British Expeditionary Force (World War II)
British Expeditionary Force | |
---|---|
Active | 2 September 1939 – 31 May 1940 |
Disbanded | 1940 |
Country | Britain |
Branch | Army |
Type | Expeditionary Force |
Role | Field operations in France and the Low Countries |
Size | 390,000[1] 13 divisions (maximum) |
Part of | 1re groupe d'armées (1st Army Group) Front du Nord-est (North-Eastern Front) |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort (Lord Gort) |
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was the contingent of the
The BEF participated in the Dyle Plan, a rapid advance into Belgium to the line of the Dyle River, but the 1st Army Group had to retreat rapidly through Belgium and north-western France, after the German breakthrough further south at the Battle of Sedan (12–15 May). A local counter-attack at the Battle of Arras (1940) (21 May) was a considerable tactical success but the BEF, French and Belgian forces north of the Somme River retreated to Dunkirk on the French North Sea coast soon after, British and French troops being evacuated in Operation Dynamo (26 May – 4 June) to England after the capitulation of the Belgian army.
Saar Force, the
After the success of the second German offensive in France (Fall Rot), the 2nd BEF and Allied troops were evacuated from Le Havre in Operation Cycle (10–13 June) and the French Atlantic and Mediterranean ports in Operation Aerial (15–25 June, unofficially to 14 August). The Navy rescued 558,032 people, including 368,491 British troops but the BEF lost 66,426 men of whom 11,014 were killed or died of wounds, 14,074 wounded and 41,338 men missing or captured. About 700 tanks, 20,000 motor bikes, 45,000 cars and lorries, 880 field guns and 310 larger equipments, about 500 anti-aircraft guns, 850 anti-tank guns, 6,400 anti-tank rifles and 11,000 machine-guns were abandoned. As units arrived in Britain they reverted to the authority of the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces.
History
Background
1918–1932
After 1918, the prospect of war seemed so remote, that Government expenditure on the armed forces was determined by the assumption that no great war was likely. Spending varied from year to year and between the services but from July 1928 to March 1932, the formula of the Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) was
...that it should be assumed for the purpose of framing the estimates of the fighting services that at any given date there will be no major war for ten years.
— CID[2]
and spending on equipment for the army varied from £1,500,000 to £2,600,000 per year from 1924 to 1933, averaging £2,000,000 or about 9 per cent of armaments spending a year. Until the early 1930s, the War Office intended to maintain a small, mobile and professional army and a start was made on motorising the cavalry and the artillery. By 1930, the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) had been mechanised, some of the artillery could be moved by tractors, and a few engineer, signals and cavalry units had received lorries. From 1930–1934, the Territorial Army (TA) artillery, engineer, signals units were equipped with lorries and in 1938 the regular army gained its establishment of wheeled vehicles and half of its tracked vehicles, except for tanks. From 1923 to 1932, 5,000 motor vehicles were ordered at a rate of about 500 a year, just under half being six-wheeler lorries. By 1936, the army had 379 tanks, of which 209 were light tanks and 166 were mediums; 304 were considered obsolete; 69 of the light tanks were modern but did not begin to reach the army until 1935.[3] The rule had reduced war spending from £766 million in 1920 to £102 million when it was abolished on 23 March 1932. The British army had fewer men than in 1914, no organisation or equipment for a war in Europe, and it would have taken the War Office three weeks to mobilise only an infantry division and a cavalry brigade.[4]
Rearmament
Limited Liability
In March 1932, the Ten-Year Rule was abolished and in 1934, the Cabinet resolved to remedy equipment deficiencies in the armed forces over the next five years. The army was always the least favoured force but equipment spending increased from £6,900,000 from 1933–1934 financial year (1 April to 31 March), to £8,500,000 the following year and to more than £67,500,000 by 1938–1939 but the share of spending on army equipment only grew beyond 25 per cent of all military equipment spending in 1938. The relative neglect of the army led to a theory of "limited liability" until 1937, in which Britain would not send a great army to Europe in time of war. In 1934, the Defence Requirements Sub-Committee (DRC) of the CID assumed that a regular field army of five divisions was to be equipped as an expeditionary force, eventually to be supplemented by parts of the Territorial Army. The force and its air support would act as a deterrent greatly disproportionate to its size; plans were made to acquire sufficient equipment and training for the TA to provide a minimum of two extra divisions on the outbreak of war. It was expected that a British army in Europe would receive continuous reinforcement and in 1936, a TA commitment of twelve divisions was envisaged by Alfred Duff Cooper, the Secretary of State for War.[5]
As rearmament of the navy and the air force continued, the nature of an army fit to participate in a European war was kept under review and in 1936, the Cabinet ordered the Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee of the CID to provide a report on the role of an expeditionary force and the relative values of the army and the air force as deterrents for the same cost. The chiefs were in favour of a balanced rearmament but within financial limits, the air force should be favoured. In 1937, the Minister argued that a continental commitment was no longer feasible and that France did not now expect a big land army along with the navy and air force, Germany had guaranteed Belgian neutrality and that if the quantity of money was limited, defence against air attack, trade protection and the defence of overseas territories were more important and had to be secured before Britain could support allies in the defence of their territories. The "continental hypothesis" came fourth and the main role of the army was to protect the empire, which included the anti-aircraft defence of the United Kingdom (with the assistance of the TA). In 1938, "limited liability" reached its apogee, just as rearmament was maturing and the army was considering the "new conspectus", a much more ambitious rearmament plan.[6]
In February 1938, the CID ruled that planning should be based on "limited liability"; between late 1937 and early 1939, equipment for the five-division field army was reduced to that necessary for colonial warfare in the Far East. In Europe, the field force could only conduct defensive warfare and would need a big increase in ammunition and the refurbishment of its tank forces. The field force continued to be the least-favoured part of the least-favoured military arm and in February 1938, the Secretary of State for War, Leslie Hore-Belisha, warned that possible allies should be left in no doubt about the effectiveness of the army. The re-armament plans for the field force remained deficiency plans, rather than plans for expansion. The July 1934 deficiency plan was estimated at £10,000,000 but cut by 50 per cent by the cabinet; by the first rearmament plan of 1936, the cost of the deficiency plan for the next five years had increased to £177,000,000. In the first version of the "new conspectus", spending was put at £347,000,000, although in 1938 this was cut to £276,000,000, still substantially more than the deficiency plan for 1936 but much of this sum was for anti-aircraft defence, a new duty imposed on the army.[6]
Continental commitment
Items | 1938 | 1939 | |
---|---|---|---|
Tanks Carriers |
5,025 | 7,096 tanks | |
Carriers | above | 11,647 | |
vehicles Field/AA guns |
25,545 | 376,299 | |
2-pdr guns |
nil | 13,561 | |
Shells (non-AA) |
14.8m | 64.4m | |
Obtaining equipment for the Field Force benefited from plans for the TA which, sometimes covertly, was used as a device to get more equipment which could be used by the regular army. At first it was admitted in the deficiency programmes of 1935–1936, in which an expansion of the TA in three stages to twelve divisions, was to complement the five regular divisions. The Cabinet postponed this plan for three years, during which the policy of limited liability precluded such developments, except for the purchase of the same training equipment for the TA as that used by the army, equivalent to that needed to equip two regular divisions, which was the maximum commitment promised to the French in 1938.
...the size of the Army was bound to be adjusted to what the French thought was the least they needed and the British the most that they could do.
