Here is an excerpt from Invasion: The German Invasion of England, July 1940, by Kenneth Macksey: This thrust, of course, was a repetition by Rommel of his breaching of the Maginot Line extension in May. It was a deadly stroke which would soon sever yet another artery out of London – the Great Western railway line to the West and the A4 road – and it occurred as German XIII Corps was continuing to make useful headway on either side of Sevenoaks, with battle groups working their way implacably among the Empire troops and 43rd Division. Indeed, this sector of the GHQ Line was almost entirely in German hands by the end of the day, and with it Biggin Hill airfield. Not wishing to become deeply enmeshed in the suburbia of the outer London towns, von Vietinghoff's commanders, intent as they were upon destroying the enemy forces as they met them, did not mind those who escaped entering the outskirts of London. The German infantry units were told to form a loose cordon round the city's southern boundary, knowing that the people, if they cared or dared, could move to and fro since the Germans were in insufficient strength to erect an impenetrable barrier. 9th Panzer Division, on the other hand, went on the rampage, rolling up the GHQ Line along the crest of the high ground in the direction of Leatherhead and Bagshot, with their distant and ambitious objectives set as far distant as Maidenhead. Frequently they were ambushed by groups and parties of British soldiers, and each encounter produced its toll of casualities and delay. Usually the Germans finished up with more prisoners on their hands than they could comfortably guard, plus a lot of enemy equipment, which, if not promptly gathered in, was liable to fall into the hands of francs-tireurs, as the Germans still called the small bands of British who were being encouraged to form guerrilla bands. Throughout the 25th, and into the early hours of the 26th, the 9th Panzer Division made progress. It thus came as quite a shock to them, in the midst of their apparently triumphant progress, when they were suddenly hit, between Byfleet and Chobham, by a fierce counter-attack by British tanks – the combined remnant of 1st and 2nd Armoured Divisions which had been grouped by Brooke in that area in the hope, if nothing else, of restoring a sense of pride by one valedictory blow. The fighting that day was memorable for one thing: 'This time,' wrote Captain R. Bingley of 4th RTR, 'it was our turn to catch Jerry napping. A bunch of their light tanks and several of their bigger Mark IIIs and IVs came at our Matildas as we were lying back in cover, hull down. We let them come to 200 yards and then let rip with the 2-pounders. There were tanks in flames all over the place and men running. And when the Germans began to shoot back, their stuff just bounced off our armour and made not the slightest difference.' 9th Panzer Division certainly received a shock, their tanks no match for British Matildas and cruisers fighting from prepared positions. But once more it was the 88s, brought into the front line under tank and infantry escort, which turned the scales and drove off the British. Likewise, that same day, 7th Panzer Division, which had broken through on the 25th and, under Rommel's insistent urging, headed north for Newbury, was brought to book. It had reached the River Kennet at Newbury with ease, but had then been delayed by a stiff anti-tank and infantry rearguard from 2nd Infantry Division, which had taken post the previous night. Getting men across in the night and ferrying over the tanks at dawn, the first tank company was unexpectedly ravaged by accurate gunfire from the Valentine tanks of 7th RTR which had been lying in ambush. For a time it looked as if the crossing site would have to be abandoned. Indeed, it took an exploit of personal leadership by Rommel to keep his men facing the enemy while a fresh crossing was made down stream, and decisive flank pressure brought to bear on the enemy to make him withdraw. Only the bad news reached the Cabinet, red arrows on the maps depicting the enemy making steady progress into the heart of England. The fraility of the German presence did not reveal itself for the very good reason that the meagre information being systematically gathered by the British was extremely slow in transmission through shattered communication systems to the centre. A dark situation was thus made to look even blacker. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 88 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com