Battle of Dunkirk
Battle of Dunkirk | |||||||
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Part of the strafed and bombed by German aircraft while awaiting transport.[1] | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Germany | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
approx. 400,000 338,226 evacuated | approx. 800,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
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Estimated total casualties | ||||||
Civilian casualties: 1,000 civilians killed during air raids |
The Battle of Dunkirk (French: Bataille de Dunkerque) was fought around the
After the
A series of Allied counter-attacks, including the
In one of the most debated decisions of the war, the Germans halted their advance on Dunkirk. What became known as the "Halt Order" did not originate with Adolf Hitler. Generaloberste (Colonel-Generals) Gerd von Rundstedt and Günther von Kluge suggested that the German forces around the Dunkirk pocket should cease their advance on the port and consolidate to avoid an Allied breakout. Hitler sanctioned the order on 24 May with the support of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German high command). The army was to halt for three days, which gave the Allies sufficient time to organise the Dunkirk evacuation and build a defensive line. While more than 330,000 Allied troops were rescued,[8] the British and French sustained heavy casualties and were forced to abandon nearly all their equipment; around 16,000 French and 1,000 British soldiers died during the evacuation. The British Expeditionary Force alone lost some 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign.
Prelude
On 10 May 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. By 26 May, the BEF and the French 1st Army were bottled up in a corridor to the sea, about 60 miles (97 km) deep and 15 miles (24 km) wide. Most of the British forces were still around Lille, over 40 miles (64 km) from Dunkirk, with the French farther south. Two massive German armies flanked them. General Fedor von Bock's Army Group B was to the east, and General Gerd von Rundstedt's Army Group A to the west. Both officers were later promoted to field marshal.[7]
Halt order
During the following days... it became known that Hitler's decision was mainly influenced by Goering. To the dictator the rapid movement of the Army, whose risks and prospects of success he did not understand because of his lack of military schooling, became almost sinister. He was constantly oppressed by a feeling of anxiety that a reversal loomed...
Halder, in a letter of July 1957[9]
The day's entry concludes with the remark: "The task of Army Group A can be considered to have been completed in the main"—a view which further explains Rundstedt's reluctance to employ his armoured divisions in the final clearing-up stage of this first phase of the campaign.
Brauchitsch is angry ... The pocket would have been closed at the coast if only our armour had not been held back. The bad weather has grounded the Luftwaffe and we must now stand and watch countless thousands of the enemy get away to England right under our noses.
Franz Halder, written in his diary on 30 May[11]
General Hans Jeschonnek overheard Hitler explaining his halt before Dunkirk: "The Führer wants to spare the British a humiliating defeat." Hitler later explained to a close friend, "The blood of every single Englishman is too valuable to shed. Our two peoples belong together racially and traditionally. That is and always has been my aim, even if our generals can't grasp it."
Kilzer, Louis C., Hitler's Traitor: Martin Bormann and the Defeat of the Reich[12]
On 24 May, Hitler visited General von Rundstedt's headquarters at Charleville. The terrain around Dunkirk was thought unsuitable for armour. Von Rundstedt advised him the infantry should attack the British forces at Arras, where the British had proved capable of significant action, while Kleist's armour held the line west and south of Dunkirk to pounce on the Allied forces retreating before Army Group B. Hitler, who was familiar with Flanders' marshes from the First World War, agreed. This order allowed the Germans to consolidate their gains and prepare for a southward advance against the remaining French forces.
Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring asked for the chance to destroy the forces in Dunkirk. The Allied forces' destruction was thus initially assigned to the air force while the German infantry organised in Army Group B. Von Rundstedt later called this "one of the great turning points of the war".[13][14][15]
The true reason for the decision to halt the German armour on 24 May is still debated. One theory is that Von Rundstedt and Hitler agreed to conserve the armour for Fall Rot ("Case Red"), an operation to the south. It is possible that the Luftwaffe's closer ties than the army's to the Nazi Party contributed to Hitler's approval of Göring's request. Another theory—which few historians have given credence—is that Hitler was still trying to establish diplomatic peace with Britain before Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union). Although von Rundstedt after the war stated his suspicions that Hitler wanted "to help the British", based on alleged praise of the British Empire during a visit to his headquarters, little evidence that Hitler wanted to let the Allies escape exists apart from a self-exculpatory statement by Hitler himself in 1945.[13][15][16] The historian Brian Bond wrote:
Few historians now accept the view that Hitler's behaviour was influenced by the desire to let the British off lightly in [the] hope that they would then accept a compromise peace. True, in his political testament dated 26 February 1945 Hitler lamented that Churchill was "quite unable to appreciate the sporting spirit" in which he had refrained from annihilating [the] British Expeditionary Force, at Dunkirk, but this hardly squares with the contemporary record. Directive No. 13, issued by the Supreme Headquarters on 24 May called specifically for the annihilation of the French, English and Belgian forces in the pocket, while the Luftwaffe was ordered to prevent the escape of the English forces across the channel.[17]
Whatever the reasons for Hitler's decision, the Germans confidently believed the Allied troops were doomed. American journalist
Hitler did not rescind the Halt Order until the evening of 26 May. The three days thus gained gave a vital breathing space to the Royal Navy to arrange the evacuation of the British and Allied troops. About 338,000 men were rescued in about 11 days. Of these some 215,000 were British and 123,000 were French, of whom 102,250 escaped in British ships.[18]
Battle
"Fight back to the west"
On 26 May,
On 27 May, the British fought back to the Dunkirk perimeter line. The
Besides the Luftwaffe's bombs, German heavy artillery (which had just come within range) also fired high-explosive shells into Dunkirk. By this time, over 1,000 civilians in the town had been killed. This bombardment continued until the evacuation was over.[20]
Battle of Wytschaete
Gort had sent
On 26 May, the Germans made a
The heaviest fighting was in the 5th Division's sector. Still on 27 May, Brooke ordered the 3rd Division commander,
That day, Brooke ordered a counterattack. This was to be spearheaded by two battalions, the 3rd Grenadier Guards and 2nd North Staffordshire Regiment, both of Major-General Harold Alexander's 1st Division. The North Staffords advanced as far as the Kortekeer River, while the Grenadiers reached the canal itself, but could not hold it. The counterattack disrupted the Germans, holding them back a little longer while the BEF retreated.[28]
Action at Poperinge
The route back from Brooke's position to Dunkirk passed through the town of Poperinge (known to most British sources as "Poperinghe"), where there was a bottleneck at a bridge over the Yser canal. Most of the main roads in the area converged on that bridge. On 27 May, the Luftwaffe bombed the resulting traffic jam thoroughly for two hours, destroying or immobilising about 80 percent of the vehicles. Another Luftwaffe raid, on the night of 28–29 May, was illuminated by flares as well as the light from burning vehicles. The British 44th Division in particular had to abandon many guns and lorries, losing almost all of them between Poperinge and the Mont.[29]
The German 6th Panzer Division could probably have destroyed the 44th Division at Poperinge on 29 May, thereby cutting off the 3rd and 50th Divisions as well. The historian and author Julian Thompson calls it "astonishing" that they did not, but they were distracted, investing the nearby town of Cassel.[30]
Belgian surrender
Gort had ordered Lieutenant General Adam, commanding III Corps, and French
Defence of the perimeter
While they were still moving into position, they ran headlong into the
Meanwhile, Erwin Rommel had surrounded five divisions of the French First Army near Lille. Although completely cut off and heavily outnumbered, the French fought on for four days under General Molinié in the Siege of Lille, thereby keeping seven German divisions from the assault on Dunkirk and saving an estimated 100,000 Allied troops.[33] In recognition of the garrison's stubborn defence, German general Kurt Waeger granted them the honours of war, saluting the French troops as they marched past in parade formation with rifles shouldered.[34]
The defence of the Dunkirk perimeter held throughout 29–30 May, with the Allies falling back by degrees. On 31 May, the Germans nearly broke through at Nieuwpoort. The situation grew so desperate that two British battalion commanders manned a Bren gun, with one colonel firing and the other loading. A few hours later, the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards of the 3rd Division, rushed to reinforce the line near Furnes, where the British troops had been routed. The Guards restored order by shooting some of the fleeing troops and turning others around at bayonet point. The British troops returned to the line and the German assault was beaten back.[35]
