By May 1940, the German Army was steadily advancing into the Netherlands and Belgium with the goal of invading France.
Amongst the first allied defenses stood the Chasseurs Ardennais, a small Belgian light infantry unit trained in unconventional guerrilla tactics and terrain; specifically in the Ardennes forest.
Their main mission was to delay the German advance by any means necessary long enough for the Allied forces to gather reinforcements and create new defensive lines.
The Germans quickly noted the fierce resistance and fighting skills of the Chasseurs Ardennais. Their motto: Resist and Bite.
In one engagement near Bastogne, a single 47mm anti-tank gun crew destroyed or disabled 5 German tanks, holding out for several hours.
A unit of only 40 men held off Rommel's 7th Panzer Division for 18 days and only surrendered after running out of ammunition. When asked where the others were, they simply replied "We are all that there is".
Rommel described them as 'not humans, but green wolves', since they would efficiently use the terrain and concealment to ambush and kill the advancing Germans: making them believe that they were fighting a much larger force.
In another instance, 50 of them held back 3000 Germans of the 2nd panzer div for 8 hours with one of them sacrificing his life by blowing himself and a bridge up; forcing the division to find another way across a river.
Near Ghent, the Chasseurs defended the only bridge left in tact for days. In complete desperation, the Germans used civilian human shields in order to get across. The Chasseurs were excellent sharpshooters and were able to pick off the Germans and save the civilians.
Even thought Belgium would eventually fall, the Chasseurs were largely responsible for the delays of the Germans at the cost of 530 killed in action. #ww2 #resist #zerofoxtrot #stayzero