The Battle of Stonne : 1940

One of the really interesting Battlefields we visited on our recent Ardennes holiday was the Battle of Stonne, we knew very little about it until the trip but it is quite significant as the French fought hard against the advancing Germans the area and village saw one of the largest Tank battles between French and Germans in 1940.

There is a single preserved tank to mark the centre of the village and an excellent small museum

The village saw significant fighting during the battle and famously (suggest checking out Utube if you are interested) a single French tank knocked out about 8 German Panzers right in the centre of the village. Anyway both sides also employed infantry in the battle and the village changed hands several times. It had been some time since Martin had fought with his early French so an opportunity to play a battle loosely based on the battle for the village.

The village of Stonne, the Germans will be advancing up the road, with two phases of reserves. The French hold the village, the objective is to hold the two ‘squares’ in the village.

The German first wave arrives and initially target a french anti tank gun on the edge of the village

German infantry work their way through the woods

German armour spreads out and target the french armour in the village but fail to damage anything

Whilst the infantry move down the right to flank the village the tanks engage each other. The pattern for much of the battle was for the tanks to hit but then fail to damage each other and this went on for some time neither side getting a decisive hit

After a while the second wave of Panzers arrive with motorbike machine gun outriders

The bulk of the German armour heads into the village

The French bring on their reserves ! Much of the French infantry in the village has now been knocked out

Still the tanks struggle to knock each other out

Final Germans reserves arrive in trucks

Dismounting they too head for the village

The leading French tanks have been immob.ised but are still holding up the advance

Finally the 38T gets around the flank of the Char and gets a killing shot in

Suddenly all the previously rolled 1’s turn into 6’s and a number of tanks / armoured vehicles on both sides are blown up

But by now the German armour is pushing through the village preventing the french infantry from retaking it

A final shot of the village, a German win as they are clearly holding the village. A fun battle bringing back some nice memories of our recent trip. Unusually both sides were plagued by poor rolling for the tanks which meant it evened out, perhaps in 1940 the tankers just weren’t very practised.

Some painting completed this week……

Ages since I painted a SYW unit these are Regiment No 30 Austrians, painted in the same style as the rest.

Some tents picked up at the Edinburgh show

Trucks which were gifted to me from Martin, these are the ‘ green’ versions to match the previously painted Desert colour

Here is one compared to a Rubicon Opal truck with some passengers on board . I’m on the look out for some American passengers but can locate any if anybody knows of a company making them ?

They are useful for a range of things here as a transport convoy which might make a nice idea for a skirmish ?

Well that’s it for now, we have already played our Port Republic battle so will share that soon, and plenty more gaming coming soon. I’m planning a rare visit to the Club in Carlisle as they are moving to a new venue and it is Battleground next weekend

Thanks as always for checking by ♥️

Matt