Returning to the Belgians, on the border with Holland only a few metres from the bridge and on the eastern side of the Canal, Corporal Andries and six men of 6.Company kept watch. As mentioned, two of these men were gendarmes who did not know how to prime the explosive charges and so were relieved at night (contrary to the case at Vroenhoven). The watch on the frontier was maintained in practice by operating the barrier arm. An alarm was raised between 0110 and 0130 hrs on 10 May 1940, but this was not taken seriously. False alarms were often linked to training manouevres. Because it was not thought likely that a German attack was imminent, every man was at his appointed post, both at Veldwezelt and Vroenhoven, when the attack arrived.

The crew of bunker N⁶, whose job was the direct defence of the bridge, received the order from Captain Giddelo to activate the explosive charges (which were located at the centre of the bridge structure and in the eastern main support). The bridge bunker was made of concrete as were the pair at Vroenhoven. The group defending the bridge – Cyclistes Frontières volunteers – were armed with a light MG, a 47-mm anti-tank gun, a heavy MG and a searchlight. For reasons of security the bunker had been built on the western side of the Canal, whose banks sloped down to the Canal bed, and was surrounded by barbed wire. The inner door was armoured but, strange as it may seem, access into the bunker was through an outer door which could not be locked from inside. The ignition cables for the explosives ran through this outer door.