Battle of Saumur (1940)

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Battle of Saumur
Date 1940-06-18 - 1940-06-20
Location Saumur and Gennes
Result French heroic failure
Belligerents
Students of the Cavalry School, other elements
First Armoured cavalry division
Commanders
Colonel Michon General Der Vormach
Strength
560
Casualties and losses
79 killed, 47 wounded

The Battle of Saumur occurred during the last stages of the Battle of France. Officer cadets from the Cavalry School at Saumur led by their superintendent, Colonel Michon, and other assorted units which had fallen back before the German advance made a defensive stand along the Loire River at Saumur and Gennes. Since it occurred after the message by Pétain calling for an end to fighting (1940-06-17), the event is considered as one of the first acts of the French Resistance.

The German troops advancing into the area were from the 1st Cavalry Division, pitting graduates of the German cavalry school against their counterparts from the French cavalry school. French troops took up defensive positions on four bridges of the Loire on 1940-06-18, holding off the Germans until 1940-06-20.

General Der Vormach praised the resistance of the students in his report, in which he is the first to call them "cadets of Saumur". The 218 students captured by the Germans were released in the following days instead of being interned. The school was mentioned in Despatches at the Order of the Army by General Weygand.

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