This was a German limited offensive by Generaloberst Erwin von Witzleben’s 1^st Army of Generaloberst Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb’s Heeresgruppe ‘C’ in the eastern part of France (12/15 May 1940).

Undertaken within the context of Germany’s invasion of France against the northern part of Général d’Armée André Gaston Prételat’s French 2^nd Groupe d’Armées, holding the northern part of the Maginot Line’s fixed defences, ‘Fackel’ was designed to pin French troops in the Saarpfalz area and make distinctly limited advances as a means of facilitating the progress of ‘Sichelschnitt’ farther to the north.