Dunkirk - The Dunkirk Evacuation - Truth And Legend

May 1940, as German troops and tanks advanced towards the northern French port of Dunkirk WW2, at least 350,000 British and French troops found that they were trapped. Inexplicably Adolf Hitlers order for the German advance to halt, allowing time for the allies to mount Operation Dynamo the Dunkirk evacuation,to rescue, their troops by sea.

After the Battle of Dunkirk, and the German forces finally entered the town on 4th June 1940 all they found on the beaches was abandoned equipment left by the allied forces. Over the previous week some 338,000 British and French troops had been evacuated .

Well aware that their troop numbers were well below that of the allied forces gathered against them. The German high command proceeded with the Western offensive with reluctance. Even the newly formed German tank divisions although hailed as the new miracle weapon had far less and inferior vehicles than the French. But the innovative German approach to tank warfare of Blitzkrieg would give them a significant initial advantage..

Fascinated by tank warfare, Hitler gave General Heinz Guderian the task of creating a separate tank unit within the German army. Guderian concluded the best way would be to concentrate all the tanks into just a few division giving them immense strength and firepower as the result. This was in total contrast to the French who spread there tanks across the entire army to provide protection for each individual unit. Another concept was that all German tank divisions carried enough fuel with them to travel 100-140 miles, before needing to be re supplied, This could be dropped by the air force in suitable containers. Having this independence from the rest of the army allowed the tank units to penetrate far into the enemies line, cutting off his supplies and communications. The idea of Blitzkrieg or lighting war, which involved concentrating tank units was in fact a British innovation that was devised after the first world war. Sadly this revolutionary tactic was rejected by both the British and French high commands as being an unproven entity in actual warfare. In fact before the outbreak of the war Guderian had even published his conclusions and findings in a book and called it "Achtung Panzer"  a blueprint which was totally ignored and never studied by either of the allied high commands until it was too late..

In order to bring France to her knees lieutenant general Erich von Manstien and his colleague major Henning von Tresckow had devised a very sophisticated battle plan. The french army relying on their experiences of the the first world war had dug itself in behind an 80 mile long series of fortifications built along the French-German border known as the Maginot line. To the south neutral Switzerland provided a natural bulwark against Germany while to the north lay the hilly ardennes, in which the french believed tank units would find it nigh on impossible to operate. So this natural frontier was ignored by the french high command in all defensive planning. This was the strategic weak point that the Germans would exploit to there advantage.

The western offensive began with von manstein confusing the french with a different approach. On the 10th of may 1940 the German air force attacked the airfields of Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland gaining complete air superiority, allowing German paratroopers landing in gliders to attack and overcome the defenders in the Belgian fort of Eban-Emael one of the lynch pins in the allies defence strategy. The capture of this fort allowed the German forces to cross the Albert canal another natural defence barrier and then overrun the Belgian defensive lines causing the Belgians to retreat, but also drawing into a trap the main British and French forces advancing northwards to reinforce the Belgians. Further north the German advance into Holland was also successful despite fierce Dutch resistance it was all over within 5 days and Holland surrendered on may 15th

Having responded to the German attack, some 20 divisions, the best units of the British and French armies were sent north to support Belgium and Holland, with the aim of preventing German troops advancing any further southwards into France. The allied high command were totally unaware that the largest tank squadron ever assembled, and hidden by the dense forests was already rolling through the Eifel mountains and through the Ardennes heading for the river Meuse. Some 1500 German armoured vehicles reached the river on may 12th encountering very little resistance along the way.

On the far bank the French defensive forces had dug in and were waiting, but soon found themselves under intense aerial attack from more than 12 dive-bomber formations forcing their heavy artillery to withdraw or take cover. Guderian seized this opportunity and concentrated all his tanks along a one mile wide section of the Meuse just west of Sedan, and sending a tank guards division over in inflatable boats quickly followed by his light armoured vehicles by ferry secured a foothold on the French side. Lacking any armoured support the French units quickly found themselves overrun and began to pull back. In less than 8 hours it was virtually all over and the German bridgehead stretched out 5 miles into french territory, allowing the pioneer units to construct a temporary bridge to let the heavy tanks cross.

The route to Paris now lay wide open to the Germans, as did a possible route to assault the rear of the Maginot line. Realising that they now risked being cut off and encircled the bulk of the allied forces in Belgium began to withdraw on may 16th. Luckily for the allies the German high command at this point became concerned that the panzer divisions had become overextended, and so ordered the advance to halt , to allow for the bulk of their infantry units to catch up. Meanwhile Guderian was ordered to reconnoitre the area, but interpreted this order freely and allowed his tanks to advance another 50 miles to the west. This unexpected appearance of German tanks caused French moral and resistance to crumble, as they had assumed the Germans would consolidate then wait for reinforcements before continuing their advance. On the 20th may, just ten days after the initial invasion of France began Guderians Tank divisions had reached the Channel at the town of Abbe-ville. The Germans had now encircled the elite of the British and French armies forcing them into a desperate situation.To the north Holland had surrendered , Luxembourg had been overrun and Belgium was on the brink of collapsing.

By the 22nd may German tank divisions had advanced rapidly north cutting off the ports of Boulogne and Calais. Dunkirk therefore remained the only port open for the allied armies to evacuate from. It also appeared that the allies were in a desperate race against time, when quite suddenly the miracle happened, and the German tanks ground to a halt. Field marshall von rundstedt comander of army group A had become concerned about the wear and tear that his armoured divisions were suffering. The following day Hitler also had personally approved the halting of the German armoured advance. But Boulonge still fell to army group B on the 25th with Calais falling a day later on the 26th. Now only Dunkirk remained in French hands, so any remaining British and french troops began to congregate there.

Seizing the opportunity that had been allowed them the British and French high command began to implement an improvised evacuation plan "Operation Dynamo". Using literally any vessel they could get their hands on, the evacuation of the encircled troops began on the night of may 28th. Unaware of how desperate the situation was, a motley flotilla of destroyers, torpedo boats, ferries, fishing smacks and even yachts sett off from Britain to Dunkirk where the were to ferry the waiting and exhausted troops from the beaches to larger transport ships lying further offshore.This carried on day and night for nearly a week under constant attack from the Luftwaffe, until Dunkirk finally surrendered on June 4th 1940. Almost all the equipment of the British expeditionary force had been destroyed or fallen into the hands of the Germans, but the main bulk, some 338,000 troops had been rescued.

So why did Hitler approve the halting of such a successful advance,? and many historians have offered a number of suggestions for this decision. Hitler and the general staff were afraid of their tanks becoming bogged down in the marshy terrain around Dunkirk. Or they were being saved for the forthcoming advance on Paris. That power struggles going on inside the general staff could have played a part, with Herman Goring insisting that his air force could annihilate the surrounded allied forces and prevent their evacuation. Also Hitler at this time still believed in the possibility of a peace treaty with Britain thus allowing him a free hand in Europe, and so was not willing to risk a British humiliation..

Whatever the reason, the decision he took in may 1940 would be the first of many blunders along the long road to Germany's final surrender five years later. Ultimately his order allowed Britain to continue the fight albeit its military prowess dented and even weakened but still very much intact

I have a great uncle who serving with the Gloucestershire Regt in France 1940 was captured at Dunkirk and spent the next 5 years as a prisoner of war. He is well into his 90's and still lives in a small town in Gloucestershire UK,