As part of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in August of 1939, Germany conceded that the
Soviets would gain parts of Poland and the Baltic States. For the
Nazi, it prevented a two-front war – one in the west as German
forces advanced towards France and against the Soviet Union, whom
Hitler despised. Both Stalin and Hitler knew the pact would not last.
When the Battle of France began on May
11th, 1940, the German armor units surprisingly broke
through the Ardennes region and advanced north. At the same time the
Germans advanced in the east, controlling the Netherlands and into
Belgium. This divided the combined forces of the British, French, and
Belgian and the advance of the powerful Panzer divisions trapped
Allied soldiers along the French-Belgium border.
The British, seeing that the effort to
save France was lost, planning of an operation to evacuate was made,
so troops could return to England for its defense.
On May 28th, a huge
operation attempted rescue in which 16,000 men were put on board
ships but nine destroyers (needed to fight against U-boats in the
area) and many other vessels were either badly damaged or sunk. RAF
pilots flew to the area to fight against the Lutwaffe who was
strafing and bombing Dunkirk, its harbor and troops and equipment on
the beaches as well as rescue vessels. In one day the RAF lost 177
planes and the Lutwaffe lost 132.
The British Expeditionary Force was led
by Lord
Gort. The German advance was commanded by General von Brock and General von Rundstedt with an armored group
commanded by General von Kleist. General von Kleist was one of the officers that plotted against Hitler and survived, dying at the age of 90.
The major success of the Dunkirk evacuation was that the German high command and Hitler decided to
stop its advance upon Dunkirk, which is still argued today by
historians as to what reasoning was behind one of the major blunders
of the Nazi in WWII. The result, however, was in favor of the Allies
where 30,000 troops were evacuated the first day, 68,000 troops
evacuated on the second day, and 65,000 rescued on June 1st,
1940. The operation lasted until June 4th and five nations
took part: Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Poland. The
total amount of troops evacuated was 338,226 troops, taken to Dover
by 900 vessels of various sizes – civilian and military. An
eyewitness, Arthur
D. Divine described the scene:
It was the queerest, most nondescript flotilla that ever was, and it was manned by every kind of Englishman, never more than two men, often only one, to each small boat. There were bankers and dentists, taxi drivers and yachtsmen, longshoremen, boys, engineers, fishermen and civil servants. . .
It was not only a physical victory, but
a demonstration of the Britons determination; despite Winston
Churchill's warning:
We must be careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations.
On
the day the evacuation started, German artillery setup position and
provided a constant heavy artillery bombardment, despite the order
for the armor to stop after defeating Allied defenses at Calais.
Defenses at Dunkirk included flooding the canals and large areas of
low ground, providing an anti-tank defense position. Before the
evacuation, Belgium signed an unconditional surrender and the hopes
of the French commander to stop the Germans was lost. That element
decided to remain and not evacuate in hopes of winning against the
Germans. Despite that lost hope, the French First Army reached
Dunkirk, four British divisions escaped the German pincer trap, but
the French V Corps was captured.
When
the evacuating naval vessels got back to Dover with the troops, more
problems developed. The port of Dover had eight berths for ferries
crossing the channel and only three ships could berth at one time.
Once the troops disembarked ships the men moved to a staging area
away from the dock where they were provided shelter and food. Admiral
Ramsey had planned to be evacuating 45,000 troops over a two-day
period; but that amount would be increased at least three fold.
The
British lost all heavy equipment that included tanks and artillery,
left behind at Dunkirk beaches. The British Expeditionary Force lost
68,111 troops were were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Equipment
lost: 2472 guns, 63,879 vehicles, 20548 motorcycles and 500,000 tons
of supplies and ammunition. The actual number of prisoners captured
has never been determined, but Nazi records shows the amount to be
80,000 captured at Dunkirk alone. Approximately 243 ships were sunk,
civilian and naval, which included six (or 9 depending on source)
Royal Navy destroyers and 19 took damage.
Following
the Dunkirk battle and evacuation, Winston Churchill
delivered one of his most famous speeches:
Even thought large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air; we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender; and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.
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Thanks for your commentary. War, in defense against aggression is a necessary evil. No one in their right mind wishes for it, best declared as last resort. Unfortunately, expecially in decades after WW2, our leadership has not learned from history. Our leadership is more like PM Chamberlain rather than PM Churchill when it comes to recognizing and dealing with dangerous aggressive opponents. This is especially true in dealing with the present threat against free nations, who think appeasement is the answer against bullies - Islamic Jihadists.
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