La Horgne battle (May 15, 1940)

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David Lehmann
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La Horgne battle (May 15, 1940)

#1

Post by David Lehmann » 31 May 2004, 02:22

LA HORGNE (May 15, 1940)

On May 13 1940, Guderian's Panzer Korps was in the process of breaking out from the Sedan bridgehead, heading West, between the French IXth and IInd armies. In front of them remained only scattered units, including the 3e Brigade de Spahis (cavalry), which was ordered to hold the road junction of La Horgne against the panzers for as long as possible in order to delay the German advance. On the day in question, 15th May, the 1.PzD split into two Kampfgruppe, one of which (battalions Richter and Von Stüdnitz + infantry and support elements) headed for La Horgne, where the Spahis had hastily dug themselves in.

The village is a small one, comprising stone houses/farms and a tiny church, lying at the end of a modest rise in ground, which projects about a kilometre from a steep wooded ridge. There are other woods scattered around but the ground is clear for 500-1000 m around the village.

La Horgne :
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The 3e Brigade de Spahis was commanded by colonel Marc and composed of :

- 2e Régiment de Spahis Algériens (2e RSA), commanded by colonel Burnol.
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- 2e Régiment de Spahis Marocains (2e RSM) commanded by colonel Geoffroy.
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From May 10 to May 15 the 3e brigade de Spahis had already fought interrupted in Belgium, in the southern Ardennes after the retreat of the Belgian troops and on the Meuse river. Half of the men were already dead. During the night of May 14/15, less than 2000 Spahis were ordered to defend the town of La Horgne itself and to establish a defensive line at 800m south to the village. All the soldiers realised this was going to be a mission of sacrifice.

Apart from a couple of outposts, one of the Spahis regiments occupied the village and the other the rise between La Horgne and the wooded ridge, on which one MG squadron were posted. The brigade had taken
heavy losses in previous battles and its AT weaponry consisted of only one 37mm mle1916 TR infantry guns and a single Hotchkiss 25mm AT gun. There were no AA weapons at all, no artillery, no mines. Not much to face half a Panzer division ! They positioned the guns in the village. All the horses and transport were kept in relative safety in the woods along and adjacent to the ridge. Everyone dug trenches, each building had been transformed in strongpoint and the HQ was installed in the church with the single AT gun firing from a hole in the wall. This was clearly going to be a last stand job, so even the "escadron hors rang" (HQ staff company) was dug in as part of the main defense line.

"Défense de La Horgne", painting by Henry FAREY (1980) :
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Early in the Morning German Luftwaffe's fighters straffed the position.
At 08.00 AM the 1. Schützen Regiment coming from Singly was engaged and at 09.00 AM the Germans started their all-out attack with light and heavy tanks.
The Germans attacked initially the village end of the position, commencing with light elements which were easily beaten off. Over the course of the afternoon they mounted attacks with Stukas and artillery support, and also worked around the flanks so that the Spahis were more or less cut off from the ridge and surrounded.

Bitter fighting took place ; 16 tanks were knocked out, mostly at point blank range whilst breaking into the village. The battle lasted 10 hours and the French troops led several local counter-attacks to repulse the Germans and avoid encirclement. The men literally died on their position instead of retreating, until total use of all ammunitions.

La Horgne after the battle :
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Both regimental commanders were killed in action, carbine in hand. At this point, out of ammunition and with all their infantry guns or AT gun knocked out, the survivors tried to break out, i.e. to get to the elements on the ridge and to their horses. The brigade commander, colonel Marc, felt heavily wounded while leading an attack to break the encirclement and is later captured by the German troops. The men who made it formed new squadrons and fought again later on in the campaign until the armistice. Of the rest about half had been KIA, MIA or WIA. The 3e Brigade de Spahis lost about 700 men and officers in La Horgne. The survivors, with no means of resistance now, without ammunitions had no choice but to surrender to the Germans, who presented arms as the Spahis staggered out of the ruins, battered but unbowed.

So, as brave a feat of arms as any in the glorious history of the French cavalry. Less than 2000 men, pitifully armed, had held their ground against half a Panzer division for 10 hours. But they were only able to buy this amount of time because they made the optimum tactical use of the ground and of what weaponry they had, as all good soldiers should.

A plate in commemorating the battle :
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Unlike this painting which is the cover page of Gérard Saint-Marin's " l'arme blindée française. Tome 1 : mai-juin 40 : les blindées français dans la tourmente" (Economica) there was most probably no mounted charges at all by French cavalry in the 1940 campaign. A mounted charge against enemies in tanks and halftracks would not only have been suicidal, it would have been a neglect of duty.
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Last edited by David Lehmann on 02 Jun 2004, 00:53, edited 1 time in total.

