Battle of Arras (1940) 1940
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 21 May 1940 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1940 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 50.2500, 2.7000 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Arras took place on 21 May 1940, during the Battle of France in the Second World War. Following the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May, French and British forces advanced into Belgium. The German campaign plan Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) had evolved into a decoy operation in the Netherlands and Belgium, with the main effort through the Ardennes. German units crossed the Meuse without waiting for reinforcements at the Battle of Sedan. Instead of consolidating bridgeheads on the west bank of the Meuse, the Germans began an advance down the Somme river valley towards the English Channel.
The Allies were thrown into confusion and their attempts to cut off the panzer spearheads degenerated into sporadic, un-coordinated counter-attacks which never achieved sufficient concentration to succeed as the main Allied armies were in Belgium. The offensive at Arras was planned by the British and French to relieve the pressure on the British garrison in the town of Arras and was not coordinated with an attack by the French from the south of the German panzer corridor.
Constrained by the limited forces available to them, the Anglo-French offensive was carried out by a small mixed force of British and French tanks and infantry who advanced south from Arras.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Arras (1940) (revision 1377436853), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Arras (1640) 1640 · 7 km
- Siege of Arras (1414) 1414 · 7 km
- Battle of Arras (1914) 1914 · 7 km
- Battle of Arras (1654) 1654 · 7 km
- Battle of Arras (1917) 1917 · 7 km
- Capture of Martinpuich 1916 · 13 km
Other battles of the World War II
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- Battle of Wilno (1939) 1939
- Battle of Władypol 1939
- Defense of Ochota and Wola (1939) 1939
- Siege of Warsaw (1939) 1939
- Action in the Strait of Otranto 1940
- Altmark incident 1940
- Attack on Convoy BN 7 1940
- Battle of Abbeville 1940
- Battle of Calabria 1940
All 178 battles of the World War II →
Browse more: battles in France · Europe · World War II era battles