— Michael Postan[10]
The British made a commitment on 21 April 1939 to provide an army of six regular and 26 Territorial divisions, introduced equipment scales for war and began conscription to provide the manpower.[11] In February 1939, the first four regular army divisions of the Field Force had been promised to the French, scheduled to reach the assembly area in France on the thirtieth day after mobilisation. Until this commitment, no staff work had been done, there was no information about French ports and railways and no modern maps.[12]
Prelude
Despatch of the BEF
After the
On 3 October,
From January to April 1940, eight Territorial divisions arrived in France but the 12th (Eastern) Infantry Division, 23rd (Northumbrian) Division and 46th Infantry Division, informally called labour divisions, were not trained or equipped to fight.[18] The labour divisions consisted of 26 new infantry battalions which had spent their first months guarding vulnerable points in England but had received very little training. Battalions and some engineers were formed into nominal brigades but lacked artillery, signals or transport. The divisions were used for labour from St Nazaire in Normandy to Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise (St Pol) in French Flanders, on the understanding that they would not be called upon to fight before they had completed their training.[19]
By May 1940 the
Phoney War
The period from September 1939 to 10 May 1940 was known as the "
Dyle plan, Breda variant
By May 1940, the 1st Army Group (
The Second and Ninth armies were dug in on the west bank of the Meuse on ground that was easily defended and behind the Ardennes, giving plenty of warning of a German attack. After the transfer of the Seventh Army, seven divisions remained behind the Second and Ninth armies and other divisions could be moved from behind the Maginot Line. All but one division were either side of the junction of the two armies, GQG being more concerned about a German attack past the north end of the Maginot Line and then south-east through the Stenay Gap, for which the divisions behind the Second Army were well placed.[26] On 8 November, Gamelin added the Seventh Army, containing some of the best and most mobile French divisions, to the left flank of the 1st Army Group to move into Holland and protect the Scheldt estuary. In March, Gamelin ordered that the Seventh Army would advance to Breda to link with the Dutch. The Seventh Army, on the left flank of the Dyle manoeuvre, would be linked to it and if the Seventh Army crossed into the Netherlands, the left flank of the 1st Army Group was to advance to Tilburg if possible and certainly to Breda. The Seventh Army was to take post between the Belgian and Dutch armies turning east, a distance of 109 mi (175 km), against German armies only 56 mi (90 km) distant from Breda.[27]
Battle
10–21 May 1940
At 4:35 a.m., the German invasion of France and the Low Countries commenced. The French Seventh Army drove forward on the northern flank and advanced elements reached Breda on 11 May. The French collided with the 9th Panzer Division and the advance of the 25e Division d'Infanterie Motorisée was stopped by German infantry, tanks and Ju 87 (Stuka) dive-bombers, as the 11re Division Légère Mécanisée was forced to retreat. (French heavy tanks were still on trains south of Antwerp.) The Seventh Army retired from the Bergen op Zoom–Turnhout Canal Line 20 mi (32 km) from Antwerp, to Lierre 10 mi (16 km) away on 12 May; on 14 May the Dutch surrendered.[28]
In Belgium, German glider troops captured fort Eben-Emael by noon on 11 May; the disaster forced the Belgians to retreat to a line from Antwerp to Louvain on 12 May, far too soon for the French First Army to arrive and dig in.[29] The Corps de Cavalerie fought the XVI Panzer Corps in the Battle of Hannut (12–14 May) the first ever tank-against-tank battle and the Corps de Cavalerie then withdrew behind the First Army, which had arrived at the Dyle Line. On 15 May, the Germans attacked the First Army along the Dyle, causing the meeting engagement that Gamelin had tried to avoid. The First Army repulsed the XVI Panzer Corps but during the Battle of Gembloux (14–15 May) GQG realised that the main German attack had come further south, through the Ardennes. The French success in Belgium contributed to the disaster on the Meuse at Sedan and on 16 May, Blanchard was ordered to retreat to the French border.[30]
Operation David
The armoured cars of the
Ardennes
