 The Dutch general had little choice, to save the lives of innocent civilians he accepted the German terms, but after the unconditional surrender, the Nazis bombed the city anyway. Bombers flew low over the center of Rotterdam and methodically bombed it into a heap of rubble, fissions of savagery the world has ever seen. Over 30,000 men, women and children were killed in the space of 90 minutes. Though only six months before Hitler had said, the new Reich is endeavored to continue the traditional friendship with Holland, which we'll not forget. Meantime in Belgium, the whole force of Nazi Blitzkrieg had stormed across its neutral borders. The main German attack was directed at the Albrecht Canal-Mers River Line, the anchor of which was fort even a male, a modern and seemingly impregnable fortress. The Germans had secretly built a replica of the mighty fortress in Czechoslovakia and had rehearsed the attack until they knew every detail of the fort's construction and its every weakness. When the real attack came, it was foolproof. Parachute troops, dive bombers, fully trained engineer battalions, all working together as a well-trained team, while they wade across the river. The notice that this assault engineer knows exactly where to put his high explosive charge in order to destroy the blockhouse. He also withstood the Nazi attack exactly two days, and the German armies rolled on. Meantime, an hour and a half after the German invasion began, Allied troops crossed the French and Belgian border to meet the advancing Germans, placed across Belgium to take up their defense positions. They met an obstacle they hadn't counted on. Refugees, refugee choked roads didn't get that way by accident. The Nazis methodically bombed little towns and villages, otherwise devoid of any military value. Not so much to kill as to drive the inhabitants out onto the highways. Fert machine gunning, the Nazis would herd them along in terror-stricken flight, and hopelessly entangled the advancing Allied armies. Refugees used as a weapon of war, a new low in inhumanity. No school today, the sign says. The children are otherwise occupied. No, no school today. Six months before, Hitler had announced, the Reich has put forth no claim which might in any way be regarded as a threat to Belgium. The Belgians will not forget. What about the Allies? They were convinced that the German attack on Belgium and Holland was the main thrust, and according to plan, had swung their armies like a gate into Belgium. But the attack on Belgium and Holland was only a faint. The main German attack was to be centered where the Allies least expected it, through the Ardenne Forest. For this decisive blow, they had secretly assembled the mightiest striking force the world had ever seen, including 45,000 armored vehicles. At the same time that the Nazi armies were plunging into Holland and Belgium, this column started to move. The Allies went first. They scattered allied patrols, pathways for the tanks to follow. As the Germans' armored force reached the Merse River, two days faster than the French thought any troops could get through. By all rules, the Germans should have paused here to bring up heavy artillery before attempting to force the river. But the Nazis had a new type of artillery. Died farmers. French positions across the Merse. Feverish haste. The Germans laid a barrage across the river with anything and everything that would shoot. Endless concentration of firepower continued all through the night. The following day, shop crews were able to get across the river, until the engineers brought up pontoons and built bridges. Then, without wasting a moment, across these bridges, the main armored force of the German military machine rolled through to Sudan. But the all-important breakthrough into a dismayed and flat-footed france came to the Allies. It was only a matter of how long. Watch the map as one of our intelligence officers explains the details of the German breakthrough.