Sacrifice at Connage - The Matrix Games version of West Front

Connage, 11km SW of Sedan, France: [Best played as Axis] Aided by an intense air and artillery bombardment, the rifle regiments of Guderian's panzer divisions forced several crossings of the Meuse River at Sedan on May 13th. By dawn the next day, the tanks of the 1st Panzer Regiment were rolling across the river and moving to join Colonel Balck's exhausted 1st Rifle Regiment near Chehery, southwest of Sedan. For the French, confusion was rampant on the 13th as refugees clogged the roads leading to Sedan, disrupting the planned counterattack by elements of the 55th and 71st Infantry Divisions. Finally on the morning of the 14th two regiments were in position to attack south of the river, but typically the French commanders proved incapable of coordinating their actions. This resulted in Lt. Colonel Labarthe's 213th/55 Rifle Regiment, reinforced by the 7th Tank Battalion, moving forward alone to strike at the German bridgehead on what Colonel Labarthe termed, "a mission of sacrifice!" However, luck was not all against the French. As the FCM 36 light tanks moved out from Connage, southeast of Chehery, they came upon elements of the 1st Panzer Battalion in the process of refueling. This began a savage short-range sideshow to the infantry attack and the first collision between Guderian's panzers and French armor.