From 10–11 May, the XIX Panzer Corps engaged the two cavalry divisions of the Second Army, surprising them with a far larger force than expected and forced them back. The Ninth Army to the north had also sent its two cavalry divisions forward, which were withdrawn on 12 May, before they met German troops. The first German unit reached the Meuse in the afternoon but the local French commanders thought that they were far ahead of the main body and would wait before trying to cross the Meuse. From 10 May, Allied bombers had been sent to raid northern Belgium, to delay the German advance while the First Army moved up but attacks on the bridges at Maastricht had been costly failures, the 135 RAF day bombers being reduced to 72 operational aircraft by 12 May. At 7:00 a.m. on 13 May, the Luftwaffe began bombing the French defences around Sedan and continued for eight hours with about 1,000 aircraft in the biggest air attack in history.[36]
Little material damage was done to the Second Army but morale collapsed. In the French 55e Division at Sedan, some troops began to straggle to the rear and in the evening panic spread through the division. German troops attacked across the river at 3:00 p.m. and had gained three footholds on the west bank by nightfall.[37] The French and the RAF managed to fly 152 bomber and 250 fighter sorties on the Sedan bridges on 14 May but only in formations of 10–20 aircraft. The RAF lost 30 of 71 aircraft and the French were reduced to sending obsolete bombers to attack in the afternoon, also with many losses. On 16 May, the 1st Army Group was ordered to retreat from the Dyle Line, to avoid being trapped by the German breakthrough against the Second and Ninth armies but on 20 May, the Germans reached Abbeville on the Channel coast, cutting off the northern armies.[38]
BEF retreat
The plan for the BEF withdrawal was that under cover of darkness, units would thin-out their front and make a phased and orderly withdrawal before the Germans realised what was happening. The objective for the night of 16/17 May was the Charleroi to
Loss of the construction divisions
The three Territorial divisions, which had arrived in April equipped only with
The 70th Brigade of the 23rd Division dug in on the Canal Line but was ordered to withdraw towards Saulty on 20 May; in the process they were caught in the open by elements of 6th and 8th Panzer Divisions, from which only a few hundred survivors escaped. The 69th Brigade defended Arras and the 12th Division fought to delay 2nd Panzer Division on the Canal Line near Arras, at Doullens, Albert and Abbeville. The 138th Brigade of the 46th Division fought on the Canal Line but the 137th Brigade trains were attacked by the Luftwaffe en route; the survivors were able to withdraw to Dieppe and later fought on the Seine Crossings. The 139th Brigade fought on the River Scarpe and later defended the Dunkirk perimeter. By the end of 20 May, the divisions had ceased to exist, in most cases having only delayed the German advance by a few hours.[40]
21–23 May
The push by Army Group A towards the coast, combined with the approach of Army Group B from the north-east, left the BEF enveloped on three sides and by 21 May, the BEF had been cut off from its supply depots south of the Somme. The British counter-attacked at the
Retreat to Dunkirk
Le Paradis massacre
Detached
German forces attacked the farmhouse with tanks, mortars and artillery, which destroyed the building and forced the Norfolks to retreat to a nearby barn.[48] The Royal Norfolks continued their defensive stand into the evening, by which point many had been wounded by the German bombardment. The last contact with Brigade Headquarters at L'Epinette occurred at 11:30 a.m. but despite a lack of support the Norfolks held on until 5:15 p.m. at which point they finally ran out of ammunition.[48][49]
Cornered, outnumbered and with many wounded, 99 Royal Norfolks made a rush into the open but eventually, under the orders of their commander Major Lisle Ryder, the Norfolks surrendered. In the confusion of battle and in part due to battle fatigue, the Norfolks had surrendered not to the German company they had been fighting, but rather to the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the
II Corps rearguard
The II Corps commander
Dunkirk
The Germans failed to capture Dunkirk and on 31 May, General Georg von Küchler assumed command of the German forces on the Dunkirk perimeter and planned a bigger attack for 11:00 a.m. on 1 June. The French held the Germans back while the last troops were evacuated and just before midnight on 2 June, Admiral Bertram Ramsay, the officer commanding the evacuation, received the signal "BEF evacuated"; the French began to fall back slowly. By 3 June, the Germans were 2 mi (3.2 km) from Dunkirk and at 10:20 a.m. on 4 June, the Germans hoisted the swastika over the docks.[54] Before Operation Dynamo, 27,936 men were embarked from Dunkirk; most of the remaining 198,315 men, a total of 224,320 British troops along with 139,097 French and some Belgian troops, were evacuated from Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June, though having to abandon much of their equipment, vehicles and heavy weapons.[55]
