Battle of Stonne (15-17 May 1940)

STONNE (15-17 May 1940)

On May 13-14 1940, the German Panzers crossed the Meuse river. Guderian had the choice to go south and attack the rears of the Maginot line or to head west (what he did as we know) in order to encircle the French troops holding the Meuse line. The town of Stonne and the the woody hills of Mont-Dieu were the single area where it was possible to try to stop the German advance.

In the night of May 13, the French urged various elements to this area to attack the Germans :
- elements from the 3e DIM (Division d'Infanterie Motorisée) : 1e battalion of the 67e RI, 10e and 11e companies of the 51e RI
- elements of the 3e DCR (Division Cuirassée) : 1e company of the 45e BCC (Bataillon de Chars de Combat) (Hotchkiss H-39 tanks), 3e company of the 49e BCC (Renault B1bis tanks)
- 2e company of the 4e BCC (FCM-36 infantry support tanks).

They faced the 10.PzD Pz.Rgt. 8, the I/69. IR, the Grossdeutschland IR and elements of the 43. Sturmpionier Bataillon.

The battle of Stonne has been called by the Germans the "Verdun of 1940". The town itself switched side 17 times in 3 days (15-17th May) :

- 15 May :
8h00 : German
9h00 : French
9h30 : German
10h30 : French
10h45 : German
12h00 : French
17h30 : German

- 16 May :
7h30 : French
17h00 : German

- 16-17 May night : Stonne remained unoccupied

- 17 May :
9h00 : German
11h00 : French
14h30 : German
15h00 : French
16h30 : German
17h00 : French
17h45 : German

At first the French tanks are still used in an infantry support and defensive role.
On May 16 morning a counter-attack is led by the French tanks. Part of this attack, the 3e company of the 41e BCC (B1bis tanks) went into attack without infantry support. They met the Panzer Regiment 8 (10.PzD) and here you can see some German wrecks.
A single B1bis tank (Lieutnant Bilotte's "Eure" B1bis n°3) pushed the town itself into the German defenses and went back. He attacked a German column and destroyed 2 PzIVs, 11 PzIIIs and 2 Pak 36 alone but the photos seem not to show the town's main street where it happened. Its B1bis armor was scattered with 140 impacts, no one penetrated or really damaged the armor. The B1bis first shots destroyed simultaneously the first (with the 47mm gun) and the last tank (with the 75mm gun) of the column. The B1bis n°3 went through the whole town but had to leave in absence of French infantry support. The armor of the B1bis was scattered with 140 impacts, no one penetrated or really damaged the armor. One can see here a kind of small "Villers Bocage", after that Bilotte was nicknamed "the butcher of Stonne" by his comrades.

After May 16, the 10.PzD was replaced by the VI. Korps. The Grossdeutschland IR had already lost 570 men and 12 guns. The French had lost about 33 tanks and the Germans about 24 tanks.
At this point the Germans engaged the 16. ID and 24. ID to take the town.

Stonne saw very hard fightings and some German officers mentionned Stonne beside Stalingrad and Monte Cassino battles among the battles they will never forget. Look for example the book of Karl Heinz Frieser (Bundeswehr) : "Blitzkrieg Legende".

Most of the Grossdeutschland infantry regiment of the 1940 Western campaign were lost in Stonne.
The German engaged new infantry divisions to finally capture the rubbles again but Stonne was totally occupied only on May 25, French pockets were still resisting to the ennemy. They couldn't immediately take the Mont-Dieu woods which they let behind them and consisted an other pocket. The French infantry lost many men, for example the 1e battalion of the 67e RI had 362 officers, NCOs and soldiers KIA + numerous wounded men. One of the 51e RI company finished the battle with only 5 sergeants and 30 soldiers.

German tanks destroyed in Stonne by French attack (photos found on : http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/)










Bilotte later had to scuttle his B1bis on 14th June in the town of Possesse (photo taken from http://www.chars-francais.net/)



Regards,

David

 

I see multiple gun tanks had some advantages after all.

Exiting stuff David, thanks again !

 

Incredible what that one tank crew did. The rest of the French units in this engagement showed remarkable courage as well.

 

This was the battle I was reffering to in another thread when I said the B1 was better then the S.35