0513_04: Ils sont là ! - PzC 12 France '40

The Battle of Dinant, 13 May 1940: After the invasion, elements the 9e armée swiveled into southwestern Belgium to connect the French Meuse defenses with the Belgian Namur fortifications. The XIe CA (22e DI and 18e DI) was to occupy the Meuse from Givet to north of Dinant while the IIe CAM (5e DIM) was to take up positions from Houx to Namur. By the evening of May 12th the 5e DIM was in place, but the slower foot divisions of the XIe CA lagged behind. Aside from a few advance battalions that had been sent forward on trucks, both of XIe CA's divisions were still far from their destination. Meanwhile, Generalleutnant Hermann Hoth's XV. AK (mot.), lead by Erwin Rommel's hard-driven 7. Panzer-Division, raced across the Ardennes. Advance Detachment Werner (portions 5. Panzer temporarily under Rommel's orders) was the first German unit to reach the Meuse, arriving at Dinant at 16:45 on May 12th. Finding that the bridges at Dinant had been destroyed, the German advance guard sped north to Yvoir where the bridges were still intact. One allied soldier shouted "They are here!" (« Ils sont là ! ») and French infantry and Belgian chasseurs took up positions covering the bridge. The electric ignition for the bridge charges failed, and a Belgian engineer, Lieutenant De Wispelaere, ran from his bunker to detonate the charges manually. Though he was gunned down in the process, the demolition charges went off and the Yvoir bridges, along with a German armored car, were sunk into the Meuse. Despite the Allied heroics at Yvoir, the Germans were not deterred. Elements of 5. Panzer-Division found an intact weir near Houx (the Belgians and French agreed that this could not be destroyed as it would result in an undesirable lowering of water levels). That night German riflemen were able to sneak across and establish a small bridgehead. The attack would begin in earnest on the morning of May 13th. Though the French infantry had not yet arrived in force, Hoth's corps was in for a long, difficult fight...[Size: Small]