On the morning of May 10, 1940, troops of the Grossdeustchland Division (GD) moved south toward the bridges crossing the Semois River at Etalle. The bridges had been roadblocked and were guarded by French motorcycle units from Adenot’s Detachment, 2nd Division Legere de Cavalerie; the DRG’s were in town just south of the river with a P178 platoon, and two 25mm portée platoons were in the woods south of town for support. They were reinforced on their left by DRG and P178 units from Bayonne’s Detachment moving in from the west. As the Germans approached, the French cyclists dismounted and moved to the roadblocks on the bridges; however, they retreated from the bridge by 1145. A combined French fire group situated on the west bridge then took out one of the GD HMG platoons, while the remainder of the GD forces entered the north part of town and eliminated a 25mm portée unit. The French then counterattacked the GD units, with motorcycle unit reinforcements arriving to assist at 1245. That confrontation continued off and on until 1430, at which time the battle was stopped. A German Panzer I platoon arrived on the scene at 1300, too late to really have an impact on the outcome, but it did help in eliminating the French units that had returned to attempt to hold the east bridge.

This is a fun, short scenario played on a single map with a number of different unit types. The primary objectives involve control of the town hexes and step loss count. Both sides ended up with eight steps lost, but the French held a bridge and four town hexes uncontested, while the Germans only held a single bridge. The resulted in 18 VP’s for the French to only 10 for the Germans and a major victory for the French.