The Battle of the Afsluitdijk was an attempt by the German Army to sieze control of the dike. Previously to May 12th, the Germans had not made any attempt to take Fort Kornwerderzand. However on the evening of that day, a small German patrol was sent to take the fort, the soilders were quickly pinned down by machine gun fire, two killed. The Germans then decided to take a new strategy. They would launch a number of Lufftwaffe strikes against the fort, then an extended artillery bombardment by howitzers. Unknown to the Germans was that during the night three 2 cm anti-air guns and 4 heavy anti-aircraft machineguns arrived at Kornwerderzand. The next day the surprised pilots, who had flown over unchallenged the past few days, were suddenly under fire. By the time the attack was over, 62 plan