Creation of the Chasseurs Ardennais to 10-5-40

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daveh
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Creation of the Chasseurs Ardennais to 10-5-40

#1

Post by daveh » 10 Apr 2008, 17:27

The question of how to defend the Ardennes region had exercised the minds of the Belgian Army staff for a long time, being raised for example during the Franco Prussian War. Before the First World War a Major Bremer suggested , in March 1914, the creation of special units responsible for protecting the borders and undertaking preparations for the creation of obstacles and the destruction of roads and bridges.

After the end of the Great War the question was once again raised this time, by the General Hellebaut in 1928 in the Joint Military Commission. The resulting concept was for there to be units positioned at the border and for there to be special units ready to undertake a planned programme of obstacle creation and communication destruction throughout the region of the Ardennes. These latter units were to have prepared bases in the form of concrete shelters.

On April 16, 1931 a draft constitution was put forward by Senator Devèze which suggested a permanent centre of resistance to defend the Ardennes called for the creation of a battalion of Chasseurs Ardennais with six companies based at Bastogne. When Mr Devèze became Minister of National Defence in December 1932 he immediately put his ideas into practice.

In February 1933, the minister created the Command of the Troops of Defence Luxembourg and Namur (TDLN) and in March, the 10th Regiment de Ligne, quartered in Arlon, became the Chasseurs Ardennais Regiment. Its motto was to be "resiste and mords“.

By the end of 1933 the regiment was divided into three detachments, based in Arlon, Bastogne and Vielsalm, with local recruitment and mobilization. The construction of barracks at Bastogne and Vielsalm was started and the regiment began to recruit in the Ardennes.

Three battalions of cyclists Chasseurs Ardennais were formed with volunteers and trained at Beverloo and moved to Arlon at the end of their course of instruction. The regiment then breaks down into three detachments:

Arlon: CH 1 A (Regimental HQ and the 1st Bn (formerly 1st Bn Li 10) formed the 1st Detachment.

Bastogne: CH 2 A (former 2nd Bn Li 10) became the 2nd Detachment.

Vielsalm: CH 3 A (former 3rd Bn Li 10) became the 3rd detachment.

On the 15th of September 1934 each of the 3 detachments received their flags showing their links to the Regiment de Ligne. 9 days later on the 24th of September, 1934 the Groupe d'Artillerie des Chasseurs Ardennais was created at Arlons.

The Regiment became the Corps des Chasseurs Ardennais on November 19th 1934, with the 3 detachments (now called Groupements Mixtes des Chasseurs Ardennais) and the Groupe d'Artillerie . The Corps HQ stayed at Arlon.

In July 1935 the procurement were joined by the Frontier Cyclists Battalions of Arlon, Bastogne and Vielsalm, which had formed in Beverloo.

On March 27th 1937, the Groupements Mixtes des Chasseurs Ardennais were officially renamed Regiments as follows:
1st Regiment of Chasseurs Ardennais Leopold and Callemeyn barracks at Arlon.
2nd Regiment Chasseurs Ardennais Heintz barracks at Bastogne.
3rd Regiment Chasseurs Ardennais Ratz barracks, in Vielsalm.

On 1st July 1937 the Corp Chasseurs Ardennais was renamed the division Chasseurs Ardennais
(Note one source gives this as occurring at the end of 1935)
Le Groupement d'Artillerie was renamed the Artillery Regiment Chasseurs Ardennais on the 18th of July 1939 and occupied the Flawinne barracks at Namur.

The rear echelons of the Chasseur Ardennais and the battalions of recruits and material stored for mobilsation were formed with the 4th, 5th and 6th Regiments, settling into new barracks built Flawinne, Seilles and Antheit. The school was set up in the major garrison centre of Namur.

In early September 1939, after the initial mobilisation the Chasseurs Ardennais included

6 infantry regiments, numbered 1 to 6,
2 battalions of reserve cyclists,
1 battalion of auxiliary troops
1 artillery regiment,
1 engineering battalion,
1 battalion of signal troops
1 AA company with machine guns
1 medical company
1 supply company
1 transport company

On November 22nd , 1939, the name TDLN is replaced by that of the Seventh Army Corps. This had two divisions of Chasseurs Ardennais:

1st Division consisted of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments and is commanded by General Descamps,
2nd Division included the 4th, 5th and 6th Regiments and is commanded by General Ley.

The Artillery Regiment Chasseurs Ardennais became the 20th Artillery Regiment on January 11th 1940.

The official creation of the Bataillon Moto Chasseurs Ardennais f(ormed by grouping the regimental m/c companies) occurred on the 16th of February 1940. .

Finally the Centre de Renfort et d'Instruction (CRI) was created on March 9th 1940 with the
7th Regiment Chasseurs Ardennais. If the war had lasted long enough the C.R.I. was planned to create the 7th, 8th and 9th ChA regiments and to form a 3rd ChA. Division.

