The story of the first of these great French units, the light
mechanised divisions
The crucial question of armoured divisions initiated by Colonel de
Gaulle in 1934 has overshadowed a major element of the development of the French
Army during the period of rearmament: indeed, France had, prior to the war,
light mechanised divisions (DLM) who had light tanks in name only and who were
more or less the French equivalent of the Panzer Divisions, with their 300
armoured vehicles, three dragoon battalions and their 36 guns. Better still, the
concept of the DLM was born in France three years before the idea ever appeared
on the other side of the Rhine.
This is the story of the first of these great French units. At dawn
on 10th May 1940, the 1st Light Mechanical Division sprung on its goal to reach
The Netherlands as soon as possible with
the Giraud Army. This plan unfortunately failed, but the men of the 1st DLM see,
through the plains of Belgium
and Flanders, then in the fighting on the
overturned front at the Mormal and Mont-Saint-Eloi forests, their finest hour.
Having escaped from the hell of Dunkirk, many of them will live, re-armed and
re-equipped, through the last battles to take place on French soil, without ever
having experienced the feeling of being defeated.
