page_title: Battle of Saumur (1940)
section_title: West
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Saumur (1940) / Battle / West
caption_attribution_description: English: Bridge and St Eusèbe church, Gennes, 1940 battle of Saumur
context_page_description: The Battle of Saumur occurred during the last stages of the Battle of France during World War II, when officer cadets from the Cavalry School at Saumur, led by superintendent Colonel Charles Michon, made a defensive stand along the Loire River at Saumur, Gennes, and Montsoreau. For two days the Cavalry School, and other assorted units which had fallen back before the German Wehrmacht advance, held off a German attack. Since the battle occurred after the message by Marshal Pétain which called for an end to fighting, the event is often considered one of the first acts of the French Resistance.
context_section_description: At Gennes, to the west of Saumur, there was no sign of combat troops until the 19th when Wehrmacht scouts arrived in the afternoon and early evening. As motor cyclists approached, the suspension bridge to the north of the island was blown. The 11th century church of St Eusèbe, on the high ground overlooking the bridge was an excellent view point and a good location for another of the 25 mm guns, however at 8pm on the evening of 19 June, 50 German troop carriers arrived on the north bank packed with assault troops. Artillery began to bombard the island and Gennes, destroying the tower of St Eusèbe and setting buildings in the town on fire.  The Wehrmacht then assaulted the island in the river using rubber boats but were repelled by the Cadets and Algerian riflemen by midnight. An engineer, worried that his charges might be damaged by another bombardment, without orders, blew the southern bridge, isolating the troops on the island. The wounded had to be evacuated by boat.
  Early next morning on the 20th, having been reinforced and with more artillery, the Wehrmacht used rafts and boats to overwhelm the few defenders on the island when their ammunition had run out, but they were unable to cross from the island to the south bank of the Loire, which was still strongly defended by four units of cadets.
  Moving westward downriver, the Germans looked for an alternative crossing point, identifying a gap that was only lightly held, where despite students arriving and inflicting casualties on the Germans the Wehrmacht managed to establish a small bridgehead on the south shore.
  Other Wehrmacht moving further west towards Angers, managed to find a point at which they could force a crossing against a different French defending unit and captured the city of Angers.
  Whilst reinforcements were approaching Gennes to repel the German bridgehead, yet another German bridgehead was established between Gennes and Saumur, threatening to take the town from the rear. The reinforcements were diverted to this new threat.
  The cadets at Gennes, supported by two tanks, were ordered to take back the bridgehead west of them. By 3pm, the Gennes commander was able to report that they had been successful and the left bank of the Loire was in the hands of the French, but casualties had been high. The German casualties around Gennes were between 200 and 300, killed, wounded and captured.
caption: Gennes and St Eusèbe
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "HC-X800", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2016:03:08 15:19:34", "Image ExifOffset": "186", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1500", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:03:08 15:19:34", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:03:08 15:19:34", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "33/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "6/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "329/25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4896", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3264", "EXIF SensingMethod": "Three-chip color area", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "137", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}