In the afternoon, the Germans breached the perimeter near the canal at
Retreat to Dunkirk
Also on 31 May, General von Küchler assumed command of all the German forces at Dunkirk. His plan was simple: launch an all-out attack across the whole front at 11:00 on 1 June. Strangely, von Küchler ignored a radio intercept telling him the British were abandoning the eastern end of the line to fall back to Dunkirk itself.[37] During the night of 31 May to 1 June, Marcus Ervine-Andrews won the Victoria Cross in the battle when he defended 1,000 yards (910 m) of territory.[38]
The morning of 1 June was clear—good flying weather, in contrast to the bad weather that had hindered air operations on 30 and 31 May (there were only two-and-a-half good flying days in the whole operation) Although Churchill had promised the French that the British would cover their escape, on the ground it was the British and the French who held the line whilst the last remaining British and French soldiers were evacuated. Enduring concentrated German artillery fire and Luftwaffe strafing and bombs, the outnumbered French and British stood their ground. On 2 June (the day the last of the British units embarked onto the ships),[Notes 1] the French began to fall back slowly, and by 3 June the Germans were about 2 miles (3.2 km) from Dunkirk. The night of 3 June was the last night of evacuations. At 10:20 on 4 June, the Germans hoisted the swastika over the docks from which so many British and French troops had escaped.[40][41][42]
The resistance of Allied forces, especially the French forces, including the French 12th Motorised Infantry Division from the Fort des Dunes, had bought time for the evacuation of the bulk of the troops. The Wehrmacht captured some 35,000 soldiers, almost all of them French. These men had protected the evacuation until the last moment and were unable to embark. The same fate was reserved for the survivors of the French 12th Motorised Infantry Division (composed in particular of the French 150th Infantry Regiment); they were taken prisoner on the morning of 4 June on the beach of Malo-les-Bains. The flag of this regiment was burnt so as not to fall into enemy hands.[43][page needed]
Evacuation
The War Office made the decision to evacuate British forces on 25 May. In the nine days from 27 May to 4 June 338,226 men escaped, including 139,997 French, Polish, and Belgian troops, together with a small number of Dutch soldiers, aboard 861 vessels (of which 243 were sunk during the operation). B. H. Liddell Hart wrote that Fighter Command lost 106 aircraft over Dunkirk and the Luftwaffe lost about 135, some of which were shot down by the French Navy and the Royal Navy. MacDonald wrote in 1986 that the British losses were 177 aircraft and German losses 240.[40][42][44]
The docks at Dunkirk were too badly damaged to be used, but the east and west moles (sea walls protecting the harbour entrance) were intact. Captain William Tennant—in charge of the evacuation—decided to use the beaches and the east mole to land the ships. This highly successful idea hugely increased the number of troops that could be embarked each day, and on 31 May, over 68,000 men were embarked.[45]
The last of the British Army left on 3 June, and at 10:50, Tennant signalled Ramsay to say "Operation completed. Returning to Dover". Churchill insisted on going back for the French, and the Royal Navy returned on 4 June to rescue as many as possible of the French rearguard. Over 26,000 French soldiers were evacuated on that last day, but between 30,000 and 40,000 more were left behind and captured by the Germans. Around 16,000 French soldiers and 1,000 British soldiers died during the evacuation. 90% of Dunkirk was destroyed during the battle.[46]
Aftermath
Following the events at Dunkirk, the German forces regrouped before commencing operation
The loss of materiel on the beaches was enormous. The British Army left enough equipment behind to fit out about eight to ten divisions.[citation needed] Discarded in France were, among other things, huge supplies of ammunition, 880 field guns, 310 guns of large calibre, some 500 anti-aircraft guns, about 850 anti-tank guns, 11,000 machine guns, nearly 700 tanks, 20,000 motorcycles and 45,000 motor cars and lorries. Army equipment available at home was only just sufficient to equip two divisions.[citation needed] The British Army needed months to re-supply properly, and some planned introductions of new equipment were halted while industrial resources concentrated on making good the losses. Officers told troops falling back from Dunkirk to burn or otherwise disable their trucks (so as not to let them benefit the advancing German forces). The shortage of army vehicles after Dunkirk was so severe that the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was reduced to retrieving and refurbishing obsolete buses and coaches from British scrapyards to press them into use as troop transports.[according to whom?] Some of these antique workhorses were still in use as late as the North African campaign of 1942.[49]
On 2 June, the Dean of St Paul's, Walter Matthews, was the first to call the evacuation the "Miracle of Dunkirk".
