Test of Courage - Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

Chatel, 45km SSE of Nancy, France. While the infantry Divisions of the US XV Corps prepared to push across the Moselle river South of Nancy following a week long drive from Marne, the task of screening the Southern flank fell to the scattered formations of the French 2nd armoured Division. Not to be left behind the Americans, General Leclerc instructed Colonel Billotte, commanding tactical group V to seize a crossing at Chatel during the night of the 15th September. By the afternoon of the 16th the first tanks of the 501st tank regiment were beginning to cross the river when Captain Touflet's light tank company reported German armour approaching from the Southeast. The enemy formation was Kampfgruppe Boltze, from the 11th panzer Brigade rushing to smash the French bridgehead before it could be consolidated and expanded. For Lt Col Libaud, who had once tested the steel of his tanks against the Germans in 1940 at Origny, it was time to test the courage of a new generation of French tankers against the deadly panzers.