At 3am the Dutch and Belgian governments receive a 'Memorandum' from the German government announcing that German forces would soon be arriving in their respective countries. The Germans are moving forward in anticipation of a projected Anglo-French action.

At dawn every available Luftwaffe aircraft takes off. The targets of the German air force include Belgian airfields, the Dutch airfields at Wallhaven, Bergen, Schiphot and Kooy, and the French airfields at Calais, Dunkirk, Metz, Essey-Les-Nancy, Bron, Châteauroux and Valdahon Camp. Extending 250 miles behind the front, the attack destroys planes on the ground and also hits road and railway junctions. A heavy drone fills the sky from the North Sea to the Rhône Valley.

As the air attack begins, the Wehrmacht drops almost all of its airborne strength over Holland. The 22nd Airborne Division, comprising 12,000 men and supported by 4,000 paratroopers, is divided into 5 battalions. They head for the bridges at Rotterdam, Dordrecht and Moerdijk in an effort to seize them before the Dutch have time to destroy them. The surprise attack is a complete success and it costs the Germans only 180 men. 'It was imperative that we should succeed' states Gen Kurt Student, who was in charge of it. 'A failure by us would have led to the failure of the entire offensive.'

3 airfields around the Hague are bombed and then attacked by airborne troops. At Ypenburg a firefight breaks out when German transports attempt to land. 3 waves of transports are shot to piece by the Dutch defenders. A 4th can not land because of debris on the field from the previous three. German paratroopers take the field for a brief time before being driven off by a strong Dutch counterattack. The Germans land 20 transports at Ockenburg airfield, but the Dutch manage to hold on. German airborne troops and paratroopers take the airstrip at Valkenburg early in the morning, but by evening the Dutch have taken the field back.

At Moerdijk using Student's paratroopers who attack both sides of the bridges at the same time, the Germans take 2 bridges over the Holland Deep, the 1300-yd-long road viaduct and a 1400-yd-long railway. They are to hold until relieved by airborne troops who are to land at Waalhaven airport 5 miles southeast of Rotterdam. These troops are the 3rd Bn, 1st Paratroop Regt under Capt Karl-Lothar Schultz. Most of the paratroopers land close to the airfield and start fighting immediately. Soon Ju-52 transports begin landing and within a short time the whole 3rd Airborne Div is on the ground. The Germans capture Waalhaven airport and its defenders more quickly than planned, partly because of Very light signals which meant one thing to the Germans but to the Dutch it was the signal to cease fire. The Germans next headed to the town of Waalhaven in order to get to the bridges leading into Rotterdam.

A sixth battalion of airborne troops lands in the Maestricht area. Belgians had succeeded in blowing the bridges over the Meuse at Maastricht and the one over the Albert Canal at Kanne, the direct link between Maastricht and Eben Emael before glider forces could take it. The Belgians mistake the troop-carrying gliders as planes with engine trouble. As a result, the bridges along the Meuse, especially the ones at Veldwergelt and Ursenhaven, are taken without firing a shot. The battalion then crosses the Albert Canal and establishes several small bridgeheads on the west bank.

At 4:25am 11 German gliders carrying 77 men armed with 56 hollow-charge explosives land on the Belgian fort at Eben Emael, the key position in the defense of Liège. Within 10 minutes the Germans succeed in knocking out all the fortress's external guns. There is still the 780-man garrison to deal with. At 12:15pm the garrison surrenders. Casualties at the fort include 23 Belgians killed and 59 wounded while the Germans under Lt Rudolf Witzig suffer 6 killed and 20 wounded. The Germans at Eben Emael are to be relieved by the 51st Engr Bn, which will not get there until 7am 5/11.

