As dawn broke on May 11, 1940, elements of the French 1st Brigade de Cavalerie moved east through the Ardennes to establish a defensive line along the Vierre River near Suxy. By 0630 hours, a forward observer spotted a convoy from the Grossdeutschland regiment moving west along the main E/W road. Cavalry support arrived and dismounted to engage the German troops, which were supported by the 640th Assault Gun Battalion and 10th Panzer Division. Fifteen minutes later, a French engineer group blew the main bridge across the Vierre, leaving only the ford adjacent to town available for river crossing. By 0815, fierce fighting was occurring along the road that pierced the central wooded area, and a brave group of dismounted French cavalry were holding the Germans up at the central pass through the woods, forcing the aggressors to take slower routes to the town & ford areas. The Germans eventually advanced to sites on the east side of the river with HMG fire coming from the southeast, while mortar & field gun units were setting up northeast of town. French cavalry reinforcements crossing at the ford were disrupted due to this German fire. The Germans assaulted French troops at the ford at 0900 overrunning two cavalry platoons and officers, but a dismounted line held the ground for the moment. By 0930, a German StuGIIIA group had entered the town along with infantry support. The battle in Suxy just west of the ford went back and forth, with the StuGIIIA units finally taking some damage from a French 25mm group; however, German OBA eliminated the remaining French “25” by 1015, so the remnant of the German armor group was in a strong position. The Germans kept throwing new troops into east Suxy once that they had undisputed control of the ford. Even though the battered French cavalry still held on at the central pass, they were now surrounded, so the French called for a structured retreat from the region.

This scenario is a fairly short 18-turn scenario in which the French must either delay the German river crossing or take more German steps than they lose. The latter is not an easy task since the Germans have numerical superiority in terms of both units and firepower along with greater OBA and a couple of armor units. Blowing the bridge early gives the French a little hope, but they are simply outgunned in this scenario. The bridge was blown on Turn 2 and reinforcements came in on Turn 6. Even with fog-of-war occurring on 10 of the 18 turns, the Germans still had sufficient time to gain control of the ford and pass units through the first town hex despite it being an assault hex. There was very little French backup at that point to stop the flow. The Germans ended up with eight steps west of the river and 14 French units eliminated versus only 4 steps lost for them, a 22-4 victory.