0528_01: Panzerpanik - PzC 12 France '40

The Battle of Abbeville, 28 May 1940: After the failure of the 1st Armoured Division on May 27th, Altmayer renewed the attack against the Abbeville bridgehead on May 28th. This time the French were present around Abbeville in force. The attack was lead by Général de brigade Charles de Gaulle's 4e division cuirasée, rested after the counterattacks at Montcornet and Crécy and reinforced with additional tanks. Two battalions of heavy B1-bis tanks were to attack towards Abbeville through Huppy, supported by 4e BCP. Additional tank battalions together with a regiment of colonial infantry borrowed from the 5e DIC were to make supporting attacks to the east while the 5e DLC and 2e DLC, now fully assembled, would attack to the west. Meanwhile, the German motorized infantry had been relieved by Eric von Manstein's XVIII. AK and Abbeville was now held by the 57. Infanterie-Division. The men in this unblooded division were thinly stretched and unprepared for the heavy armor and firepower of the B1 tanks. The inexperienced German defenders did have one advantage, however: the weather. After weeks of sunshine, the skies had clouded over and rain was beginning to fall...[Size: Small]