around midnight of 18 june, 1st panzer division captured montbéliard and, due to a fuel surplus, was instructed by guderian to immediately advance further. guderian visited the captured parts of belfort at 08:00, also inspecting large amounts of french artillery pieces and vehicles that had been captured by the panzer group. however, at that point, all fortified positions within belfort were still held by french defenders that refused to surrender and thus had to be defeated in urban combat, a process that began at noon. basses-perches fell first, then hautes-perches and then the citadel. the german soldiers went about the task in an efficient manner between artillery and riflemen and suffered only a few casualties. in the meantime, parts of 1st panzer division reached giromagny, where they took 10,000 prisoners and captured 40 mortars and seven aircraft. 6th panzer division captured épinal, another fortress city, just like 1st panzer division had taken belfort. the germans captured another 40,000 prisoners. in the meantime, 7th army's vanguard reached cernay.