LnL Tactical: Heroes in Defiance
Title
LnL Tactical: Heroes in Defiance
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- Lock 'n Load: Tactical
- LnL Tactical: Heroes in Defiance
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Noise in the Fog
On the day General DeGaulle issued his call from London, one day after Pétain called for ceasefire and Armistice, the French Army fought one last battle. The men who were charged with defending the Maginot Line now had to defend …
1940-06-18
One Last Steak Dinner
The British 51st Highland Division was being squeezed into a small pocket around the town of Dieppe by Erwin Rommel and his 7th Panzer Division. Rommel was doing his best to capture the division before it could escape across the …
1940-06-11
The Rescue: Leclerc Rides In
On June 9th, the Germans crossed the Aisne River near Bethel. But they needed to increase the bridgehead to allow all their tanks to cross the Aisne. While the 1st and 2nd Panzer Divisions strengthened the Aisne bridgehead, the 17th …
1940-06-10
Airaines: The Hell
Dunkirk had fallen, the Belgian Army had surrendered, and the British had left. The best French divisions were trapped in the north and the east. The situation was desperate. Behind the Somme River. every village was hastily fortified in hopes …
1940-06-07
Fighting the Hedgehogs
After the defeat in the Belgian plains and the reduction of the pocket of Dunkirk, the German Army launched Fall Rot. the second stage of the 1940 Western Campaign. On the 360 km long front of the Somme and Aisne …
1940-06-05
Beneath the Scythe
The German blitzkrieg cut across northern France to the Englidh Channel like a scythe, with the Somme River forming its lower edge. In an effort to retake the German-held bridgeheads along the Somme, a combined British-Prench attack northward along…
1940-06-04
Bring on the Night
As the British 3rd Infanty Division attempted to withdraw to prepared positions at dusk, the Germans attacked the remaining rear-guard elements. Hand-to-hand fighting broke out as the Irishmen of the Royal Ulster Rifies made a desperate stand to…
1940-05-28
The Price of Arrogance
The noose was tightening on the beleaguered allied forces. Curiously,Hitler had ordered a halt to the blitzkrieg. Sepp Deitrich, Commander SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, on his own initiative, decided to push the attack. British troops were assigned…
1940-05-28
En Route to Abbeville
On May 21st the Germans created a bridgehead over the Somme at Abbeville. General De Gaulle and his brand new 4th OCR (Armored Division) was ordered to stop the enemy advance. The Germans had fortified an area adjacent to the …
1940-05-28
Kick 'em Out
German infantry of the 7th Panzer division had infiltrated the La Bassee Canal defense line and had established a small bridgehead. As German engineers were building a pontoon bridge over the canal for reinforcements, a combined Allied infantry-armor…
1940-05-27
Squeezing Limeys
The Allies were determined to hold onto all of the major seaports as long as they could. Calais had traditionally been a crucial strongpoint in channel crossings. Most of the city was made into a makeshift fortress. The 1st Panzer …
1940-05-25
The Canal
An allied defense line using the Brasse canal had been successful in stopping the relentless advance of the German Army. The British were so stubborn that General Rommel went to …
1940-05-25
Going Coastal
The Allies had collapsed into a defensive pocket around the Channel ports. In order for 360,000 rations for the BEF to be brought from Calais to Dunkirk, the road between the two cities had to be reconnoitered and secured. An …
1940-05-24
Into the Dragon's Lair
As the German Panzers raced toward the sea. the capacity for the French to re-establish a continuous front appeared impossible. The remnants of the Allied forces were reduced to counterattacking the base of the German bulge. West of Arras, which …
1940-05-22
I'll Take the Low Road
The 2nd Panzer Division had the port of Boulogne as its final objective. Resistance had been stubborn on the southern approaches. Aerial reconnaissance revealed that the low road by the village of Outrea would be the most advantageous route into …
1940-05-22
Death's Head at Arras
The Allied counterattack near Arras had started splendidly. The German defenses were no match for the slow but heavily armored Matilda n tanks. Combined infantry and armored elements were assigned to take a series of villages west of Arras. They …
1940-05-21
River of Blood
Around the Mormal Forest, remnants of several disorganized French divisions attempted to counterattack the 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions, the spearhead of the German Army. During five deadly days. an almost uninterrupted series of brutal and chaotic…
1940-05-20
The Road to Hill 311
Following the Panzer Divisions through the Ardennes breach. the German infantry turned to the fortified sectors of the Maginot Line that flanked the breakihrough. Soon, the French casemates of the Montmedy sectors on Hill 311 were under attack, and…
1940-05-18
Steel Against Steel
The Germans that crossed the Meuse at Monthermé continued their western push in an effort to take the bridges on the Oise River and Oise-Sambre Canal system. Though the French 9th Army was collapsing. the French HG threw forward several …
1940-05-17
The Last Charge of the Spahis
After successfully crossing the Mouse River. Guderian's Panzer Korps broke away from the Sedan bridgehead. ln front of them remained only scattered units. One of them, the 3rd Brigade of Spahis, North African Cavalry, was ordered to hold the road …
1940-05-15
Battle for the Isthmus
By the evening of May 14th the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Panzer Divisions had established a bridgehead at Sedan. The 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions had established a bridgehead in the area of Dinant and Houx but the spearhead of …
1940-05-14
The Heart of the Matter
The Willemsbrug Bridge over the Nieuwe Maas in central Rotterdam was fiercely contested since the Blitzkrieg began on the 10th. The Germans clung to a bridgehead on the north side, but were unable to extend it, with most of their …
1940-05-13
Kampfgruppe Eberback
Hannut, Belgium, saw WWII's first tank battle. On the second day of the battle, the French began to retreat into positions flanking the 4th Panzer Division. Though the Germans wanted to press their advance, they didn't want to risk becoming …
1940-05-12
Oranje Crush
On the morning of May 11th German stormtroopers of the SS Standarte der Fuhrer attacked central Holland. The Grebheline was an outer Dutch defensive position extending from the Ijsselmeer, an artificial lake in the north, south to the rehbeberg, …
1940-05-11
Where are all the Others?
The 1st Panzer Division entered Belgium without difficulty. The Germans hoped to take Neufcháteau on the same day and then rush to the west. but most of the bridges over the Sure River had been destroyed and, at first, only …
1940-05-10
Poker Trick in Martelange
In the morning, the 1st Panzer Division crossed Luxembourg, and its advanced guards were ready to enter Belgium as soon as possible. On the border, in Martelange, the Chasseurs Ardennais were ready to fight, and hosted their defenses. Bridges had …
1940-05-10
Fallschirmjäger Bridgehead
As the Blitzkrieg in Holland began, the Germans had to capture the traffic bridge in Dordrecht intact in order to allow the flow of forces from the border to reach Rotterdam and The Hague. A platoon from the 3rd Company, …
1940-05-10
Sunrise at Ypenburg
To open the Battle of the Netherlands, the Germans had planned a grand endeavor to capture not just The Hague, and the main Dutch military headquarters there, but the Dutch Royal Family and the Cabinet. Crucial to this effort was …
1940-05-10
Phoney War
During the period preceding the German offensive both the French and the Germans kept their positions along the border. France had invaded the Saar "country but retreated after the Polish capitulation. War was then an affair of recon patrols, brutal…
1940-01-01
Bloody Valley
In No-man's Land, French recon patrols identified a German presence near the road crossing at the Winsbach Forest. Elements of the 5th Colonial lnfantry Regiment were ordered to clear the area, in a coordinated assault with the 15th Chasseurs Alpins…
1939-11-01