The Battle of Arras took place on 21 May 1940, during the Battle of France in the Second World War. Following the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May, French and British forces advanced into Belgium. The German campaign plan (Case Yellow) had evolved into a decoy operation in the Netherlands and Belgium, with the main effort through the Ardennes. German units crossed the Meuse without waiting for reinforcements at the Battle of Sedan. Instead of consolidating bridgeheads on the west bank of the Meuse, the Germans began an advance down the Somme river valley towards the English Channel.

The Allies were thrown into confusion and their attempts to cut off the panzer spearheads degenerated into sporadic, un-coordinated counter-attacks which never achieved sufficient concentration to succeed as the main Allied armies were in Belgium. The offensive at Arras was planned by the British and French to relieve the pressure on the British garrison in the town of Arras and was not coordinated with an attack by the French from the south of the German panzer corridor.

Constrained by the limited forces available to them, the Anglo-French offensive was carried out by a small mixed force of British and French tanks and infantry who advanced south from Arras. The Allies made some early gains and panicked a number of German units but after an advance of up to , they were forced to withdraw after dark to avoid encirclement. The attack was a failure but had a disproportionate effect on Hitler and (OKW, German armed forces high command).

Concern about more Anglo-French counter-attacks against the panzer corridor before non-motorised German infantry divisions caught up led Hitler to order the panzer advance to stop until the situation at Arras had been restored. The Allies used the pause to reinforce the Channel Ports, prevent their rapid capture and fortify the western approaches to Dunkirk before the Germans arrived, making the evacuation of the British and French forces in Operation Dynamo possible.

Background

Army Group A ( Gerd von Rundstedt) defeated the French at the Battle of Sedan from 12 to 15 May and crossed the Meuse. A French counter-attack at the Battle of Montcornet on 17 May by the (4e DCr, Colonel Charles de Gaulle), from Montcornet to the south, was defeated by an improvised defence and the 10th Panzer Division, which was rushed forward on the French flank. The German counter-attacks were supported by VIII ( Wolfram von Richthofen) and the French lost and armoured vehicles. On 19 May, after receiving reinforcements, the 4e DCr attacked again and was repulsed with the loss of of its vehicles, much of the loss being caused by the aircraft of VIII, which attacked French units as they massed to attack the flanks of German units. By the end of the Battle of Montcornet, much of the French Ninth Army on the Meuse had disintegrated under the attacks of VIII.

German spearheads broke through the Peronne–Cambrai gap and threatened Boulogne and Calais, cutting the lines of communication of the Allied armies of 1 (General Gaston Billotte) in the North-East Theatre of Operations ( Alphonse Joseph Georges), separating them from the main French armies south of the Somme. On 19 May, General Edmund Ironside, the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff, conferred with Lord Gort, commander of the BEF, at his headquarters near Lens and urged Gort to save the BEF, by attacking towards Amiens to the south-west but Gort had only two divisions available for an attack. Ironside met Billotte, finding him apparently incapable of taking action. Ironside returned to Britain and ordered urgent anti-invasion measures.

On the morning of 20 May, General Maurice Gamelin, the Commander-in-chief of the French armed forces, ordered the armies trapped in Belgium and northern France to fight their way south, to link up with French forces attacking northwards from the Somme river. On the evening of 19 May, the French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud had sacked Gamelin and replaced him with General Maxime Weygand. Weygand cancelled the orders and after a delay, ordered a similar counter-offensive from the north and south against the German "corridor", to break the encircled armies out of the pocket. In the north the British combined their available divisions with the 50th Infantry Division, which was holding the Vimy area, to create a contingent which was code-named Frankforce. Frankforce was to hold the line of the river Scarpe to the east of Arras with the 5th Infantry Division, while the rest of the force attacked to the south of Arras and the new French 3 ( Antoine-Marie-Benoît Besson) attacked north from the Somme.

King Leopold III of Belgium told Gort that he did not expect the BEF to risk itself to keep contact with the Belgian army, but warned the British that if they persisted with the southern offensive, the Belgians would be overstretched and collapse. Leopold suggested that the Allies should establish a beachhead covering Dunkirk and the Belgian channel ports instead. The BEF reinforced Arras despite Gort having doubts about the French plan. (Billotte took part in a meeting in Ypres from 19 to 21 May. Driving back after this meeting, he had a road accident. Billotte fell into a coma and died soon afterwards, leaving the Allied 1 (1st Army Group) leaderless for three days; around that time, the British decided to evacuate from the Channel ports.

