The Battle of Sedan was a major engagement fought between the Allied Powers and Nazi Germany in May 1940 during World War II's Battle of France.
On 10 May 1940, Germany opened its offensive against France, dispatching 3,000,000 troops in 157 divisions, 2,439 tanks, and 7,378 artillery pieces to drive the Allies from the European continent. On 13 May 1940, the German panzer general Heinz Guderian led an armored offensive through the seemingly-impassable Ardennes forest with the intention of capturing the weak and neglected French defenses at Sedan. Guderian mustered 60,000 troops, 22,000 vehicles, 771 tanks, 141 artillery pieces, and 1,470 aircraft for his "Case Yellow" offensive through the Ardennes. The German Army Group A crossed the Meuse, hoping to take Sedan and push westwards towards the English Channel to trap the Allied forces that were advancing east into Belgium.
Sedan was captured without resistance on 12 May, and the Germans proceeded to attack the French defenses around Sedan on the west bank of the Meuse. German Luftwaffe bombing and low morale prevented the French defenders from destroying the bridgeheads, and the Germans captured the Meuse bridges at Sedan, allowing them to pour forces across the river. On 14 May, the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force jointly tried to destroy the bridges, but the Luftwaffe prevented them from doing so. In large air battles, the Allies suffered high losses which depleted Allied bomber strength in the campaign. The French counter-attacked the German bridgeheads from 15 to 17 May, but the offensives fell victim to delay and confusion. On 20 May, five days after consolidating their bridgeheads, the German Army reached the Channel. Crossing the Meuse had enabled the Germans to achieve the operational goal of Fall Gelb and encircle the strongest Allied armies, including the British Expeditionary Force. The resulting June battles destroyed the remaining French Army as an effective fighting force and expelled the British from the continent, leading to the defeat of France.
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