User:Tomh903/sandbox

The Battle of Arras took place on 21 May 1940, during the Battle of France in the Second World War. Following the German invasion of France and the Low Countries on 10 May, French and British forces advanced into Belgium to meet the expected thrust of the German invasion. The Germans carried out Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) whereby German armoured units unexpectedly pushed through the Ardennes and achieved a decisive breakthrough at the Battle of Sedan. With their lines of communication threatened, the Allies planned a series of counteroffensives intended to force back German armoured forces, which were advancing westwards down the Somme river valley towards the English Channel. The Allies could only carried out localized offensives as the bulk of their armies were still far north of the German advance. The offensive at Arras was planned by the British to relieve the pressure on the beleaguered British garrison in the town of Arras itself and was not coordinated with any assault by the French from the south of the German panzer corridor.

Hampered by the limited forces available to them, the Allied offensive was carried out by a relatively small mixed force of British and French tanks and infantry who advanced south from Arras. The Anglo-French attack initially made some early gains and panicked a number German units but was eventually repulsed, after an advance of up to 10 km, then forced to withdraw after dark to avoid encirclement. Although the Allied offensive had been defeated, the battle had a disproportionate effect on the German high command who had already been anxious about flank security as their panzers advanced far beyond the support of their infantry divisions. Fearing that any further Allied offensives could cut off their armoured forces near the English Channel, the German command ordered all of their mobile forces to cease advancing until the situation at Arras had been restored. This slowing of the German advance allowed the Allies to reinforce the Channel Ports and prevent their rapid capture by the Germans, thus making the evacuation of the British and French forces in Operation Dynamo possible.