During the following week papers were filled with letters from readers making an obvious association. It was remembered that the Archbishop of Canterbury had announced that the Day of National Prayer might well be a turning point, and it was obvious to many that God had answered the nation's collective prayer with the 'miracle of Dunkirk'. The evidence of God's intervention was clear for those who wished to see it; papers had written of calm seas and the high mist which interfered with the accuracy of German bombers.
— Duncan Anderson[50]
A marble memorial to the battle stands at Dunkirk. The French inscription is translated as: "To the glorious memory of the pilots, mariners, and soldiers of the French and Allied armies who sacrificed themselves in the Battle of Dunkirk, May–June 1940." The missing dead of the BEF are commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial.[citation needed]
A considerable number of British troops remained in France after Dunkirk to the south of the
"Dunkirk Spirit"
British press later exploited the successful evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, and particularly the role of the "Dunkirk little ships", very effectively. Many of them were private vessels such as fishing boats and pleasure cruisers, but commercial vessels such as ferries also contributed to the force, including a number from as far away as the Isle of Man and Glasgow. These smaller vessels—guided by naval craft across the Channel from the Thames Estuary and from Dover—assisted in the official evacuation. Being able to move closer into the beachfront shallows than larger craft, the "little ships" acted as shuttles to and from the larger ships, lifting troops who were queuing in the water, many waiting shoulder-deep in water for hours. The term "Dunkirk Spirit" refers to the solidarity of the British people in times of adversity.[53]
Dunkirk Medal
A commemorative medal was established in 1960 by the French National Association of Veterans of the Fortified Sector of Flanders and Dunkirk on behalf of the town of Dunkirk.[54] The medal was initially awarded only to the French defenders of Dunkirk, but in 1970 the qualification was expanded to include British forces who served in the Dunkirk sector and their rescue forces, including the civilians who volunteered to man the "little ships".[55]
The design of the bronze medal included the arms of the town of Dunkirk on one side, and "Dunkerque 1940" on the reverse side.
See also
References
Notes
Citations
- ^ Shirer 1959, p. 736 Footnote
- ^ Ellis, Major L F. "The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940 (Chapter XII: Dunkirk Bethune and Ypres)". History of the Second World War. Archived from the original on 30 May 2007 – via Hyperwar Foundation.
- ^ a b Hooton 2010, p. 71.
- ^ a b Murray 2002, p. 42 (1985 ed.)
- ^ Franks 2008, pp. 33–39.
- ^ Franks 2008, p. 160.
- ^ a b MacDonald 1986, p. 8.
- ^ Frieser 2005, pp. 291–292.
- ^ Shirer 1959, p. 879.
- ^ Butler 2004, p. 151.
- ^ Shirer 1959, p. 883.
- ^ Kilzer 2000, p. 63.
- ^ a b Taylor & Mayer 1974, p. 60.
- ^ Shirer 1959, p. 877.
- ^ a b c Atkin 1990, p. 120.
- ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 27.
- ^ Bond 1990, pp. 104–105.
- ^ Lord 1982, p. 148.
- ^ Liddell Hart 1970, p. 40.
- ^ a b MacDonald 1986, p. 12.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2006, p. 250.
- ^ Lord 1982, pp. 74–76.
- ^ Shirer 1959, p. 882.
- ^ Grehan 2018, Chapter 4.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 174–178.
- ^ Thompson 2009, p. 179.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 182–183.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 183–184.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 186–192, 215.
- ^ Thompson 2009, p. 219.
- ^ Anderson, Professor Duncan. "Day of National Prayer." Archived 19 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine BBC. Retrieved: 30 July 2009.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2006, p. 303.
- ^ a b c Liddell Hart 1970, p. 41.
- ^ Fermer 2013, p. 208.
- ^ Lord 1982, p. 199.
- ^ Lord 1982, p. 200.
- ^ Lord 1982, p. 210.
- ^ "Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews". Lancashire Infantry Museum. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ MacDonald 1986, p. 18.
- ^ a b MacDonald 1986, p. 16.
- ^ Lord 1982, p. 246.
- ^ a b Liddell Hart 1970, p. 46.
- ^ Carse 1970.
- ^ Shirer 1959, p. 884.
- ^ MacDonald 1986, pp. 12, 16.
- ^ Lord 1982, pp. 267–269.
- ^ Butler 2004, pp. 296–305.
