Since the battle occurred after the message by Marshal Pétain which called for an end to fighting (on 17 June 1940), the event is often considered one of the first acts of the French Resistance.

[1]: 57 On 13 June Paris was declared an open city and a meeting of the Anglo-French Supreme War Council with Churchill and the French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud was taking place in Tours, on the Loire.

The Germans had 10,000 troops, some motorised, armoured cars, artillery and the usual divisional equipment, whereas the French troops comprised 800 of the younger cadets who had joined the school three months earlier (older cadets having been assigned as junior officers of regiments); teachers who had not already joined their normal units; and any retreating men that could be collected.

One of the annual war games played by the students at the Cavalry School was to organise a defence along the Loire River, covering four bridges and a front of 40 kilometres (25 mi).

[1]: 64 The front comprised to the west, the town of Gennes on the south bank, with double suspension bridges connecting the north via an island.

Men and materials not required for the defence were evacuated south, as were 800 horses belonging to the Cavalry School and the world-famous Cadre Noir, together with their saddles and ceremonial harnesses.

[2]: 23  Saumur, now full of refugees, possibly qualified, but the army would not countenance making the town open or allowing the population to evacuate.

Telephone lines were cut to the HQ and it was too exposed to shellfire, so that evening it relocated 3 km west to Auberge de Marsoleau, near the airfield.

[1]: 121  Several French died on the north bank taking the battle to the Germans, including Lt Gérard de Buffévent, who was posthumously awarded the Légion d'Honneur.

At Gennes, to the west of Saumur, there was no sign of combat troops until the 19th when Wehrmacht scouts arrived in the afternoon and early evening.

Artillery began to bombard the island and Gennes, destroying the tower of St Eusèbe and setting buildings in the town on fire.

[1]: 109–112 Moving westward downriver, the Germans looked for an alternative crossing point, identifying a gap that was only lightly held.

[1]: 128  It was not possible to eliminate the Wehrmacht as they could shelter in the troglodyte houses in the cliff.Aunis farm on the flat plateau 1,800m inland of the Loire River and cliffs was the headquarters of troop leader Captain de St-Blanquat and the troop brigades ordered to protect the gap between the railway bridge at Saumur and Montsoreau and when the Wehrmacht landed on the south side of the river, the unit realised it was in an excellent position to provide a defensible position to block a German breakout and trenches were quickly dug.

French military infantry officer students from St Maixent had arrived early on 20 June and, initially ordered towards Gennes, were diverted to the eastern sector and sent into a counterattack to relieve the pressure on Aunis, with the backing of the five Hotchkiss tanks of the reserve.

The farm cellar was full of wounded, a second barn caught fire, and the French decided to pull back south before they were surrounded.

He was assigned to reconnoitre the German advance on the eastern side of Saumur and encountered a group of Wehrmacht soldiers at Le Petit-Puy.

[1]: 143  The German commander gave an order to disengage from the Saumur fight, as it was easier to bypass the town rather than continue against the stiff resistance and incur more heavy losses.

[1]: 115  Meanwhile, at 9:00 pm on 20 June, with Tours to the east and Angers to the west in German hands and with orders to pull back, Colonel Michon decided the cadets could no longer hold Saumur and withdrew them south.

[1]: 120  A similar problem of spies was encountered at Montsoreau, where an empty house was discovered with a map marking where the defenders were dug in and two men in civilian clothing were found carrying signalling equipment on the south bank.

The students were backed by other units and there were many instances of outstanding personal bravery, even though they knew it was only hours before the war would end and they were heavily outnumbered and outgunned.

[1]: 173 Max Hastings in All Hell Let Loose describes the battle in great detail and focuses on Colonel Michon, whom he calls "an old war horse" somewhat affectionately.

The German commander, General Kurt Feldt, praised the resistance of the students in his after action report, in which he was the first to call them "Cadets of Saumur".

The fight for Honour at Saumur is shown on a relief plaque by sculptor Pierre Duroux on the National Fort Mont-Valérien Mémorial de la France combattante.

[7] The fighting in Saumur from 19–21 June 1940, part of the "Battle of France," with the narrative Le soldat tombe, mais son sacrifice ne sera pas vain.