“Shortly before the attack all were at their battle positions and obstacles were in place on the bridge. Towards 0500 hrs I was certain that war had broken out because of the large number of aircraft overhead. When we saw them, we opened fire. Suddenly one of them nose-dived and we thought we had hit him.”

That was around 0520 hrs, and they were actually firing at the gliders, of which seven landed near the 1.Company trenches. One of the gendarmes, Maréchal de logis Ignoul¹³ went at once to the “apparatus, which Belgian fire had brought down”. The glider was eighty metres north of the bridge (this was probably the Squad 11 glider). The gendarme wanted to arrest the occupants himself, believing erroneously that the glider was a conventional warplane. The Belgians had watched it land without knowing if it were German or Dutch. What is certain beyond doubt, however, is the fact that the “silent” apparatus bore no nationality markings¹⁴. Dreesen recalled that very clearly: