'Hindenburg' (i) was the German codeword within 'Sichelschnitt' for Generalmajor Johann Joachim Stever’s 4^th Panzerdivision of General Erich Hoepner’s XVI Corps (mot.) in Generaloberst Walter von Reichenau’s 6^th Army to begin its attack and take the three bridges over the Maas river at Maastricht in the southern part of the Netherlands to facilitate the German advance toward Tongres and Charleroi in southern Belgium and thence Valenciennes in north-eastern France (9/10 May 1940).