As these early actions are in progress, the vanguard of von Kleist's armored group, comprising between twelve and fifteen hundred tanks, is advancing in dense waves through the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Coming into the Ardennes the Germans have 7 panzer divisions in 3 corps consisting of 134,000 soldiers, 41,000 motor vehicles, and 1600 tanks and recon vehicles. Guderians XIX Panzer Corps leads the attack in the center. He has the 1st Panzer Div in the center, the 10th Panzer on the left and the 2nd Panzer on the right. This destination of Guderian's corps is the Meuse River at Sedan. Slightly behind them and to their right is Reinhardt's XLI Panzer Corp with the 6th and 8th Panzer Divisions along with 1 motorized division. Their target is Mézières, a town on the Meuse 10 miles west of Sedan. On Reinhardt's northern flank is Hoth's XV Panzer Corps with the 5th and 7th Panzer and the 20th Motorized Divisions. Hoth's corps is headed for Dinant, farther downstream on the Meuse. The tanks are moving in very close columns, rigidly shepherded through the hearts of valleys. 'These three blocks were positioned one behind the other in a kind of giant phalanx,' claims Gen Blumentritt. 'They stretched back for a hundred miles, the rear tank lying 50 miles to the east of the Rhine. Had this mass formation of Panzers been placed in single file, the tail-end would have been in Königsberg in East Prussia, and the head of the column in Trèves.'

The foreign ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands unseal the secret instructions that had been sent to them in anticipation of the situation their countries now face. They read that they are to demand immediate assistance from France and Britain. Word is relayed to the Dutch and Belgian representatives in Paris who immediately call on Prime Minister Reynaud and Gen Gamelin. The French High Command at once gives orders for Gen Eugène Mittelhauser, head of the French Military Mission to the Netherlands, to get in touch with the Dutch High Command and inaugurate the activities of his mission under Gen Georges Lascroux and for Gen Pierre Champon, chief of the French Military Mission to the Belgians, to report to the Belgian GHQ and determine the structure of the Allied Command with King Leopold.

At 5:35am the Wehrmacht attacks along the whole of the Western Front. 135 divisions, including 10 armored and 80 well-trained divisions, move against Holland, Belgium and France.

The German GHQ puts nearly all its resources into the attack holding only one armored division (the 11th) and one motorized brigade in reserve. The initial objectives of these German forces are:

1. to break through the enemy's frontier positions from the Moselle to the North Sea;
2. to occupy Holland;
3. to continue as far as Anvers and the line of the Dyle;
4. to capture Liège with the massive attacking forces on the left wing;
5. to reach the Meuse and force their way across the river between Namur and Carignan, near Sedan, by bringing to bear the whole weight of the available armored and motorized divisions;
6. to thrust onward to the sea, bearing on the river system of the Aisne and the Somme.

The man behind the German attack plan, Gen von Manstein, is on leave in Liegnitz (Silesia) when the launching of the offensive is announced on the radio. He writes:

Needless to say, all my thoughts and my most ardent wishes were with our units advancing through the Ardennes. Would they succeed in crossing Luxembourg and smashing the Belgian fortifications on either side of Bastogne before powerful French forces beat them to it? Would our armor manage to cross the Meuse at the first attempt and press on with their advance so that they could start encircling the enemy armies operating in the north?

It will come as no surprise to anybody if I say that I did not exactly entertain friendly feelings for those who had relegated me so far to the rear at the very moment when the plan for which I had fought so long and so stubbornly was being carried out in the west.

To confront the German forces, 134 French, British and Belgian divisions begin preparing themselves for the onslaught.

There are three possibilities open to the Allied Command:

1. To await the German onslaught on the northern frontier;
2. To move forward along the Escaut;
3. To move forward to the Dyle and resist along a front stretching from Anvers to Givet and passing through Louvin, Gembloux and Namur.

The third option, which had been worked out at the Arras conference on November 23rd, 1939, had been approved by the French and British governments. This was done despite objections from Gen Georges. This plan would enable support to be given to the 22 Belgian and 10 Dutch divisions that would be fighting on the Allied side. The major drawback to this option is it would involve a delay of between 5 and 10 days while the units move into line and organize their fighting positions.