- ^ "France - German aggressions | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
- ^ Postan 1952, Chapter IV.
- ^ Anderson, Professor Duncan (17 February 2011), Spinning Dunkirk, BBC, archived from the original on 31 October 2016, retrieved 30 July 2009
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 314–315.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 337–338.
- ^ Rodgers, Lucy. "The men who defined the 'Dunkirk spirit'." Archived 24 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine BBC, 14 May 2010. Retrieved: 30 July 2010.
- ^ "Medals: campaigns, descriptions and eligibility". www.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ "Dunkirk Medal (1940)". Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
Bibliography
- Atkin, Ronald (1990). Pillar of Fire: Dunkirk 1940. Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited. ISBN 978-1-84158-078-4.
- ISBN 978-0-08-037700-1.
- Butler, J. R. M. (2004). The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940: Official Campaign History. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84574-056-6.
- Carse, Robert (1970). Dunkirk, 1940: A History. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-221077-5.
- Fermer, Douglas (2013). Three German Invasions of France: The Summer Campaigns of 1870, 1914, and 1940. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-78159-354-7.
- ISBN 978-1-85780-286-3.
- Frieser, Karl-Heinz (2005). The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-294-2.
- Grehan, John (2018). Dunkirk Nine Days That Saved an Army: A Day by Day Account of the Greatest Evacuation. Yorkshire: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-5267-2484-7.
- Hooton, E.R. (2010). The Luftwaffe: A Study in Air Power, 1933–1945. London: Classic Publications. ISBN 978-1-906537-18-0.
- ISBN 978-0-14-101418-0.
- Kilzer, Louis (2000). Hitler's Traitor: Martin Bormann and the Defeat of the Reich. New York: Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-710-9.
- ISBN 978-0-306-80912-5.
- Lord, Walter (1982). The Miracle of Dunkirk. London: Allen Lane, 1983. Citations from the Wordsworth Military Library reprint of 1998. New York: The Viking Press. ISBN 978-1-85326-685-0.
- MacDonald, John (1986). Great Battles of World War II. Toronto, Canada: Strathearn Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-86288-116-0.
- ISBN 978-0-89875-797-2.
- Postan, Michael M. (1952). British War Production. History of the Second World War. London: H.M. Stationery Office. OCLC 2175640.
- Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh (2006). Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-141-02437-0.
- ISBN 978-0-330-70001-6.
- Taylor, A.J.P.; Mayer, S.L. (1974). A History of World War Two. London: Octopus Books. ISBN 978-0-7064-0399-2.
- ISBN 978-0-330-43796-7.
Further reading
- Franks, Norman. The Air Battle of Dunkirk (2008 [1983], William Kimber, London) ISBN 0-7183-0349-0
- Holland, James. The Rise of Germany. New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2015. ISBN 978-0-8021-2397-8
- Holmes, Richard, ed. "France: Fall of". The Oxford Companion to Military History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-866209-2.
- Hooton, E.R. Luftwaffe at War; Blitzkrieg in the West. London: Chevron/Ian Allan, 2007. ISBN 978-1-85780-272-6.
- Keegan, John. The Second World War. New York: Viking Penguin, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82359-7.
- McEwan, Ian. Atonement. London: Jonathan Cape, 2001. ISBN 0-224-06252-2.
- McGlashan, Kenneth B. with Owen P. Zupp. Down to Earth: A Fighter Pilot Recounts His Experiences of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Dieppe, D-Day and Beyond. London: Grub Street Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1-904943-84-5.
- Murray, Williamson and Allan R. Millett. A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 2000. ISBN 0-674-00163-X.
- Salmaggi, Cesare and Alfredo Pallavisini. 2194 Days of War: An Illustrated Chronology of the Second World War. New York: Gallery Books, 1993. ISBN 0-8317-8885-2.
- Smith, Peter C (2011). The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka: A Complete History. London: Crecy Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-0-85979-156-4.
- Thomas, Nick. RAF Top Gun: Teddy Donaldson CB, DSO, AFC and Bar, Battle of Britain Ace and World Air Speed Record Holder. London: Pen and Sword, 2008. ISBN 1-84415-685-0.
- Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World at Arms. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-521-44317-2.
- Wilmot, Chester. The Struggle for Europe. Old Saybrook, Connecticut: Konecky & Konecky, 1952. ISBN 1-56852-525-7