The Fall of France in 1940 involved Hitler championing Guderians proposed move through the Ardennes Forest as part of his power struggle with the German General Staff. Good preparation, training and communications stood the Germans in good stead, but individual disobedience to orders by Guderian and others on the ground, eg. the advance forward to the Stonne Ridge near Sedan, was necessary to ensure victory, as were the 200 flak guns which guarded the Meuse/Maas bridgehead there, most of the Panzers passing over just one bridge. The victory would have been even more stunning had Hitler not halted the Wehrmacht before Dunkirk, in a bid to reassert his authority over the runaway generals.
