Battle of Hannut

Battle of Hannut

Part of: Western campaign , World War II

Destroyed French AMC Somua tank,
one gun in the foreground (May 1940)

date	12. bis 14. May 1940
place	Hannut , Belgium
output	French tactical victory, German strategic victory

Parties to the conflict
France	German Empire
Commander
René Prioux	Erich Hoepner
Troop strength
600 tanks	618-674 tanks
losses
105 tanks	160 tanks

The Battle of Hannut was the largest tank battle during the western campaign in the context of World War II , which took place from May 12 to 14, 1940 near Hannut in the central part of Belgium .

prehistory

The attack of Army Group A through the Ardennes , which began on May 10, went according to plan. The XVI. Panzer Corps under Erich Hoepner had crossed the Meuse and, very close to the Belgian fort Eben-Emael, also the Albert Canal. The Allies tried to take advanced positions along the River Dijle ( Dyle position ) in Belgium and stop the German advance there. A weak point - because there are no natural obstacles - was the approximately 33 km long, so-called Gembloux gap. Strong units were brought together here, and an upstream anti-tank barrier reinforced the position. The French cavalry corps Prioux under René Prioux should advance even further and delay the German deployment at Hannut in order to get enough time for the expansion of the Dyle position.

Powers

On the French side stood the Prioux Cavalry Corps with the 2nd and 3rd light mechanized divisions. They had 600 tanks, including 239 Hotchkiss H-35s and 176 Somua S-35s, as well as Renault AMR 35 -ZT reconnaissance tanks and 90 Panhard 178 reconnaissance tanks .

On the German side stood the XVI. Panzer Corps with the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions with 620 tanks: 498 Panzerkampfwagen I and Panzerkampfwagen II , 73 Panzerkampfwagen III and 52 Panzerkampfwagen IV .

course

On the morning of May 12th, the advancing German tanks encountered the French units at Hannut. The German tanks were clearly inferior to the Somua S-35, so that progress was initially not possible.

On the second day General Hoepner concentrated the attacks on a narrow section of the front. The French tanks were evenly distributed over the front, and there were no reserves available. So the German tanks made the breakthrough, a large part of the French tanks could not intervene in the fighting.

On May 14th, the German troops reached Perwez .

consequences

The French cavalry corps withdrew to the west, the German forces followed suit. In Gembloux, 35 km to the southwest, the fighting went into the next round.

The French tanks were technically superior to the German - only the Panzer IV could do something against the strong armor of the SOMUA. Therefore, the German troops had the greater losses.

However, the more modern German operational concept had proven to be decisive: while the French pursued a rather rigid tactic, the Germans proceeded dynamically, used the possibilities of radio communication and were able to quickly set new priorities. The Germans also acted deliberately when it came to the interaction between the branches of arms ( combined arms combat ): the tanks were supported by strong air force units, including Stukas , which destroyed many French tanks. That is why the Germans achieved the breakthrough.

literature

• Karl-Heinz Frieser : Blitzkrieg legend: The western campaign 1940th 3rd edition Oldenbourg, Munich 2005. ISBN 3-486-57824-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser: Blitzkrieg legend. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2005, ISBN 9783486578249 , p. 301. limited preview in Google book search
2. ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser: Blitzkrieg legend. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2005, ISBN 9783486578249 , p. 303. limited preview in Google book search