Defending the Dyle - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Best played H2H Matrix: Leuven, Belgium (80 km east of Brussels) When the Germans attacked Holland and Belgium on May 10 the British Expeditionary Force had been deployed along the Franco Belgian frontier. The BEF received orders to advance immediately to defensive positions along the Dyle River east of Brussels. In 1940 the British Expeditionary Force was the only fully motorized army in Europe and they quickly reached the Dyle River without incident. Meanwhile the German 6th army had been marching steadily west on foot and horseback just as their fathers and grandfathers had done in 1914. Only the panzer divisions had motorized transport. The British 3rd Infantry Division was defending the city of Leuven along the Dyle River. Leuven was the northernmost position of the BEF. On the left flank of the 3rd Division Belgian army units continued the Allied defensive line to the north. General Fedor Von Bock's Army Group B was told that it was of the greatest importance to break through the enemy positions between Leuven and Namur in order to prevent the Allies from establishing themselves in those positions. The German 19th Division lost no time in attacking the BEF when they reached Leuven. Several attacks by the Germans were soundly repulsed by the British 3rd Division. The German Sixth Army later reported to Army Group B that they had not succeeded in penetrating the Dyle defenses at any point. General Montgomery's 3rd Division had defended the Dyle well. Unfortunately for the Allies, hundreds of German armored vehicles streaming through the Ardennes region to the south would outflank the Dyle Line and force the British and French to fall back.