Battle of Abbeville

Battle of Abbeville
Part of the Battle of France, World War II
Situation map 21 May – 6 June 1940.
Date 27 May – 4 June 1940 Location Abbeville 50°06′21″N 01°50′09″E / 50.10583°N 1.83583°E / 50.10583; 1.83583Coordinates: 50°06′21″N 01°50′09″E / 50.10583°N 1.83583°E / 50.10583; 1.83583 Result German victory
Belligerents
France  United Kingdom	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Maxime Weygand Charles de Gaulle Victor Fortune	Oskar Blümm Heinz Guderian
Casualties and losses
c. 275 tanks c. 1,000 infantry	c. 200 PoW
Abbeville Abbeville, a commune in the Somme department, Picardie region, northern France

The Battle of Abbeville took place from 27 May to 4 June 1940, near Abbeville during the Battle of France in the Second World War. On 20 May, the 2nd Panzer Division advanced 56 miles (90 km) to Abbeville on the English Channel, overran the 25th Infantry Brigade of the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and captured the town at 8:30 p.m. Only a few British survivors managed to retreat to the south bank of the Somme and at 2:00 a.m. on 21 May, the III Battalion, Rifle Regiment 2 reached the coast, west of Noyelles-sur-Mer.

The 1st Armoured Division (Major-General Roger Evans) arrived in France from 15 May without artillery, short of an armoured regiment and the infantry of the 1st Support Group, which had been diverted to Calais. From 27 May – 4 June, the Franco-British forces south of the Abbeville bridgehead, held by the 2nd Panzer Division, then the 57th Infantry Division, recaptured about half of the area; the Allied forces lost many of their tanks and the Germans much of their infantry, some units running back over the River Somme. On 5 June, the divisions of the German 4th Army attacked out of the bridgeheads south of the Somme and the Franco-British divisions opposite, which had been much depleted by their counter-attacks, were pushed back to the Bresle with many casualties.