The overall German plan for the invasion of France and the Low Countries is well known. How the French stopped the blitz-krieg at that small Belgian town is an often overlooked story of the war. Had the French Army not collapsed to the south, the Battle of France might have ended on the smoking plain near Gembloux. In fact, the French First Army and its attached cavalry corps stopped the Germans cold. The Battle of Gembloux Gap involved one of the first major tank clashes in history, some of the hardest fighting during World War II and, in the end, did not quite turn out the way the Germans planned. The only thing that stood in the Germans’ way was the French First Army, now rushing into the vacuum left by Eben Emael’s sudden capitulation. If all went according to the German plan, the XVI Corps would burst through the gap, wheel to the northwest, and join the rest of the German panzer forces in their drive to the Atlantic coast. This was flat, open country, well suited for the rapidly moving armored operations of the Germans. Named for the town of Gembloux, the gap encompassed an area of the east Belgian plain between the Dyle River and the Meuse/Sambre River system. The panzers drove straight for the Gembloux Gap, a traditional invasion route into northern France. The crack XVI Corps, consisting of the veteran 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions, the 20th Motorized Division, and the 35th Infantry Division, led the German advance. The French High Command believed Eben Emael would hold for a least five days, but now German forces poured into Belgium far earlier than anticipated. On May 10, 1940, a daring group of German parachutists descended on the mighty Belgian fortress of Eben Emael, compelled its surrender, and opened the way for the German Army’s drive into Belgium.
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