The offensive in France continues and OKH reported that their mobiles units and some infantry corps have penetrated deep into enemy territory in the central part of the Front. All mobile corps, except one, have also started to receive the brand-new Panzer IIIG and Panzer IVE. No decisive battle has been fought yet, with French units retreating in good order.
After much consideration, the attack on Lille was finally postponed to avoid over-exhausting the spearhead troops and also due to a certain nervousness at OKW about the British intentions who seem to have committed at least five corps into France and maybe even up to seven. No enemy armored units have been identified yet, but General Guderian has been hear saying: “I can smell them“.
A half-baked attempt to break the Maginot line resulted in abject failure. Clearly, the French division’s will of defending the position was much underestimated by OKH who only committed modest resources for the attempt.
In the air, after a difficult first few days when German air dominance was contested, the British and French air forces seem to have reduced their effectiveness and the odds are again in favour of the Luftwaffe, but exact numbers of respective loses still need to be tallied. A whole French fighter group also had to scramble for safety yesterday, when German infantry overran their airfield. Many planes that could not be evacuated had to be destroyed to avoid been captured by our troops.
At sea, OKM is pleased to announce that for relatively moderate loses to the 1st Flotilla, it sank about 800 000 tons of merchant shipping and 8 or 9 escort ships of all type.
