one pilot surviving and returning to base. Ten of eleven Battles from 218 Squadron were shot down and of the ten Battles from 88 Squadron, four against bridges and six to bomb columns between Bouillon and Givonne, nine returned. The operation was the costliest to the RAF of its kind in the war; 35 Battles and been lost from the 63 that attacked, along with five of the eight Blenheims. The survivors were too damaged to form a second wave. The afternoon attacks had met a much more effective defence than those in the morning and flying higher over German ground fire had only brought the Battles closer to German fighters. The German XIX Corps reported constant air attacks, which delayed the crossing of German tanks to the west bank of the Meuse. Every serviceable French bomber had flown and since 10 May, the had lost and aircraft. Six Battle crews returned on foot through German-held territory but had been killed or captured and more than had been lost in four days. As night fell, 28 Blenheims of 2 Group attacked the bridges and seven were shot down, two coming down behind Allied lines. In Britain, Air Marshal Hugh Dowding, the Air Officer Commanding RAF Fighter Command, was heard by the War Cabinet. Having already been ordered to send another to France, Dowding urged that French requests for another ten fighter squadrons be refused. The Air Staff took the losses as proof that tactical operations were not worth the cost, despite it working so well for the and judged the Battle to be obsolete, despite the Blenheim, German Junkers Ju 87s and the new French Breguet 693 bombers suffering just as many losses when not escorted by fighters. Playfair and Barratt appealed for more fighters and got a few, despite calls from everywhere for more. Barratt demanded that no more Battles be sent to France without self-sealing tanks, until then the Battles would fly at night, except for crews with insufficient training in night operations or in dire emergency. The AASF and Air Component Hurricane squadrons lost 27 aircraft, 22 to German fighters, 15 pilots being killed and four wounded; another two pilots had been killed and one wounded by German bombers or ground fire. The Hurricane squadrons claimed 83 German aircraft shot down, probables or damaged and a 1999 analysis attributed 46 German aircraft shot down or damaged to