As the days went by, the center of activity shifts westward and the landscapes acquires new shapes and colors. After the dark forest of the Ardennes and the green undulating hills of Hainaut and Laon, the eyes of the world now focus upon the vast plains of Picardy and Flanders. Two events have combined to make the situation almost irretrievable: the lack of liaison between Billotte and Blanchard, and the misunderstanding between Blanchard and Gort.

[As regards the first, Billotte was mortally hurt before he could discuss the conference decisions with Blanchard. As regards the second, Gort attacked on May 21st, though he had learned that the French could not do so, and Blanchard attacked on May 22nd, though he knew the British effort was over. - Ed.]

Gen Blanchard launches his planned counterattack. Instead of being supported by two light armored divisions, as originally planned, Altmayer's V Infantry Corps attacks with only one infantry regiment supported by two small armored assault groups. In the morning the 25th Motorized Infantry Division attacks the north side of the panzer corridor along the Auberchicourt-Cambrai axis. Smashing the resistance offered by the German 32nd Div, the 121st Motorized Infantry Regiment takes Bantigny and reaches the outskirts of Cambrai. At 10pm the 25th Motorized Infantry Division is ordered to fall back under cover of darkness and destroy the crossings of the Sensée and its canal.

While these disjointed operations are going on, the Germans are widening the gap that they had opened during the past few days. They emerge in Béthune and south of Saint-Omer. By the afternoon they are fighting to the south and east of Boulogne. In the afternoon Guderian is informed that the 10th Panzer is being returned to him. Guderian goes back to his original plan and promptly swings the 1st Panzer Division around toward Dunkirk, disregarding Calais for the time being although it is earmarked for the 10th Panzer. A large number of infantry units, including an SS division, are active in the Saint-Quentin area. As the panzers move northward they begin experiencing, for the first time, unopposed attacks from the RAF and French naval air arm. They are out of range of Lufwaffe air cover. The 2nd Panzer launches a full-scale attack on Boulogne during the afternoon. By evening, the 10th Panzer reaches Calais advancing over 60 miles.

At 11am the Belgian High Command informs Gen Weygand that King Leopold has agreed that the Belgian army should move back to the Yser, after first halting along the Lys. At noon an inter-Allied War Council opens in Vincennes. Eyewitnesses say that the meeting, being held in Gen Weygand's office, is a dismal one. The British representatives are: Winston Churchill, 'looking dejected and serious', Gen Sir John Dill, Air Chief Marshal Sir R. E. C. Peirse (the Vice-Chief of Air Staff) and Gen Lord Ismay. On the French side are M. Paul Reynaud, accompanied by Capt de Margerie, Gen Weygand and a few members of the latter's staff. At Gen Weygand's request Col Simon begins by outlining the miltiary situation.

Two French divisions under Gen Fagalde are at the far north of the front, along the Escaut. Between these and the neighborhood of Audenarde are the Belgian forces. The BEF is farther south with 4 divisions, plus 3 divisions in reserve near Arras. Two more British divisions are in the Lille area. Next comes the French 1st Army under Gen Prioux, flanked by the Calvary Corps. The Somme does not appear to have been crossed beyond Ham. All the same, the Germans have established various bridgeheads. A French army under Gen Frère is skirting the area between the Oise and the Somme and concentrating steadily westward. It consist of 8 divisions and has orders to strike so as to free the Somme Valley. Further east lies Touchon's and Huntziger's Armies.

The Germans have placed their armored divisions at key ponts out in front. Behind these units are motorized divisions. Apparently a number of infantry divisions are digging in around Saint-Quentin. Farther east massed infantry have already engaged Huntziger's army.

Gen Weygand then outlines the maneuver that he has in mind:

There can be no question of asking the Anglo-French-Belgian forces still in the north - they amount to over 40 division - merely to retreat southward in an attempt to join up with the bulk of the French army... On the contrary, the situation demands that, protected by the Belgian army, which would cover them toward the east and if necessary toward the north, the available French and British forces should strike offensively southward from around Cambrai and Arras in the general direction of Saint-Quentin, so as to take in the flank the German armored divisions at present engaged in the Saint-Quentin-Amiens pocket. At the same time Gen Frère's French army... would thrust northward so as to increase the pressure on the enemy armored units in the Amien-Abbeville area...

Mr Winston Churchill and Sir John Dill voice their approval and state that their own conception of the battle tallies with the Generalissimo's, especially with regard to the role allotted to the Belgian army. The British Prime Minister several times repeats that it was indispensable to 'reopen communications between the armies of the north and those of the south via Arras'. The battle is vital to the future of the war, for the supplying of the British fores via the Channel ports is becoming extremely hazardous.

Speaking for himself and the King of the Belgians, Weygand then lodges 'with equal firmness and precision' a demand that he considered fundamental. 'It is of vital importance to the success fo the battle about to open,' he declares, 'that the RAF should be fully engaged in the theater of operations... During the past few days it has been carrying out heavy raids against parts of Germany, especially the Ruhr, and has achieved considerable results by bombing enemy oil depots and refineries in Hamburg, Bremen and elsewhere. But in view of what is at stake, it is vital that the RAF should provisionally, just for a few days, abandon its long-distance experiments so as to act constantly and immeadiately along the front itself or in the vicinity of the front. I therefore request that the RAF be ordered to redouble its efforts in the area where the projected operations will occur.'

The British Vice-Chief of Air Staff replies that in present conditions RAF Wellingtons can not attack in daylight and that, allowing for the outward and return journeys, the British fighters have only enough fuel to keep them over the front line for twenty minutes. However, the bombers will harass the German lines of communications between the front and the Meuse, while the fighters, based in England, will fly over in relays.

The French Premier and the Commander-in-Chief informs Mr Churchill of the accident to Gen Billotte and of the changes in the command of the 1st Group of Armies. They assured him that Gen Blanchard and Lord Gort will be working 'hand in hand'.

In the course of the afternoon Gen Weygand has a further conversation with M. Paul Reynaud. A memorandum is drawn up, specifying the points established in the inter-Allied meeting.

Mr Churchill and the British delegation return to London. The British Prime Minister takes with him a summary of the projected plan of operations.

'All this was wonderful,' remarks Pertinax, 'and undeniably cohesive on paper. But it takes days and days to co-ordinate the workings of such a massive piece of machinery... Some British officers stated that they had not found such-and-such a division in the position that Weygand had indicated... By May 23rd the opportunity, slender as it might have been, had slipped by, and, try as he might, Weygand could never recapture it. Every time he thought he was in a position to set the wheels in motion something would be missing, or fail, calling for a complete overhaul of the plan.'

During the day the RAF evacuate the airfield at Merville, its final base in France. All future operations, including Dunkirk, will be conducted from Britain.

At 10:30pm Churchill summons Gen Spears to the Admiralty. His brief visit to Vincennes and Paris has left him uneasy, and he thinks it would be useful to strengthen the bonds between the French and British governments. He tell Spears, 'I have decided to send you as my personal representative to Paul Reynaud. You will have the rank of a Major-General... The situation is very grave.