The Strongpoint at Cassel - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Cassel, France: As the British Expeditionary Force retreated toward the port of Dunkirk, British General Lord Gort ordered a series of strongpoints be established along the retreat corridor to the port. Fortuitously for the British, Hitler's order to halt the German panzer drive toward Dunkirk, issued on May 24th, finally allowed the exhausted British troops some breathing room. During the night of that same May 24th, the British 2nd Gloucestershires and the 4th Oxfords and Buckinghams, already depleted from their retreat from the Belgian border, arrived and began digging in at the hilltop town of Cassel, northwest of Lille. Allowed the time to fortify their position, due to the German halt order, the British troops placed what they had: some anti-tank guns, machine guns from a unit of Cheshire Territorials, and a motley collection of demoralised French gunners. The 25th and 26th of May were used to good effect, all things considered. The German halt order was lifted on the 26th but it was not until the morning of the 27th that the Germans were able to mount their assault on the grossly outnumbered British defenders.