Main sources are

http://users.skynet.be/frat.royale.cha/dates-2.html

http://www.clham.org/050341.htm

Note there are differences in these 2 sources the main one being the date of renaming of the Corp Chasseurs Ardennais as the division Chasseurs Ardennais. I have chosen the 1937 date as this would then follow the renaming of the Groupements Mixtes as regiments.

I am not a native speaker of French so have relied on machine translations and my schoolboy French of many years ago. I therefore may well have misunderstood aspects of what I have read and welcome any comments/ clarifications.

peter u
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Re: Creation of the Chasseurs Ardennais to 10-5-40

#2

Post by peter u » 30 Apr 2008, 17:22

Hello,

"The Artillery Regiment Chasseurs Ardennais became the 20th Artillery Regiment on January 11th 1940."

On 10-5-1940 this artillery regiment was part of the VII army corps.
These Chasseur Ardennais were not used to defend the Ardennes forest but the Albert canal bridges.
They were placed there by the Belgian army HQ to replace a horsedrawn regiment.
Because it was a fully mechanised artillery regiment, it in the Belgian army generals opinion could be used better to do a fighting retreat to the KW-line (the major defensive line) then a horsedrawn artillery regiment.

Cheers,
Peter


daveh
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Re: Creation of the Chasseurs Ardennais to 10-5-40

#3

Post by daveh » 04 May 2008, 08:18

The motorised Artillery Regiments of the Belgian Army were originally allocated to the motorised units of the Army as follows:

17th: 1st Cavalry division
18th: 2nd Cavalry division
19th: Cavalry Corps
20th: 2 Bn in 1st and 2 Bn in 2nd Chasseur Ardennais divisions

However by 10th May 1940 this had changed slightly. Given the likely need for some non motorised units to make a rapid withdrawal the allocation of the motorised artillery regiment was altered.

17th Artillery Regiment:
I/17 was given to the 18th Infantry division. The 18th I.D. was positioned N. of the Albert Canal and hence would probably need to make a rapid withdrawal over the canal. It was therefore given I/17 while retaining the horse drawn I/26.
II/26 was allocated to V Corps, Antwerp.

II/17
This unit stayed with the 1st Cavalry division This unit was stationed in the Ardennes and was to withdraw to the main Belgian Army. As its main purpose was to cover the firing of demolitions it was not intended to become involved in heavy fighting. Therefore a single motorised artillery battalion would provide sufficient firepower and mobility to fulfil these tasks

18th Artillery Regiment
Remained with the 2nd Cavalry division

19th Artillery Regiment
3 Bn with Cavalry Corps and 1 Bn with Groupement K
The Bn in Groupement K was to perform a similar function to II/17 of 1st Cavalry division supporting any of Gp K's units.

The Cavalry units were to provide a mobile reserve for the Belgian Army and hence kept its motorised artillery regiments.

20th Artillery Regiment
2 Bns had been part of the 2nd Chasseur Ardennais division which was positioned near Namur. This division was not expected to make any rapid withdrawals. The 7th Infantry Division was positioned right on the Belgian/Dutch border and it was expected that at some point a withdrawal back to the KW line would occur, hence the need to provide a motorised artillery regiment. Therefore these divisions exchanged artillery regiments.

The other 2 Bns were part of the 1st Chasseur Ardennais Division. This division was expected to make a major withdrawal from the Ardennes region back to the main Belgian Army. Hence it could not give up its motorised artillery unit.

There were also 2 ChA. heavy motorised batteries each of 4 - 6" howitzers which were stationed in the Ardennes. These heavy weapons needed motorised traction to ease movement and to enable them to be easily withdrawn.

Carl Schwamberger
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Re: Creation of the Chasseurs Ardennais to 10-5-40

#4

Post by Carl Schwamberger » 06 May 2008, 02:33

Thanks for posting this information. I hope to use it eventually.

daveh
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Re: Creation of the Chasseurs Ardennais to 10-5-40

#5

Post by daveh » 06 May 2008, 12:17

http://www.20a.be gives a history of the 20e Régiment d'Artillerie.
This does include a section entitled “Organization of Artillery for battle” detailing the roles of the various 20th Artillery Regiment’s units with a map showing their position for 10th May 1940. It does not detail the artillery doctrine in use but does for example mention a forward observer being cut off when phone lines are cut.

Unfortunately I have not as yet seen a detailed breakdown for the organisation of a Belgian Artillery unit beyond the number of guns and batteries used.

Niehorster shows the existence of Artillery Observation/ Ranging and calibration/ Fire Direction units under GHQ Artillery but nothing for Corps or Divisional Artillery Regiments.

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The Edge
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Re: Creation of the Chasseurs Ardennais to 10-5-40

#6

Post by The Edge » 06 May 2008, 13:24

Carl Schwamberger wrote:Thanks for posting this information. I hope to use it eventually.
One never knows when he would have to stop the next German invasion. :roll:

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