the area. Halfway between le Beau Marais and Marck, three miles outside of Calais, the column met a strong German blocking position, with infantry and anti-tank guns positioned in the houses and allotments.

le Beau Marais, France

The Siege of Calais (1940) was a battle for the port of Calais during the Battle of France. The siege was fought at the same time as the Battle of Boulogne, just before Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) through Dunkirk. After the Franco-British counter-attack at the Battle of Arras (21 May), German units were held back to be ready to resist a resumption of the counter-attack on 22 May, despite the protests of General Heinz Guderian, the commander of the XIX Armee Korps, who wanted to rush north up the Channel coast to capture Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk. An attack by part of the XIX Armee Korps was not authorised until 12:40 a.m. on the night of 21/22 May. By the time that the 10th Panzer Division was ready to attack Calais, the British 30th Infantry Brigade and 3rd Royal Tank Regiment (3rd RTR) had reinforced the French and British troops in the port. On 22 May, the British troops had established roadblocks outside the town and French rearguards skirmished with German armoured units, as they advanced towards Calais. British tanks and infantry had been ordered south to reinforce Boulogne but were too late. They then received orders to escort a food convoy to Dunkirk but found the road blocked by German troops. On 23 May, the British began to retire to the old Calais walls (built in the 1670s) and on 24 May, the siege began. The attacks by the 10th Panzer Division were mostly costly failures and by evening, the Germans reported that about half their tanks had been knocked out and a third of the infantry were casualties. The German attacks were supported by the Luftwaffe, while the Allied defenders were supported by their navies delivering supplies, evacuating wounded and bombarding German targets around the port.

British

German

Scenario Type = Standard