Upon the commencement of the Battle of France in May 1940, Battles were called upon to perform unescorted, low-level tactical attacks against the advancing German army; this use of the type placed the aircraft at risk of attack from "Luftwaffe" fighters and within easy range of light anti-aircraft guns. In the first of two sorties carried out by Battles on 10 May 1940, three out of eight aircraft were lost, while a further 10 out of 24 were shot down in the second sortie, giving a total of 13 lost in that day's attacks, with the remainder suffering damage. Despite bombing from as low as , their attacks were recorded as having had little impact on the German columns. During the following day, nine Belgian Air Force Battles attacked bridges over the Albert Canal that connects to the Meuse River, losing six aircraft, and in another RAF sortie that day against a German column, only one Battle out of eight survived.