May 12-14
Western Front, France
German forces reach the Meuse River, the crossing of which is critical for the advance into France. Dive-bombers pound French positions and inflatable rafts are used to establish bridgeheads at Sedan and Dinant on the 13th. Despite Allied air attacks, German armor advances westward rapidly, opening a 50-mile (75-km) gap in the Allied line. This drives a wedge between the French Ninth and Second Armies, which then mount a futile response.

May 15-20
Western Front, Belgium
Germany's Sixth and Eighteenth Armies force the Allies to withdraw from the Dyle Plan Line to the Scheldt Line, west of Brussels, and the Dendre River. French forces have been forced to fall back from Holland, while the Belgians continue fighting between Antwerp and Brussels, finally retreating to the Escaut Canal and then to the Lys River, which is reached on the 20th.

May 15
Air War, Germany
Britain launches its first strategic air attack on Germany with 99 aircraft hitting oil plants and railroad marshaling yards in the Ruhr region.

May 16-20
Western Front, France
The French General Reserve and units south of the German forces are ordered to form the Sixth Army to bolster the vulnerable Allied lines, but this fails to halt the German advance. Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle's 4th Armored Division attempts to counterattack around Laon-Montcornet on May 17-19 but fails.

German tanks reach Cambrai on May 18, and finally the sea at Abbeville two days later. It now becomes critical for the Allies to cut the 'corridor' made by the panzers or risk the isolation of their armies to the north from the forces in the south. The dismissal of General Maurice Gamelin, the Allied commander-in-chief, and the appointment of Maxime Weygand as his successor on the 19th further delays military decision-making, which reduces the potential for any action.

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