Subscribe to download
Breakout from Lille

By late May of 1940, French and British units were in almost headlong retreat from the invading Germans. The German advance was often quicker than the Allied retreats, as was the case when most of the French First Army was cut off and trapped in and around the city of Lille. The French attempted a mass break out on the evening of May 28th. The French Corps was broken down into two columns of advance. The 5e Division d’infanterie nord-africaine tried to escape over the Moulin Rouge bridge on the Santes road, south of Haubourdin. They failed, and another push was made on the morning of the 29th. 2 tanks and two companies of infantry got across the bridge but were then forced back.