But this option, despite its drawbacks, is the solution Gen Gamelin chopses. At 6:30am Gamelin calls Georges and says it's the Dyle operation. Georges issues orders setting Billotte's 5 armies in motion across the Belgian frontier. In response to the C-in-C's 'Personal and Secret Instruction No. 9', 33 French and British divisions immediately pivot on Givet and move forward toward the Dyle. Gen Giraud's 7th Army is to speed into Holland toward Anvers and Breda to help the Dutch army. After landing at Flushing, in Holland, the 60th and 68th Divs are to occupy the islands of Walcheren and Beveland, covering the mouth of the Escaut. Lord Gort's BEF and Gen Blanchard's 1st Army are to advance to the Dyle line, between the Belgian cities of Louvain and Namur. Gen Corap's 9th Army is to pivot northwest of Sedan and take up positions on the west bank of the Meuse River as far north as Namur. The left fland of Gen Huntiziger's 2nd Army at the hinge of the turning movement is also alerted. Gen Prioux's Cavalry Corps composed of the 2nd and 3rd Light Mechanized Divs, whose mission is to slow down the German offensive ahead of the Dyle within the quadrilateral, Maestriche-Liége-Namur-Anvers, crosses the Franco-Belgian frontier at 7:30am. 'This was far from being an attacking maneuver,' remarks Gen Gauché. 'The French army was leaving its frontier positions (which it had fortified somewhat during the previous 8 months) to take up another on Belgian territory (which it believed equally fortified). The operation was only attempted because the Command hoped to have time to carry it out without being seriously harassed by the enemy.'

Air support for the Allied armies is withheld in the beginning, but after a few hours permission is given with a stipulation. No towns or cities are to be bombed, which is a tremendous advantage for the German invaders.

The C-in-C issues the following order of the day:

The attack that we have been expecting since last October was launched this morning. Germany is waging a struggle to the death against us. The watchwords for France and all her allies are: courage, energy, confidence.
As Marshal Pétain said 24 years ago: 'Nous les aurons.'
GAMELIN

By 10am the advance elements of the 1st Panzer Div has reached Belgian border at Martelange. Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais destroy the river bridge there, which holds up the panzer until the bridge is repaired around 4pm. Guderian establishes his headquarters on Belgian soil just west of Martelange.

Meanwhile, French Staff Officers reach the selected line during the morning and find nothing apart from the Cointet defenses. These defenses, named after a French general, consist of a series of trestles connected by coils of barbed wire and preceded by anti-tank minefields. On the actual site of the resistance point there are no trenches, no defensive structures, no fixed auxiliary defenses, and no anti-tank barriers. There is just an open plain, a sitting duck for the German armor. Here in the Gembloux area, where the French Command wished to make its stand, no earthworks had been dug.

In the morning cavalry units from Huntizger's 2nd Army, the 2nd and 5th Cavalry Divs and an independent brigade of cavalry along with cavalry from Corap's 9th Army, the 1st and 4th Cavalry Divs and the 3rd Spahi Bde move to the Bastogne-Arlon line, a short distance from the Luxembourg frontier. About 11am Corap's cavalry runs into German panzers near Libramont-Neufchâteau. The French tanks are attacked by wave after wave of Stukas in addition to the fire from the Germans panzers and armored cars. As a result, the French armor suffers heavy losses. Corap's cavalry pulls back to the Meuse in the evening. The result is the same for Huntziger's units farther to the south. They are forced to pull back to the Semois River, a wide stream running through the center of the Ardennes and into the Meuse.

By evening the French Command knows that, taken as a whole, the Dyle position is unorganized. Unless Gen Prioux can hold out long enough for them to have the necessary time, the Allied units will be unable to prepare the area for defensive action.

It is now too late, however, to alter the prearranged plan. 'This was Gamelin's hour of judgment,' writes Pertinax.