Air Component Hurricane squadrons claimed 97 German aircraft shot down, probables or damaged, later reduced by Cull et al. to 46. 19 May On 19 May the German advance in the north led to the Air Component squadrons retiring to English bases. The AASF had 12, 88, 103, 142, 150, 218 and 226 squadrons available. D'Astier tried to support a counter-attack near Laon but the AASF HQ was out of touch and Barratt knew nothing about it, except that German forces were west of the Montcornet–Neufchâtel road. Reconnaissance reports showed Barrett that to the east, more German troops were north of Rethel, a threat to the AASF bases further south. All but 226 Squadron was ordered make another maximum effort by day against anything they saw on the roads between Rethel and Montcornet. The wrong orders reached 88 Squadron which attacked around Hirson an important point on the German drive west and 142 Squadron attacked targets far to the west around Laon, near the French counter-attack, unlike the Rethel area, which was on the fringe of the offensive and only occupied by screening forces. Six Battles of 150 Squadron attacked road columns near Fraillicourt and Chappes, against intense anti-aircraft fire, one Battle being shot down and two making emergency landings at the nearest Allied airfield. The crews of 218 Squadron bombed tanks and lorries near Hauteville and Château-Porcien, in shallow dives from , bombing from . Plenty of targets were found by 88 Squadron, which with 218 Squadron, lost no aircraft. Three Battles from 142 Squadron were shot down west of Laon and of six Battles sent by 12 Squadron north or Rethel, which found only one column to bomb, two were lost, one to a Bf 109. Six Battles sent by 103 Squadron bombed targets near Rethel and all came home. The raids did nothing assist the French counter-attack. The Germans had passed beyond the terrain bottlenecks further east. Six Battles out of 36 had been lost, an 18 per cent loss rate, which was a considerable improvement on the 50 per cent rate from 10 to 15 May but still unsustainable. Barratt concluded that night operations were the only way to save the Battle force from destruction. AASF and Air Component Hurricanes claimed 112 aircraft shot down, probables or damaged (later reduced to 56) for a loss of 22 Hurricanes shot down and 13 force-landed, 24 to Bf