Outside Namur City, the German defense line in the snowstorm.
This defense line was originally held by Admiral Nicholas's 21st Army, meant to stop the breakthroughs and pursuits of the Belgian Army and Shire's First Armored Corps.
But this elite force was redeployed to attack Antwerp, and the garrison was replaced by the 37th Army, which had just rested in Berlin.
The so-called "rest" meant that the troops had suffered severe losses at the front, were pulled back to recuperate while simultaneously integrating a large number of newly trained recruits, and then sent back to the front line.
The practice of sending recruits directly to the front line was not customary for the German Army. Usually, they would integrate recruits into reserve units, assign them low-intensity battle tasks to acclimate them to the battlefield before sending them into the main line.
