British Forces

Fairey Battle Crash Site - May 1940

Josef Gierse

Wreckage of a doomed Fairey Battle shot down by either Luftwaffe fighters or ground AAA fire as--being slow and terribly under-armed--the Fairey was equally vulnerable to both. The courageous crews of the RAF's Advanced Air Striking Force pressed home desperate attacks on German Heer columns advancing over the Meuse from around 10 May to the middle of the month, suffering unsustainable losses (a total of 226 aircraft were lost by the end of the Battle). On 14 May 1940, 71 RAF bombers attempted to severe the bridges over the Meuse with the loss of 40 of them.