MrPlow
Posts: 34
Joined: 2/17/2001 From: Missouri Status: offline
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Yeah, all the real panzer action was up north with Fourth and Sixth German Armies attacking through Belgium, and 12th Army (with Guderian) attacking through Luxembourg.
About 10 Jun, Panzergruppe Guderian penetrated the Weygand Line and established bridgeheads on the Aisne and then headed south to Plateau de Langres and east behind the Maginot Line to encircle the French armies in Alsace & Lorraine, reaching as far as Pontarlier on 17 Jun.
Von Mellenthin was Chief of Staff of the 197th Infantry Division, 1st German Army, which assaulted the Maginot Line at Puttlinger, but it was never meant to be a major breakthrough. They had no tanks, or even motorized transport. His division had to perform 35 mile/day forced marches to link up with Guderian's forces on 22 Jun near Donon.
Ironically, the deficiencies of the Maginot Line came back to haunt the Germans as well.
In Nov 44, backed up to the German border, von Mellenthin comments, "The defenses of the Maginot Line were of little value to us as they faced the wrong way, but the underground shelters were useful."
Von Mellenthin was a career staff officer, ending the war as a Major General and chief of staff of 5th Panzer Army. I daresay the French history books describe it differently, and history, after all, is written by the winners.
"Panzer Battles", F. W. Von Mellenthin, 1956, University of Oklahoma Press (!?)
cf. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1491 http://www.ifrance.com/letunnel/Maginot/history.html
[This message has been edited by MrPlow (edited February 19, 2001).]
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