As the Queen was part of the government, when she left, the cabinet had to whether to follow her or remain. After many discussions it was decided to leave also: the ministers sailed at 19:20 from Hoek van Holland on "HMS Windsor" to form a government in exile in London.
Three Dutch merchant ships, escorted by British warships, transferred government gold and diamonds to the United Kingdom.
While two tank companies of "9. Panzerdivision" remained to pursue the French, the other four began to cross the Moerdijk bridge at 05:20. Two staff companies with tanks also went to the northern side. The Dutch attempted to block the German armour.
At around 06:00 the last medium bomber, a Fokker T. V, dropped two bombs on the bridge. The one bomb that hit the bridge did not explode. The bomber was shot down. The Dutch tried to destroy the bridge by artillery fire, but the bridge was only slightly damaged. Attempts to flood the Island of Dordrecht failed.
The Light Division tried to advance to the west. However, two of the four battalions could not recapture the suburbs of Dordrecht. When the other two battalions approached the main road, they were met by a few dozen German tanks.
The battalions were hit by a Stuka bombing and they fled to the east. 47mm and 75 mm batteries halted the attack of the German tanks. The left part of the Light Division then withdrew to the Alblasserwaard at around 13:00.
A tank company also tried to capture the Dordrecht, but it was ordered to retreat after heavy street fighting. in At least two Panzerkampfwagen IIs were destroyed and three tanks heavily damaged. All Dutch troops were withdrawn from the island in the night.
German armoured forces advanced north over the Dordrecht bridge into IJsselmonde island. Three tanks, two PzKpfw. IIs and a Panzerkampfwagen III attacked the Barendrecht bridge into the Hoekse Waard. All of them were destroyed by a single 47 mm antitank-gun. Though the Germans did not make another attack, this area was abandoned by the Dutch troops.
In Rotterdam a last attempt was made to blow up the "Willemsbrug". Two Dutch companies attacked the bridge. The bridge was reached and the fifty German almost surrendered. However, the attack was stopped because of heavy fire from the other side of the river.
In the North, the commander of "1. Kavalleriedivision", Major General Kurt Feldt, had to go over the Enclosure Dike because of a lack of ships. The main fortifications contained 47 mm antitank-guns. There was no cover for any attacker.
On 13 May the position was reinforced by a 20 mm anti aircraft battery. It had been Feldt's intention to destroy the position by mortars, but the train transporting it had been blocked on 10 May by a blown railway bridge at Winschoten.
Several air attacks on 13 May had little effect. In the late afternoon five sections tried to attack under cover of an artillery bombing, but soon fled after being fired upon.
In the East the Germans tried to attack the Grebbe Line by using the other division of X. AK, "227. Infanteriedivision". The line was in this area defended by the Dutch 2nd Infantry Division. Two German regiments were to attack. The "366. Infanterieregiment" was hit by Dutch artillery fire and had to withdraw. This led to the failure of the attack by "227 Infanteriedivision".
On the south of the Grebbe Line, the Grebbeberg, the Germans were now using three SS battalions. During the evening and night of 12–13 May the Dutch had a dozen However, not all of these units could be put together to attack the main line.
This Dutch attack was delayed for several hours. When it started in the morning of 13 May, it ran into an attack by two battalions of "Der Fuehrer". A fight followed in which the Dutch were beaten by the SS troops. Soon this resulted in a withdrawal of the brigade. The Dutch lost when the Grebbeberg area was bombed by 27 Ju 87 Stukas.
Meanwhile, "207. Infanteriedivision" was sent into battle at the Grebbeberg. The first German attackers were stopped with serious losses. A second attack managed to get past the trench line, which then was captured after heavy fighting.
The Germans planned to attack and take the Rhenen line and the village of Achterberg. However, the Dutch had already disappeared.
The Stuka bombing scared the reserves at Rhenen. In the morning these troops left the battlefield because of German fire. In the late afternoon most of 4th Infantry Division was fleeing westwards.
The German had expected that the Dutch would attempt to fill any gaps in the line. The Dutch planned to send two regiments of the Dutch 3rd Army Corps north to fill any gaps.
But Dutch command had lost control, so they could not get their defences set up again. A wide gap had appeared in the defences. At 20:30 Van Voorst tot Voorst ordered the three Army Corps to abandon the Grebbe Line and the Waal-Linge Position and to retreat.
Despite his loss of hope and the power he had been given to surrender the Army, General Winkelman avoided surrendering until he had to. He wanted to battle the German troops for as long as possible, to help the Allied war effort.
In the North, a German artillery bombardment of the Kornwerderzand Position began at 09:00. However, the German batteries were forced to move away after being fired on from the 15 cm. aft cannon of "Hr. Ms. Johan Maurits van Nassau". Feldt now decided to land on the coast of North-Holland.
A few barges were found; only after the surrender was the crossing done. During this operation one barge sunk and the others got lost. Winkelman on 12 May ordered the defence of an "Amsterdam Position" along the North Sea Canal, but only weak forces were available.
In the East, the field army withdrew from the Grebbe Line to the East Front. The new position had some problems. The flooding was mostly not yet ready and the earthworks had not yet been constructed.
On IJsselmonde the German forces prepared to cross the Maas in Rotterdam, which was defended by about eight Dutch battalions. Crossings would be attempted in two sectors. The main attack would take place in the centre of the city, with the German 9th Panzer Division advancing over the "Willemsbrug".
Then "SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler" would cross. East of Rotterdam, a battalion of the 16th Infantry Regiment of "22. Luftlandedivision" would cross on boats.
The Germans decided to use air support. "Kampfgeschwader 54", using Heinkel He 111 bombers, was shifted from Sixth to Eighteenth Army.
Generals Kurt Student and Schmidt wanted a limited air attack to temporarily stop the defences. However, "Luftwaffe" commander Hermann Göring, worried about his surrounded airborne troops, wanted a total bombing of Rotterdam.
At 09:00 a German messenger crossed the "Willemsbrug" to bring a message Schmidt to Colonel Pieter Scharroo, the Dutch commander of Rotterdam, demanding a surrender of the city. If an answer had not been received within two hours, severe destruction would be done.
Scharroo did not receive the message until 10:30. He did not want to surrender. He got a new message signed by Schmidt and that required an answer by 16:20. At 13:20 two groups of Heinkels arrived.
Schmidt ordered red flares to be fired to signal that the bombing was to be stopped, but only the squadron from the southwest stopped its attack, after their first three planes had dropped their bombs.
The other 54 Heinkels dropped 1308 bombs, destroying the inner city and killing 814 civilians. The fires destroyed about 24,000 houses, making almost 80,000 people homeless.
At 15:50 Scharroo surrendered to Schmidt in person. Göring had ordered a second bombing of the city to be carried out unless the whole of Rotterdam was occupied. When Schmidt heard the order, he sent a message at 17:15 claiming the city was taken, but this was not true. The bombers were called back just in time.
Winkelman at first intended to continue the fight. Bombings were not seen as a reason to surrender. The Hague could still fight off an armoured attack.