Siege of Lille (1940)

Siege of Lille
Part of the Battle of France in World War II

Situation, 21 May – 4 June 1940
Date28–31 May 1940
LocationLille, France
Coordinates: 50°38′0″N 3°4′0″E / 50.63333°N 3.06667°E / 50.63333; 3.06667
Result See Aftermath section
Belligerents
 France
 United Kingdom		  Germany
Commanders and leaders
French Third Republic Jean-Baptiste Molinié (POW)
French Third Republic Gustave Mesny (POW)		 Nazi Germany Fritz Kühne (POW)
Nazi Germany Erwin Rommel
Nazi Germany Joachim Lemelsen
Nazi Germany Max von Hartlieb-Walsporn
Nazi Germany Ludwig Ritter von Radlmeier
Strength
elements of 5 divisions c. 35,000 men[1] 4 infantry divisions
3 armoured divisions c. 160,000 men[1]
Lille
Lille, capital of Nord-Pas de Calais region and the prefecture of the Nord department

The Siege of Lille or Lille Pocket was a Second World War battle fought during the Battle of France. It took place from 28 to 31 May 1940, in the vicinity of Lille during the Battle of France. It involved about 40,000 men of the French IV Corps and V Corps, part of the First Army (General René Prioux), after the III Corps managed to retreat to the Lys river with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) divisions nearby. The surrounded portion of the army fought seven German divisions, including three armoured divisions, that were attempting to cut off and destroy the Allied armies in the Battle of Dunkirk. The defence of Lille was of great assistance to the Allied troops retreating into the Dunkirk perimeter.

Prelude

On the night of 27/28 May, the BEF divisions near Lille were able to retreat over the Lys but only the III Corps of the French First Army (General René Prioux) managed to get away. Many of the French units had retreated from much further south and were still around Lille, when German units attacking from the west and east met behind the city.[2][lower-alpha 1] The 4th Panzer Division, 5th Panzer Division and 7th Panzer division and the 11th Infantry Division, 217th Infantry Division, 253rd Infantry Division and 267th infantry Division surrounded most of the First Army in Lille.[3]

Siege

The IV Corps (Général de corps d'armée Aymes) and V Corps (General René Altmayer) attempted a breakout on the west side of Lille, to retreat towards the Lys at 7:30 p.m. on 28 May. The 2e Division d'infanterie nord-africaine (2e DINA, Major-General Pierre Dame) tried to cross the Deûle river over the bridge to Sequedin (just south of Lomme). The 5e Division d'infanterie nord-africaine (5e DINA, Major-General Augustin Agliany) tried to escape over the Moulin Rouge bridge on the Santes road, south of Haubourdin.[4]

Another attempt was made during the morning of 29 May. The Germans had mined the bridge but two French tanks and two companies of infantry got across, although they were then repulsed.[4] For the next four days, General Molinié and mainly French North African troops (most of them pieds-noirs) fought on. Molinié and Colonel Aizier negotiated a surrender at midnight on 3/4 June; on Saturday, 1 June, 35,000 French troops and some British soldiers surrendered to the Germans at the Grand Place.[5]

In recognition of the French garrison's stubborn defence, German general Kurt Waeger granted them the traditional honours of war. The French troops marched through the Grand Place of Lille in parade formation with rifles shouldered, as General Waeger and his troops stood at attention. Waeger was reprimanded for this action.[6]

Analysis

Aftermath

Wrecked vehicles near Lille in 1940

In The Second World War (1949), Winston Churchill described the Allied defence of Lille as a "splendid contribution", which delayed the German advance for four days and allowed the escape of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk.[7] William L. Shirer wrote in 1969 that the "gallant" defence of Lille "helped the beleaguered Anglo-French forces around the port to hold out for an additional two to three days and thus save at least 100,000 more troops".[1] Alistair Horrne wrote in 1982 that the French defence of Lille enabled the BEF and the rest of the First Army to retreat into the Dunkirk perimeter.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Units involved, French: 15th Infantry Division, 1st Motorized Division, 2nd North African Division, 1st Moroccan Division, German: 4th Panzer Division, 5th Panzer Division, 7th Panzer Division, 7th Division, 253rd Division, 217th Division, 267th Division.

Footnotes

References

  • Churchill, W. S. (1949). Their Finest Hour. The Second World War. II. Boston, Mass: Mariner Books. ISBN 0-395-41056-8.
  • Ellis, Major L. F. (2004) [1st. pub. HMSO 1954]. Butler, J. R. M., ed. The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940. History of the Second World War United Kingdom Military Series. Naval & Military Press. ISBN 978-1-84574-056-6. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  • Fermer, Douglas (2013). Three German Invasions of France: The Summer Campaigns of 1870, 1914 and 1940. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-78159-354-7.
  • Horne, A. (1982) [1969]. To Lose a Battle: France 1940 (Penguin repr. ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-14-005042-4.
  • Sebag-Montefiore, H. (2006). Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-102437-0.
  • Shirer, William (1969). The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-20337-5.

Further reading

  • Bond, Brian (1990). Britain, France and Belgium 1939–1940 (2nd ed.). London: Brassey's Publishing. ISBN 978-0-08-037700-1.
  • Bond, B.; Taylor, M. D., eds. (2001). The Battle for France & Flanders Sixty Years On. Barnsley: Leo Cooper. ISBN 978-0-85052-811-4.
  • Cooper, M. (1978). The German Army 1933–1945, its Political and Military Failure. Briarcliff Manor, NY: Stein and Day. ISBN 978-0-8128-2468-1.
  • Corum, James (1997). The Luftwaffe: Creating the Operational Air War, 1918–1940. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0836-2.
  • Cull, B.; Lander, Bruce; Weiss, Heinrich (1999) [1995]. Twelve Days: The Air Battle for Northern France and the Low Countries, 10–21 May 1940, As Seen Through the Eyes of the Fighter Pilots Involved. London: Grub Street. ISBN 978-1-902304-12-0.
  • Frieser, K-H. (2005). The Blitzkrieg Legend (English trans. ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-294-2.
  • Guderian, Heinz. Panzer Leader (2001 ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81101-2.
  • Harman, Nicholas (1980). Dunkirk: The Necessary Myth. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-24299-5.
  • Marix Evans, Martin (2000). The Fall of France: Act with Daring. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-85532-969-0.
  • Taylor, A. J. P.; Mayer, S. L., eds. (1974). A History Of World War Two. London: Octopus Books. ISBN 978-0-7064-0399-2.
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