Rommel before the Serre — the Crécy bridge
While Guderian wrestled with his superior Kleist to the south, was driving his lightning advance farther north. On the morning of 17 May, his reached Crécy-sur-Serre, in the Aisne — some 35 miles west of the Meuse he had crossed 4 days earlier. In 3 days his division had covered 55 miles, bypassing pockets of resistance by a sequence of audacious initiatives that earned it the nickname Gespensterdivision.
The Serre was a small river, but it constituted an obstacle: Rommel did not know whether it was defended. His column was advancing with only 4 tanks in the lead, for he had once again outpaced the bulk of his forces. Before him, the bridge at Crécy-sur-Serre looked intact — but doubtless mined, ready to blow.
If he sent out a cautious reconnaissance, he would lose 6 to 12 hours and give the French time to destroy the structure. If he raced forward in his command tank to seize the bridge by surprise, he would expose himself in the front line. Rommel had to choose quickly.
Crécy-sur-Serre, 17 May 1940, Rommel before a bridge: race forward in person or wait for the infantry?
Rommel applied A. He climbed into his Panzerbefehlswagen himself and charged the bridge with 3 other tanks. The structure was intact; he crossed it around 09:00 and gained the west bank without encountering organised resistance. By midday he was at Marle, abreast of Guderian; in the afternoon he pushed on toward Le Cateau-Cambresis. In a single day the covered some 80 miles — one of the longest bounds of the entire campaign. Rommel's audacity, commanding constantly from the leading edge, disorganised the French defences before they could form. His division remained unfindable, even for the OKH. Rommel would soon earn the nickname Wüstenfuchs, the "Desert Fox," in North Africa (1941-1942). Compromised in the 20 July 1944 plot, he was forced to suicide on 14 October 1944, aged 52.
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