After Dunkirk
Lines-of-communication
Allied forces north of the Somme were cut off by the German advance on the night of 22/23 May, which isolated the BEF from its supply
Beauman improvised Beauforce from two infantry battalions, four machine-gun platoons and a company of Royal Engineers. Vicforce (Colonel C. E. Vickary) took over five provisional battalions from troops in base depots, who had few arms and little equipment.[57] The Germans captured Amiens on 20 May, setting off panic and the spread of alarmist reports. Beauman ordered the digging of a defence line along the Andelle and Béthune to protect Dieppe and Rouen.[57] From 1–3 June, the 51st Highland Division (formerly Saar Force) a Composite Regiment and the remnants of the 1st Support Group, 1st Armoured Division, relieved the French opposite the Abbeville–St Valery bridgehead. The Beauman Division held a 55 mi (89 km) line from Pont St Pierre, 11 mi (18 km) south-east of Rouen to Dieppe on the coast, which left the British units holding 18 mi (29 km) of the front line, 44 mi (71 km) of the Bresle and 55 mi (89 km) of the Andelle–Béthune line, with the rest of IX Corps on the right flank.[58]
Second BEF
On 31 May, GHQ BEF closed and 2 June, Brooke visited the War Office and was given command of a new II Corps, comprising the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division and the 1st Armoured Division, with the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Infantry Division from Home Forces in Britain, then the 3rd Infantry Division as soon as it was ready.[59] Brooke warned that the enterprise was futile, except as a political gesture. On 6 June, the Cabinet decided to reconstitute the BEF (Second BEF is an informal post-war term) with Gort remaining as commander in chief.[60]
The 157th (Highland Light Infantry) Brigade (a brigade group) of the 52nd (Lowland) Division, departed for France on 7 June; Brooke returned five days later.[61] On 9 June, the French port Admiral at Le Havre reported that Rouen had fallen and that the Germans were heading for the coast. Ihler and Fortune decided that their only hope of escape was via Le Havre. The port admiral requested British ships for 85,000 troops but this contradicted earlier plans for the IX Corps retirement and Dill hesitated, ignorant that the original plan was untenable. Karslake urged that the retirement be accelerated but had no authority to issue orders. Only after contacting the Howard-Vyse Military Mission at GQG and receiving a message that the 51st (Highland) Division was retreating with IX Corps towards Le Havre, did Dill learn the truth.[62]
St Valery
The retreat to the coast began after dark and the last troops slipped away from the Béthune river at 11:00 p.m. Units were ordered to dump non-essential equipment and each gun were reduced to 100 rounds to make room on the RASC transport for the men. The night move was difficult as French troops, many horse-drawn, encroached on the British route and alarmist rumours spread. Fortune and Ihler set up at a road junction near Veules-les-Roses to direct troops to their positions and by the morning of 11 June, IX Corps had established a defence round St Valery. French transport continued to arrive at the perimeter and it was difficult in some places to recognise German troops following up, which inhibited defensive fire.[63] That night, Fortune signalled that it was now or never. Troops not needed to hold the perimeter moved down to the beaches and the harbour. An armada of 67 merchant ships and 140 small craft had been assembled but few had wireless; thick fog ruined visual signalling and prevented the ships from moving inshore. Only at Veules-les-Roses at the east end of the perimeter, were many soldiers rescued, under fire from German artillery, which damaged the destroyers HMS Bulldog, Boadicea and Ambuscade; 2,137 British and 1,184 French troops were evacuated.[64] Near dawn, the troops at the harbour were ordered back into the town and at 7:30 a.m., Fortune signalled that it might still be possible to escape the next night, then discovered that the local French commander had already surrendered.[65]
Le Havre
Fortune had detached
Retreat from Normandy
By 13 June, the Germans were across the Seine and the
