Junkers Ju 87 provided close-shore artillery support at Waalhaven and the Afsluitdijk. The British "Valentine" was crippled, beached and scuttled while "Winchester", "Whitley" and "Westminster" were damaged. "Whitley" was later beached and scuttled after an air attack on 19 May. The Ju 87 units were also instrumental in the Battle of France. It was here that most of the Ju 87-equipped units were concentrated. They assisted in the breakthrough at Sedan, the critical and first major land battle of the war on French territory. The "Stukawaffe" flew 300 sorties against French positions, with StG 77 alone flying 201 individual missions. The Ju 87s
Junkers Ju 87 Secretary of State for Aviation Erhard Milch, feared that such high-level nerves and skill could not be expected of "average pilots" in the "Luftwaffe". Nevertheless, development continued at Junkers. Udet's "growing love affair" with the dive bomber pushed it to the forefront of German aviation development. Udet went so far as to advocate that all medium bombers should have dive-bombing capabilities, which initially doomed the only dedicated, strategic heavy bomber design to enter German front-line service during the war years — the 30-metre wingspan He 177A — into having an airframe design (due to Udet examining its design details in