- Dunkirk evacuation - Blitzkrieg and the Allied collapse
- Battle of France
- Battle of France - The panzer breakthrough
- World War II - The Allied invasions of western Europe, June–November 1944
- World War II - The invasion of the Low Countries and France
- Battle of France - Allied defenses and the German plan of attack
How did the German advance to the English Channel trap Allied forces in northern France and Belgium?
The German advance trapped Allied forces in northern France and Belgium by executing a surprise armored thrust through the Ardennes Forest, an area the French had deemed impassable for tanks.123
While the Allies anticipated a repeat of the World War I-era Schlieffen Plan and moved their best divisions into Belgium to meet a northern offensive, the German Army Group A bypassed these forces entirely. After crossing the Meuse River on May 13, 1940, German panzer divisions broke through the weak French defenses at Sedan and raced westward toward the English Channel.3412
By reaching Amiens and Abbeville by May 20, the German forces effectively severed all communications between the Allied armies in the north and those in the south. This maneuver isolated nearly one million Allied troops—including the British Expeditionary Force, the Belgian army, and several French divisions—cutting them off from their supply lines and forcing them toward the coast for the Dunkirk evacuation.12