On 12 June, Weygand had recommended that the French government seek an armistice, which led to an abortive plan to create a defensive zone in Brittany. On 14 June, Brooke was able to prevent the rest of the 52nd (Lowland) Division being sent to join the 157th Infantry Brigade Group and during the night Brooke was told that he was no longer under French command and must prepare to withdraw the British forces from France. Marshall-Cornwall was ordered to take command of all British forces under the Tenth Army as Norman Force and while continuing to co-operate, to withdraw towards Cherbourg. The rest of the 52nd (Lowland) Division was ordered back to a line near Cherbourg to cover the evacuation on 15 June. The AASF was directed to send its remaining bomber squadrons back to Britain and use the fighters to cover the evacuations. The German advance began again during the day, with the 157th Infantry Brigade Group engaged east of Conches-en-Ouche with the Tenth Army, which was ordered back to a line from Verneuil to Argentan and the Dives river, where the British took over an 8 mi (13 km) front. German forces followed up quickly and on 16 June, Altmayer ordered the army to retreat into the Brittany peninsula.[71]
Operation Aerial
From 15–25 June, British and Allied ships were covered by five RAF fighter squadrons in France, assisted by aircraft from England as they embarked British, Polish and Czech troops, civilians and equipment from the French Atlantic ports, particularly
The official evacuation ended on 25 June, according to the terms of the Armistice of 22 June 1940 but informal departures continued from French Mediterranean ports until 14 August. From Operation Cycle at Le Havre, elsewhere along the Channel coast, to the termination of Operation Aerial, another 191,870 BEF troops were rescued, bringing the total of military and civilian personnel returned to Britain during the Battle of France to 558,032, including 368,491 British troops.[72] Left behind in France was eight to ten divisions' worth of equipment and ammunition.[73] As troops returned to Britain, they increased the manpower of the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces (General Edmond Ironside 27 May to 20 July, then Brooke) but the trained and equipped units had been stripped from Home Forces and sent to France; only about two divisions' worth of equipment remained in the country. The equivalent of twelve divisions returned to Britain but these could only be re-equipped by the Ministry of Supply from production. Deliveries of 25-pounder field guns had increased to about 35 per month by June but the establishment of one infantry division was 72 guns.[74]
Aftermath
Analysis
In 1953,
For every seven soldiers who escaped through Dunkirk, one man was left behind as a prisoner of war. The majority of these prisoners were sent on forced marches into Germany to towns such as
The English soldier was in excellent physical condition. He bore his own wounds with stoical calm. The losses of his own troops he discussed with complete equanimity. He did not complain of hardships. In battle he was tough and dogged. His conviction that England would conquer in the end was unshakeable.... The English soldier has always shown himself to be a fighter of high value. Certainly the Territorial divisions are inferior to the Regular troops in training but where morale is concerned they are their equal.... In defence the Englishman took any punishment that came his way.[79]
Casualties
The BEF suffered 66,426 casualties, 11,014 killed or died of wounds, 14,074 wounded and 41,338 men missing or taken prisoner.[80]
Map gallery
-
Maginot line defences
-
10 to 16 May 1940
-
16 to 21 May
-
21 May to 6 June
-
4–12 June
-
13–25 June
Commemoration
No campaign medal was awarded for the Battle of France but serviceman who had spent 180 days in France between 3 September 1939 and 9 May 1940, or "a single day, or part thereof" in France or Belgium between 10 May and 19 June 1940, qualified for the 1939–1945 Star.[81]
Notes
Footnotes
- ^ "Defeat in the West, 1940". National Army Museum. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ Postan 1952, p. 1.
- ^ Postan 1952, pp. 1–2, 6–7.
- ^ Collier 2004, p. 21.
- ^ Postan 1952, pp. 9, 27–29.
- ^ a b Postan 1952, pp. 29–30.
- ^ Postan 1952, p. 73.
- ^ Postan 1952, pp. 33–34; Ellis 2004, p. 5.
- ^ Postan 1952, pp. 33–34 72.
- ^ Postan 1952, p. 72.
- ^ Postan 1952, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Bond 2001, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 11.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 15.
- ^ Bond 2001, p. 6.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 20, 249–252.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 33.
- ^ Bond 2001, p. 8.
