combat) and sunk a cruiser, six destroyers, 21 other warships of other sorts and 21 merchant ships. Luftwaffe transport losses, while heavy, helped supply the Army with fuel and supplies in 3,018 missions over the course of the battle. The Luftwaffe had no doubt tipped the balance of the campaign in Germany's favour, without it the Allied advantage on land and at sea might have defeated the invasion. During the remainder of the year the Luftwaffe would meet increasing numbers of British made Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire aircraft which were much faster than the Luftwaffe's bomber fleet; the future campaigns, though successful, were to prove far more costly. Invasion of France and the Low Countries On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht launched the invasion of France and the Low Countries. The first phase of the invasion Fall Gelb called for an invasion of the Netherlands and Belgium in which the Germans correctly predicted the French and British Forces would then push into Belgium to stop advances into France. Gelb would then deliver the main blow, as most of the German armoured divisions would strike through the Ardennes and cut off the Allied forces in northern France, leaving the rest of the country defenseless. The Polish campaign had taught the Luftwaffe valuable lessons. It was no longer thought that it could wipe out the French and British air power immediately on the ground, although Albert Kesselring (Commander of Luftlotte 3) hoped this would be achieved against the Dutch and the Belgians. The French Armée de l'air had 1,562 aircraft, and initial RAF Fighter Command's strength stood at 680 machines, while Bomber Command could contribute some 392 aircraft to operations. The Luftwaffe only attacked a handful of airfields in France during the first day of the campaign, as most effort was diverted to ground support operations. In the Netherlands the Luftwaffe made extensive use of paratroopers and glider-borne forces (eventually to little effect). The Luftwaffe had committed a force of 1,815 combat, 487 Transport and 50 glider aircraft for the invasion of the Low countries. The opposing air forces of Belgium (the Aéronautique militaire – AeMI) and the Netherlands (the Militaire Luchtvaart – ML) were far inferior in terms of equipment and numbers, the Dutch Airforce largely used biplanes. The ML had only 144 aircraft but, like the Polish, they were dispersed well. After the first days operations half the ML's