Emergency Miniature Work - 15mm USMC Super Cobra
Live Stream tonight at 5PM US EST, 10PM UK
May 10, 1940 marked the beginning of what was undoubtedly the most successful German operation of World War II. Viewed in this light, it can in some ways be regarded as the war’s darkest day.
Eighty years ago today, an invasion began that would see no less than four nations crushed beneath the tyranny of the Third Reich. A fifth allied army would be routed and virtually destroyed, in some ways never to fully recover. This offensive would conquer most of Western Europe with stunning speed, establish the Wehrmacht’s aura of battlefield invincibility, and put Britain on the strategic back foot until almost the end of the war. Lessons learned in Poland and Norway would be applied in a new, improved version of “Blitzkrieg,” delivering for the Germans a victory in just six weeks what they couldn’t do in four bloody years of World War I.
If one considers the damage this offensive would also do to the global empires of Britain and France, we are still dealing with the fallout of this attack to this very day.
Victory in World War II never seemed more impossible as it did eighty years ago today … May 10, 1940.
“Fall Gelb” the Germans called it. “Case Yellow.” The Blitzkrieg in the West.
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Join us today as we live stream a Panzer Leader recreation of one of the campaign’s very first engagements.
Belgian screening forces in this battle - forward elements of 1st Chasseurs Ardennais Division, deployed along the Bastogne-Neufacheteau-Martelange triangle.
French reinforcements, drawn from 5e Division Légère de Cavalerie, or DLC (light cavalry division). Again, historically these forces didn't close with the Germans until day 2 or 3 of the offensive. We're taking a little historical liberty to get a third faction on the table and give the Allied player SOME maneuver force for a tank battle.
Leading elements of 1st Panzer Division, Guderian's XIX Motorized Corps (the didn't call them Panzer Corps until late summer 1941), Panzer Group Kleist, Army Group A.
The game has technically started. Set up and initial German movement is complete, so when the stream starts, we're ready with immediate action.
Leading off with German PzKpfw IVs with the old short-barrel 7.5 cm assault howitzer. Unlike the long, "sexy" tank-killing guns we see so often, these short stubby "ugly ducklings" are INVALUABLE against a far more common threat, enemy infantry and light artillery entrenched in woods, fieldworks, or (as we see here) in a town.
Here's another thrust the Germans have going to the south, hoping to flank the main Belgian position and get at some of the objective hexes along the Allied backfield before the French arrive in too much strength. Panzers are stacked with armored cars on purpose, for extra defensive strength and fire support JUST in case the Belgians decide to get bold and charge off that hill in a close assault against thin-skinned German recon units.
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