After the Phoney War, the Battle of France began on 10 May 1940 when the German armies in the west commenced the "Manstein Plan" Fall Gelb.

The plan relied on the Maginot Line fortifications along the German-French border but the Germans had already crossed through most of the Netherlands, before the French forces arrived.

The British infantry were short of equipment and ammunition and were soon ordered to retreat over the river but the 1/5th and 2/7th Queens found the bridges had been demolished by the bombing.

[6] At 8:30 a.m., Air Component Hawker Hurricane pilots reported a German column at Marquion on the Canal du Nord and others further south.

After midday, General Alphonse Georges, the commander of the French field armies requested a maximum effort but the RAF flew only one more raid, by two squadrons from 6:30 p.m. around Albert and Doullens.

When the expected Luftwaffe attacks against the sea traffic of the BEF did not materialise, Le Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne and Calais were also brought into use.

[8] The area south of the Somme was the Northern District, commanded by Acting Brigadier Archibald Beauman, with Dieppe and Rouen comprising sub-areas.

[9] On 18 May 1940, Acting Brigadier Beauman, who was based at Rouen, was ordered by Major-General Philip de Fonblanque (General Officer Commanding Lines of Communication Troops) to strengthen his local defences.

A second brigade-sized formation, Vicforce (named after its first commander, Colonel C. E. Vicary), was formed from five provisional battalions, made up of troops who had been employed in various depots, together with reinforcement drafts recently arrived in France.

These troops were mainly reservists who were not fit enough to join their front line units and had been detailed for construction and labour in the rear area.

[16] Some units of the 1st Armoured Division arrived in support but remained under the orders of the French Tenth Army commander, General Robert Altmayer.

The difficulty of maintaining communications led Beauman to issue orders that units would hold on "as long as any hope of successful resistance remained" and that "Brigade commanders will use their discretion as regards withdrawal".

Late in the afternoon, Syme's Battalion, only formed from depot troops in the previous week, held up the 5th Panzer Division for several hours outside Rouen, before being forced to retire south of the Seine.

[19] On 16 June, the Tenth Army ordered a general retirement with the eventual aim of establishing a defensive position on the Brittany peninsula; a policy opposed by both Brooke and the British Government.

The Beauman Division was ordered to fall back on Cherbourg for Operation Aerial, evacuations from the French Atlantic and Mediterranean ports.