Prelude German advance

The 7th Panzer Division had started the campaign on 10 May 1940 with 34 Panzer Is, 68 Panzer IIs, 91 Panzer 38(t)s and 24 Panzer IVs. Losses of vehicles had been light. The division had no Panzer IIIs, which was Germany's principal tank for engaging enemy tanks. The bulk of its medium tanks were of Czech design and none of its tanks could match the armour of the British Matilda II. The 7th Panzer Division had captured Cambrai and advanced to the area south of Arras. For 21 May, the division was ordered to wheel west around Arras and attack to the north, capturing crossings over the Scarpe at Acq, a risky manoeuvre since the right flank would be vulnerable to a counter-attack from Arras.

The 5th Panzer Division (Lieutenant-General Max von Hartlieb-Walsporn) was to attack so as to relieve pressure on the 7th Panzer Division (the division was delayed and never managed to fulfil its orders). Rommel ordered to probe towards Acq forward with two motorised infantry regiments to follow later, which left most of the division without tanks. Rommel led the advance but returned around when the infantry failed to arrive and at the positions of (Fusilier or Rifle Regiment), found himself under attack by tanks and infantry.

Allied preparations

Georges ordered General d'Astier de la Vigerie, commander of of the to support the British attack but sent no details of the attack front, no targets and no zero hour for the attack. D'Astier was also unable to contact the First Army headquarters or the HQ of the Air Component RAF of the BEF, which was out of action, as it was moving back to bases in England. French reconnaissance aircraft were shot down or chased away until when aircraft got through to Arras and found no activity around Cambrai. Major-General Harold Franklyn, commander of the British 5th Infantry Division was put in charge of Frankforce, improvised from his division, the 50th (Northumbrian) Motor Division (Major-General Giffard Martel) and the of the 1st Army Tank Brigade. Frankforce had moved to the vicinity of Vimy, north of Arras to reinforce the Allied garrison at Arras, for a counter-attack to the south, to cut German communications in the vicinity. Franklyn had detached a brigade each from the 5th Infantry Division and the 50th Motor Division, which had only two instead of the usual three brigades each. Franklyn was not aware of a French push northwards toward Cambrai and the French were ignorant of a British attack south toward Arras.

Franklyn had support from the French (Lieutenant-General René Prioux) of the French First Army, which had fought at the Battle of Hannut with its SOMUA S35 cavalry tanks. Many of the tanks of the (1ère DLM) had been destroyed in the earlier battles and the rest had been distributed among infantry divisions and could not be reassembled in time, despite threats to court-martial officers who refused to release the tanks. By 21 May, Prioux could only contribute a few tanks of the (3e DLM). The attack had been intended to be made by two French and two British infantry divisions but Frankforce comprised only about after the detachment of brigades to the defence of Arras, the river to the east and into reserve. The defensive deployments left only the 6th and 8th battalions of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI), of 151st Brigade and one in reserve as well as the 13th Infantry Brigade, supporting the 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4th RTR) and the 7th Royal Tank Regiment (7th RTR), a force of about and The tanks were , thickly armoured but equipped only with a machine gun and tanks, very well armoured and carrying a 2-pounder gun and a machine-gun.

Allied plan

The original instructions given to Franklyn had been to plan a limited attack south of Arras, to relieve the garrison. Changes made by Ironside for a more ambitious combined attack with the French, were not communicated to Franklyn, who used most of Frankforce defensively, to reinforce Arras and relieve the French Cavalry Corps to the east of the town. Martel was ordered to plan an attack to

an area of over . A force based on the 151st Infantry Brigade (Brigadier J. A. Churchill), was to advance from the west of Arras and move round to the Cojeul River; the 13th Infantry Brigade (Brigadier M. C. Dempsey) of the 5th Infantry Division was then to cross the river and advance southwards from the east side of Arras, to meet the 151st Infantry Brigade. A Right Column of the 7th RTR, 8th DLI, 365th Battery, 92nd Field Regiment RA, 260th Battery, 65th (Norfolk Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment RA, a platoon of the 151st Brigade Anti-Tank Company and a motor-cycle scout platoon of the 4th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers and a Left Column of the 4th RTR, 6th DLI, 368th Battery, 92nd Field Regiment RA, 206th Battery, 52nd Anti-Tank Regiment RA, a platoon of the 151st Brigade Anti-Tank Company, one company and a scout platoon of the 4th Northumberland Fusiliers, were to cross the Arras–Doullens road at which meant that the infantry would have to make an approach march to reach the jumping-off point, over roads filled with traffic and refugees.

Battle 3e DLM

An advance by the 3e DLM, to screen the right flank of the British force was also poorly prepared with insufficient liaison, the French not being told of the timing and direction of the British attack. In the confusion an exchange of fire occurred between the French SOMUA S35s and British anti-tank guns near Warlus. An anti-tank gun was knocked out, British soldiers were killed and several French tanks hit before the mistake was discovered. During the evening, the French force, with about six SOMUAs, engaged south of Duisans. British troops were retreating and by the time the German tanks broke through, the British had escaped.

Right Column