The Breaking Point by Robert A. Doughty

Author:Robert A. Doughty
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780811714594
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Published: 2014-09-15T04:00:00+00:00

THE BREAKTHROUGH AT FRÉNOIS

The left flank of the 147th Regiment became the seam through which the German infantry cut easily and quickly. While Balck's 1st Infantry Regiment moved across the two and a half kilometers from the Meuse to Bellevue in about three hours, it moved across the three kilometers from Bellevue to Cheveuges in about four hours. The speed of the penetration along the boundary between the 147th and the 331st regiments came partially from the Germans’ exploiting the failure of neighboring French units to work together closely. But their rapid progress also came from the poor fighting performance of the units along this seam, particularly the companies from the 331st Regiment, including those that were attached to the 147th Regiment.

The beginning of the German breakthrough came not only from the capture of the key bunkers near the Chateau of Bellevue area but also from the capture or abandonment without fighting of several bunkers in the Frénois center of resistance. In the 2/331st's area at Bellevue, the 5th Company, 2/331st Infantry, occupied the line of bunkers that comprised the battalion's second line. These bunkers extended from the north-northwestern slope of Hill 247 to the road junction at Bellevue. Between 1700 and 1800 hours, the 5th Company came under heavy pressure on their right and left flanks from the Germans. The 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion, Gross Deutschland Regiment, captured the large bunker (number 103, commanded by Lieutenant Verron) 200 meters south of the road between Bellevue and Torcy shortly after 1745 hours, and elements of the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 1st Infantry Regiment pushed through the woods just east of the road junction at Bellevue around 1800 hours.

In war, one can never predict the effect of luck, but for the 55th Division, an unlucky break for the 5th Company had a profound effect throughout her defenses. During the intense aerial bombardment, a lucky bomb had hit the command post of the 5th Company, killing twelve soldiers.44 While other factors may have been influential, the fighting spirit of the 5th Company thereafter seemed to be less than other companies in Lieutenant Colonel Pinaud's sector. The company offered some resistance to the Germans, but its willingness to fight was far less than what the safety of France required. Unfortunately, it occupied a critically important center of resistance in the direct path of elements of the 1st Panzer Division, and its weak defense did little to slow the German advance.

Lieutenant Charita, commander of the 5th Company, desperately attempted to strengthen his defenses by integrating the men of the 7th Company, 2/147th, into them, as they fled south from the fighting around Glaire and Villette, but he had little success. His left flank came under attack from the 1st Infantry Regiment around 1700 hours, and his right flank came under pressure from the Gross Deutschland Regiment around 1700 hours. One of the key bunkers on his left was number 7, which had two machine guns and which was slightly forward of Frénois and east of the crossroads at Bellevue.

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