page_title: XIX Army Corps
section_title: 13 May 1940
hierarchical_section_title: XIX Army Corps / Operational history / Western campaign / 13 May 1940
caption_attribution_description: Oberstleutnant Hermann Balk
context_page_description: The XIX Army Corps was an armored corps of the German Wehrmacht between 1 July 1939 and 16 November 1940, when the unit was renamed Panzer Group 2 and later 2nd Panzer Army. It took part in the Invasion of Poland and the Battle of France.
  It was formed in Vienna on 1 July 1939, the same day as the 2nd Panzer Division, but was not assigned to any single military district. Commanded by General der Panzertruppe Heinz Guderian, it was stationed in Pomerania prior to taking part in the invasion of Poland. It was officially tasked with constructing fortifications in preparation for an attack from Polish forces, though in fact German preparations for the invasion were already well advanced. Subordinated within Army Group North and supplemented by the 3rd Panzer, 2nd Infantry, and 20th Infantry Divisions, XIX Army Corps was tasked to strike southwards towards the Vistula river and thereby prevent any eastwards retreat of Polish troops to its west. Operations began on 1 September 1939, beginning World War II in Europe.
context_section_description: The operation began the following day under French artillery fire, which Guderian blames on an action by Von Kleist and Air Force General Hugo Sperrle which had taken away resources from anti-artillery actions. The final operational plan was given out just some seven hours and 45 minutes before the attack was to be carried out, in the form of Korpsbefehl Nr. 3. The attack was to be supported by eight hours of aerial bombardment at massive scale before the ground forces' attack, which was to be launched at 16:00 in the afternoon. On the German right, 2nd Panzer Division was to advance across the Meuse river on both sides of Donchery and seize the heights on the south bank of the river. In the center, 1st Panzer Division would cross the river just west of Sedan and attack between Glaire and Torcy. On the left flank, 10th Panzer Division would cover 1st Panzer by securing eastern Sedan and moving southeast towards Bazeilles and then crossing the river between Sedan and Bazeilles. The operational plan was further specified at noon, with the Divisionsbefehl Nr. 5.
  This 'division directive' further specified the tasks of three attack groups, the right attack group around 2nd Panzer Division, central attack group around 1st Panzer Division and the left attack group around 10th Panzer Division. It also gave precise timetables for artillery and air support missions and their targeted front sectors over the course of the day. In general, the artillery would shell the immediate river bank up until 16:00, but then move the bombardment further inland as the ground forces cross the river. At 16:00, under cover of the German air support, Rifle Regiment 1 was the first unit of 1st Panzer Division to cross the Meuse, accompanied by Großdeutschland. The German air support had silenced the French artillery, accelerating the operation.
  By 23:00, Cheveuges was in the hands of the XIX Army Corps' advancing infantry formations. On their right flank, 2nd Panzer's Kraftradschützen and recon detachment had also crossed the Meuse. The German aerial bombardment in the specific sector of the Meuse crossing was some of the most intense ever witnessed. Hermann Balck, the later German general, at the time still in the rank of Oberstleutnant and commander of Rifle Regiment 1 in 1st Panzer Division, also offered the opinion that low quality French artillery divisions that were poorly camouflaged further aided the German aerial attacks. Balck also laid claim in an interview on 13 April 1979 to some personal responsibility for the ease of the German victory, as according to his interpretation, his previous river crossing training exercises with Rifle Regiment 1 over the Moselle river near Koblenz were decisive in enabling Rifle Regiment 1 to fulfill their amphibious task. Balck would also claim that it was his idea after the Battle of Sedan to mix armored and infantry units into mixed battle groups.
  Balck would after the western campaign become a successful panzer commander of his own, even reaching command of Army Group G before redeployment to the Hungarian theater.
  10th Panzer Division captured Wadelincourt by nightfall. By the evening (around 22:30), the corps leadership had given out a memorandum to the officers to inform them of the state of French defenses, which were mostly ineffective. The memorandum recognized that parts of all three Panzer Divisions had successfully crossed the Meuse.
caption: Hermann Balck, who served as an Oberstleutnant with 1st Panzer Division during the Western Campaign, in 1941.
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