12th May 1940

[Pdf27]

At midnight, General von Kleist issues orders Guderian to launch XIX armoured corps across the Meuse at Sedan at 16.00 that day. A little further north, the 6th and 8th Panzer divisions were preparing to attack Monthermé, and beyond that 5th and 7th Panzer divisions were struggling through swarms of refugees and abandoned vehicles to cross the Meuse at Dinant. The advancing column stretches back over 100 miles into Germany, where the infantry divisions have still not left their assembly areas. Over 1500 tanks are concentrated over a front of a mere 50km, facing the relatively weak 2nd Army.

Air Marshal Barratt and General d'Astier de la Vigiere have both requested permission to launch bombing attacks against this concentration of troops. However, at 08.00 they receive a signal from General Gamelin restricting Allied air operations to fighter and reconnaissance activity only – in the hope of avoiding a bombing war and Luftwaffe reprisals against French cities. The RAF Advanced Air Striking Force is however allowed to launch an attack against the bridges over the Albert Canal captured by the Germans. All 5 of the Battle aircraft attacking are destroyed, with Flying Officer Garland and air observer/navigator Sergeant Gray being awarded posthumous VCs after their aircraft destroys a span on one of the bridges. The Germans replace this with a pontoon within 12 hours, and traffic continues as normal.

The Luftwaffe, however, is operating under no such restrictions. In the morning, they launched relatively small numbers of bombers (typically formations of 6 Stukas or medium bombers) attacking in relays against French positions on the Meuse. As the day wore on, however, the attacks intensified. At 16.00 there was a sudden increase in activity as the whole of Stuka-Geschwader 77 and Kampfgeschwader 2 attacked at once. Despite a strong French fighter presence, the Luftwaffe will fly over 700 sorties against the French lines on the Meuse by the end of the day.

Under the cover of fire from four brigades of 105mm guns, the assaulting German infantry crossed the river in boats and rafts. To the West of Sedan, the 1st Rifle Regiment of 1st Panzer division and the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment launched their attack against French positions in disarray after the bombardment they had been under. To the South-East of Sedan, the 69th and 86th Rifle Battalions of the 10th Panzer division did less well in the face of a French defensive system that was still mostly intact. By nightfall, the assaulting troops were still bogged down in the French bunkers, and under fire from the Maginot line positions at Curignan. Their own artillery was also providing them with very little support.

In the end, however, their failure to break through the French lines was irrelevant. The troops of the 1st Panzer division broke through West of Sedan, and were three kilometres inland by nightfall. By midnight, the infantry were 6km South of Sedan, and the Pioneers had almost completed a pontoon bridge across the Meuse. This will be ready for the Panzers to cross at dawn on the 13th.

In Holland General Student decides that his position in Waalhaven is becoming untenable, and that if he does not immediately reinforce Dordrecht his forces risk being defeated in detail. Accordingly, he plans to attack along the north bank of the Oude Maas in order to open a corridor for his forces to join those in Dordrecht. If he can hold the island of Dordrecht, that makes it much easier for German forces to cross the Hollands Diep at Moerdijk. Subsequent river crossings into Fortress Holland will be much easier – they are something the German army is familiar with, while the fact that the Hollands Diep is so large and tidal makes it more akin to an amphibious landing.
That evening, the first Panzer forces reach the Hollands Diep, but do not have the bridging equipment available to make a crossing. They do however ferry additional troops across in small boats, and start evacuating the wounded. Additionally, their pioneers start attempting to cobble together a bridge using pontoons and the remains of the Moerdijk bridge.

During the day, a series of cargo ships arrive in Vlissingen carrying the rest of the Canadian equipment and vehicles. They unload protected by the anti-aircraft guns from the warehouse (the Dutch air force having essentially ceased to exist), although in the event no attack materialises before the ships leave. A squadron of British motor torpedo boats/motor gun boats also arrives for use against any German attempts at river crossings.

In Belgium, due to the decisive German breach in the Albert Canal line the Belgian troops withdraw to the Dyle line, with most of their troops concentrated between Antwerp and Leuven. The 2nd Belgian Cavalry Division fought a rearguard action during this retreat to allow the troops on the Dyle line time to dig in.

King Albert also issues the following proclamation:
Soldiers:
The Belgian Army, brutally assailed by an unparalleled surprise attack, grappling with forces that are better equipped and have the advantage of a formidable air force, has for three days carried out difficult operations, the success of which is of the utmost importance to the general conduct of the battle and to the result of war.
These operations require from all of us – officers and men – exceptional efforts, sustained day and night, despite a moral tension tested to its limits by the sight of the devastation wrought by a pitiless invader. However severe the trial may be, you will come through it gallantly.
Our position improves with every hour; our ranks are closing up. In the critical days that are ahead of us, you will summon up all your energies, you will make every sacrifice, to stem the invasion.
Just as they did in 1914 on the Yser, so now the French and British troops are counting on you: the safety and honour of the country are in your hands.

Leopold

[jemhouston]

My cousin, Westmorland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow.
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian."
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words—
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be rememberèd—
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Cultural influence