Counterattack at Arras*
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Wailly, France*
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Date: May 21, 1940 1600 hrs*
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Battle Type: British Assault vs German Defend*
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Design: C. Berry*
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Turns: 25

   Lord Gort, Commander of the BEF, ordered a counterattack southward from Arras on May 21. He sought to get the French to assist, but they said their forces could not attack until the 22nd. With Guderian's panzers already at the English Channel, Lord Gort decided he could not wait and ordered forward the British 50th Division and the 1st Army Tank Brigade. Because of the hurry, the attack boiled down to a push by only fifty eight small Mark I tanks and sixteen Mark II Matildas, supported by two infantry battalions, split into two attack columns. The attack got very little artillery and no air support.*
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   Rommel's 7th Panzer had arrived south of Arras and commenced to swing northwest around Arras on the 21st, while the 5th Panzer pressed east of the city. Rommel's 25th Panzer Regiment-much diminished from it's original strengh of 218 tanks because of breakdowns and losses-had advanced ahead when, around 3:00 P.M., his infantry and artillery forces following came under intense fire from British tanks at Wailly, about 5 miles below Arras.*
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   Rommel, with the artillery, ordered every gun he could locate into action, himself pointing out targets. However, the British armor put the majority of the anti-tank guns and crews out of action, overran their positions, and were stopped only by the heavier artillery and 88mm high velocity anti-aircraft guns, which Rommel deployed as an anti-tank weapon, discovering that the large shell could easily penetrate the Matilda's thick armor. The artillery and the "88s" destroyed thirty-six tanks and broke the back of the British attack.*
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Notes:*

 This scenario represents the attack of the right column of "Frankforce" and is designed to be played from the German side (see the fox, be the fox).*
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Sources:*

"The Rommel Papers" Liddell Hart, Basil (editor); Rommel, Erwin (1982) [1953]. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306801574.*
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www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/UK/UK-NWE-Flanders/index.html*
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www.feldgrau.com/may.html*    