Maastricht — Govers facing the armour at 04:35

Lieutenant-Colonel Govers commanded the defence of South Limburg in the Netherlands and, with it, the bridges over the Maas at Maastricht — a key city at the junction of the Dutch, Belgian and German frontiers. Three vital structures crossed the river through the city centre: the Wilhelmina bridge to the south, the Sint-Servaas in the middle, and the Wyck bridge to the north. Govers had orders to destroy them at the first German intrusion; charges were in place under each deck.

At 04:35 on 10 May, his lookouts reported a German armoured patrol approaching from the east — the vanguard of the 4. Panzer-Division, launched precisely to seize the bridges before they blew. Govers had a few minutes.

But doubt set in. Was this really the general invasion, or just a reconnaissance to be confirmed? Prematurely destroying three bridges in the middle of a city was costly: one cut a major economic artery and trapped the civilian population. Waiting, on the other hand, meant risking the tanks seizing the bridges intact and pouring westward. Govers held the fate of the three bridges in his hands.