Fall Gelb 1940 (1): Panzer Breakthrough in the West

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Osprey Publishing,

PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK

PO Box 3985, New York, NY 10185-3985, USA

OSPREY PUBLISHING IS PART OF THE OSPREY GROUP.

All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 78200 644 2

E-book ISBN: 978 1 78200 645 9

E-pub ISBN: 978 1 78200 646 6

Editorial by Ilios Publishing Ltd, Oxford, UK (www.iliospublishing.com)

Index by Mark Swift

Typeset in Myriad Pro and Sabon

Maps by Bounford.com

3D bird’s-eye view by The Black Spot

Battlescene illustrations by Peter Dennis

Originated by PDQ Media, Bungay, UK

© Osprey Publishing. Access to this book is not digitally restricted. In return, we ask you that you use it for personal, non-commercial purposes only. Please don’t upload this ebook to a peer-to-peer site, email it to everyone you know, or resell it. Osprey Publishing reserves all rights to its digital content and no part of these products may be copied, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise (except as permitted here), without the written permission of the publisher. Please support our continuing book publishing programme by using this e-book responsibly.

Every effort has been made by the Publisher to secure permissions to use the images in this publication. If there has been any oversight we would be happy to rectify the situation and written submission should be made to Osprey Publishing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author is deeply indebted to a number of individuals whose help made this book such a thorough study of the epic battle of Sedan and the Fall Gelb campaign. Foremost was retired French Army Colonel Max Schiavon, a noted authority on French World War II generals, who was immensely helpful in providing period photos, detailed maps of the Sedan defences, and directions on locating the most militarily significant points on the battlefields around Sedan. Also instrumental was Mme Ann Raedts of the Office de Tourisme du Pays Sedanais, who directed me to the more significant – and certainly less well marked – points of interest from the 1940 battle, with many helpful suggestions for exploring the entire battlefield.

For their excellent support in locating and providing photographs of French subjects, I am deeply indebted to Msrs Alain Adam, Antoine Misner, Alain Alvarez, Eric Denis and Erik Barbanson. Misner’s superb French World War II armour website, www.chars-francais.net and Eric Denis’s www.atf40.fr/ATF40 ‘Armée de Terre Française 1940’ are highly recommended for anyone – even non-French speakers – interested in further study of this compelling story. Thomas Laemlein and Marc Romanych’s outstanding support – as well as the superb professional photo research assistance provided by Mrs Gina McNeely, MA, – were instrumental in providing a balanced assortment of interesting contemporary images.

Additionally I am grateful to fellow Osprey authors Marc Romanych and Ryan Noppen, whose substantial time investment and excellent critical feedback make this concise discussion of this monumentally significant military campaign far better than it could otherwise have been. Finally, I thank my wonderful wife, Annette Dildy, for her enduring patience, limitless support, and incredible inspiration, especially in the face of her recent life-threatening illness. In light of the last-mentioned, editor Marcus Cowper’s understanding and patience, as well as his superb editorial expertise, made completing this work possible.

ARTIST’S NOTE

Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the colour plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. The Publishers retain all reproduction copyright whatsoever. All enquiries should be addressed to:

Peter Dennis, Fieldhead, The Park, Mansfield, Notts, NG18 2AT, UK E-mail: magie.h@ntlworld.com

The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this matter.