Flight were to attack the bridge at Veldwezelt and three from A Flight the bridge at Vroenhoven. Two Battles of A Flight took off at and climbed to ; short of Maastricht, the aircraft received anti-aircraft fire, surprising the crews with the extent of the German advance. The Hurricane pilots saw about fighters above them and attacked; three Bf 109s and six Hurricanes were shot down. During the diversion, A Flight dived over the Maastricht−Tongeren road towards the Vroenhoven bridge covered by three Hurricanes; a Bf 109 closed on the leading aircraft, then veered off towards the second Battle, which hid in a cloud. The Battles dived from and bombed at , both being hit in the engine, one Battle came down in a field, the crew being captured. The second Battle crew, having shaken off the Bf 109, saw bombs from the first Battle explode on the bridge and hit the water and the side of the canal. The pilot turned away through a web of tracer from ground fire and was hit by a Bf 109, then the rear gunner damaged the German fighter. The port fuel tank caught fire, the pilot ordered the crew to parachute and then noticed that the fire had gone out. The pilot nursed the bomber home but ran out of fuel a few miles short and landed in a field; the observer got back to Amifontaine but the gunner was taken prisoner. Five minutes later, B Flight attacked the bridge at Veldwezelt, having flown over Belgium in line astern at . One Battle was hit and caught fire before the target, bombed and crashed near the canal; the pilot, despite severe burns, saving the crew who were taken prisoner. A second Battle was hit, zoomed while on fire, dived into the ground and exploded, killing the crew. The third Battle made a steep turn near the bridge then dived into it, destroying the west end. German engineers began immediately to build a pontoon bridge and as they worked, from 2 Group in England attacked the bridges at Maastricht; ten were shot down. At 18 Breguet 693s from with Morane 406 fighter escorts, attacked German tank columns in the area of Hasselt, St Trond, Liège and Maastricht, losing eight bombers. Twelve attacked columns around Tongeren, St Trond and Waremme at and survived, despite most being damaged. Late in the afternoon, fifteen Battles flew