Sedan: The Decisive Battle for France, May 1940 - Issue #24

In the spring of 1940 the German Army achieved one of the most spectacular victories in the history of warfare: the defeat of the combined Armies of France, Great Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands in a six week campaign that was considered near-miraculous even by the German commanders who planned and executed it. The seeming ease of the German victory and the embarrassment it caused the Allies has led to a number of myths and half truths being adopted by both sides to explain what had happened and who should be given credit and blame.

Since Hitler had dismissed the idea Great Britain and France would declare war on Germany in 1939 over the fate of Poland, it gave him and his high command a huge problem when they did just that. No one on either side had planned what to do next.

At that time Hitler was thinking of a campaign in the west that, at least initially, had only limited objectives that would gain the ports and airfields necessary for a longer attritional struggle with France and Great Britain. This was conventional strategic thinking, with its emphasis on the grabbing of important longer points as the prelude to a war and was rooted in Hitler's experience of World War I.

Other articles in this issue:

The Spanish Civil War Air War: what went on in the skies above Spain in the civil war of the 1930s. What both sides thought were the “lessons learned” is emphasized, along with an analysis of which of those lessons translated into later success in World War II, which translated into failures, and why.

Japanese Armor Doctrine: the Japanese actually had plenty of tanks in World War II, but they didn't use them for German blitzkrieg-style warfare. This is an analysis of their operational doctrine, tactics and armor-unit structures.

Operation Carnivore.Combat around besieged Leningrad in the spring of 1942, which led to the encirclement and destruction of the elite Soviet Second Shock Army. We analyze the reasons for that Soviet catastrophe and the lessons they took from it.

Sedan The Game: The Decisive Battle for France, May 1940, designed by Paul Youde, simulates the German Army's offensive to reach and cross the imposing Meuse River, near Sedan, and the subsequent breakthrough to the west. Using basic combat mechanics, the game includes command control strictures to better simulate the differences between French and German capabilities.

Sedan, May 1940 is a two-player (German versus French) operational level game, designed by Paul Youde. The game includes 228 medium-sized die-cut counters, with the Battalion as the primary maneuver unit, and also includes air units, artillery units, blown bridge chits, pontoon bridge chits, and command draw chits. The colorful map features the Belgian/French border, centered around Sedan along the Meuse River, with each hex representing approximately 2 miles across, and includes such prominent locations as the northern extent of the Maginot Line, and the city of Sedan, as well as various charts and tables for easy reference during play.
The rules entail a variety of standard and unique rules, such as Roadblocks, Demolishing Bridges, German Pontoon Bridges, Dogfights, Bombing Bridges, Overruns, French Fuel Shortages, the French 2nd Army Cavalry, the French 3rd Brigade de Spahis, Headquarters Activation, Air Support, Operation Niwi, Reinforcements, etc.

Victory in the game is determined by the accumulation of VPs for control of the Meuse River (primarily involving the quantity of German units that have crossed the bridges), as well as eliminating enemy units.