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#2

Post by David Lehmann » 31 May 2004, 03:22

Historically, the Spahis and the Chasseurs d'Afrique are colonial cavalry units from North Africa (Algeria and Morroco) since 1830.
Most of these units had also a high amount of Europeans living in the colonies, they were not totally composed of natives from the colonies.
Later in WW2 the Spahis are generally armored reconnaissance units (M8 Greyhound and M5 Stuarts) and the Chasseurs d'Afrique are equiped with M10 Wolverine tank destroyers.

Spahis uniform in 1899 :
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Spahis in parade uniform in 1939 :
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For regular service and combat they wore more conventionnal uniforms.

Spahis in Rome in 1944 :
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During a military parade, in full dress in 1939 :
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David Lehmann
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#3

Post by David Lehmann » 31 May 2004, 03:23

Extracts from Osprey booklets :
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Morrocan Spahis 1939 (Osprey).jpg
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Algerian Spahis full dress 1939 (Osprey).jpg
Algerian Spahis full dress 1939 (Osprey).jpg (57.56 KiB) Viewed 3392 times
Free French Spahis lieutenant (tanks).jpg
Free French Spahis lieutenant (tanks).jpg (55.83 KiB) Viewed 3392 times

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Musashi
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#4

Post by Musashi » 31 May 2004, 10:26

Interesting. I played with Spahis in the Meuse Crossing mod for Close Combat V :)
I wait for the next your articles about the French campaign in 1940. I'd like get to know something about 5th Armoured Division commanded by Charles de Gaulle.
Cheers,
Chris

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David Lehmann
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#5

Post by David Lehmann » 31 May 2004, 12:11

Be patient :)
De Gaulle commanded the 4th DCR during the battles.

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Regards,

David

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Liluh
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#6

Post by Liluh » 31 May 2004, 13:10

Jolly good post Panzermeyer :) Very interesting.

Oh, there`s that painting...

French cavarlymen charged german tanks with sabres!!!

*grins*

Just joking ;)

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David Lehmann
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#7

Post by David Lehmann » 31 May 2004, 13:22

Yes it seems Polish, French and even Soviet cavalry have to fought the same myths :)
By the way, unlike the unit in La Horgne which was horse-mounted, even in 1939/1940 many Spahis and Chasseurs d'Afrique units were motorized and equiped with various vehicles :
- motorcycles and side-cars
- Laffly 50AM
- Laffly 80AM
- Laffly S15 TOE
- Berliet VUDB
- Panhard 165/175 TOE
- Panhard P178
- Panhard P179 armored truck
- AMC34
- tanks : Hotchkiss H35 and H38, Renault R35, Somua S35, Renault D1
etc.

Regards,

David

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#8

Post by hugues » 23 Feb 2006, 17:44

This an old post but i've an answer on the famous "charge of La Horgne" !! At first the painting that is depicting the famous charge is wrong why ?? Look at the number plate of the side-car and see the SS & deathhead signs ! The spahis of the 3e BS were fighting at La Horgne only against units of the 1st Panzerdivision probably elements of I & III./Schützenregiment 1 as well as elements of Pz Aufkl.Abt.4 and tanks but all from the 1st Panzerdivision divided in two Kampfgruppes at this time.

And the action take place not in the village but outside ! More than a charge it was an advance move lead by "l'escadron du Lt Mac Carthy" sound very american isn't it !! Lt Mac Carthy and his squadron were at 600-800 meters from La Horgne in the woods with their horses. At 15H00 he receives order to counter-attack as the saphis in the village are under more and more pressure from the german troops. This is during this move that Lt Mac Carthy is surprised by tanks and machine
guns !! Moving fast seems the best thing to do but it fails, the price is high and Lt Mac Carthy is wounded in the action. So not really a "charge" but the action is true. A glorious charge with rattle of sabres is a legend !

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Re: La Horgne battle 15th may 1940

#9

Post by Loïc » 26 May 2017, 14:54

if you can read french Colonel Thierry Moné is sharing his doctoral thesis at Paris La Sorbonne about La Horgne,
15 mai 1940, le mercredi de La Horgne : de la mémoire à l’histoire. La campagne de mai-juin 1940 de la 3e Brigade de Spahis
the myth of the so-called cavalry charge (see Brenet's painting) of the 3rd Spahis Brigade destroyed against a Panzerdivision
you can download here
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01468845
instead of the 700 losses of the 3rd Spahis Brigade and the 1000 germans, 31 germans and 50 Spahis were killed, not counting POW's and wounded

Regards
Loïc

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