- ^ a b Tackle 2009, p. 23.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 19, 357–368.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 509–511, 7, 172.
- ^ Charman 2010, p. 284.
- ^ Doughty 2014a, pp. 7–8.
- ^ a b Doughty 2014a, p. 11.
- ^ Edmonds 1928, p. 267.
- ^ Doughty 2014a, p. 12.
- ^ Doughty 2014a, pp. 8–9.
- ^ Rowe 1959, pp. 142–143, 148; Jackson 2003, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Jackson 2003, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Jackson 2003, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 59–61.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 512–513, 78.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 75–76.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 77–79.
- ^ Jackson 2003, pp. 39–43.
- ^ Jackson 2003, pp. 43–46.
- ^ Jackson 2003, pp. 48–52, 56.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 47, 63–65.
- ^ Tackle 2009, pp. 26–37.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 521, 156–157.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 171–172.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 153–170, 149.
- ^ Jackson 2003, pp. 94–97.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 285–292; Jackson 2003, pp. 285–289.
- ^ "Massacre of Royal Norfolk Soldiers At Le Paradis". War Memorials Trust. Retrieved 12 December 2007.
- ^ a b c "Private Pooley's Revenge". British Military & Criminal History. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- ^ a b Schweisfurth, Uwe. "Ritterkreuzträger Fritz Knöchlein" (in German). Uwe Schweisfurth. Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
- ^ Jackson 2003, pp. 288–289.
- ^ Sydnor, Soldiers of Destruction, p. 93.
- ^ Ripley 2004, pp. 39–42.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 174–179.
- ^ Thompson 2009, pp. 182–184.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, pp. 455–457.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 183–248.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 252–253.
- ^ a b c Ellis 2004, pp. 253–254.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 265.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 238; Tackle 2009, pp. 104–105.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 276.
- ^ Alanbrooke 2002, pp. 74–75.
- ^ a b Karslake 1979, pp. 180–181.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 288.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 239.
- ^ Roskill 1957, pp. 230–232.
- ^ Roskill 1957, pp. 231, 230.
- ^ Karslake 1979, pp. 181–182.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 293.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 295.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 296.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 296, 300–302.
- ^ a b Roskill 1957, pp. 229–240.
- ^ a b Postan 1952, p. 117.
- ^ Collier 2004, pp. 143, 127.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 305.
- ^ Brodhurst 2001, p. 137.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 327.
- ^ Longden 2008, pp. 383–404.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 326, 394.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2007, p. 506.
- ^ The 1939–1945 Star Regulations Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
References
- ISBN 978-1-84212-526-7.
- ISBN 978-0-85052-811-4.
- Bond, B.; Taylor, M. D. "Introduction: Preparing the Field Force, February 1939 – May 1940". In Bond & Taylor (2001).
- Brodhurst, R. "The Royal Navy's Role in the Campaign". In Bond & Taylor (2001).
- Charman, Terry (2010). The Day We went to War. London: Random House. ISBN 978-0-7535-3668-1.
- ISBN 978-1-845-74055-9. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-8117-1460-0.
- Edmonds, J. E. (1928). Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915: Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert and Loos. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Vol. II. London: Macmillan. OCLC 58962526.
- ISBN 978-1-84574-056-6. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-19-280300-9.
- Karslake, B. (1979). 1940 The Last Act: The Story of the British Forces in France after Dunkirk. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 978-0-85052-240-2.
- Longden, Sean (2008). Dunkirk: The Men They Left Behind. London: Constable. ISBN 978-1-84529-520-2.
- Postan, M. M. (1952). British War Production. History of the Second World War: United Kingdom Civil Series. London: OCLC 459583161.
- Ripley, Tim (2004). The Waffen-SS at War: Hitler's Praetorians 1925–1945. Zenith Imprint. ISBN 978-0-7603-2068-6.
- OCLC 881709135. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- Rowe, V. (1959). The Great Wall of France: The Triumph of the Maginot Line (1st ed.). London: Putnam. OCLC 773604722.
- Sebag-Montefiore, H. (2007). Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-102437-0.
- Tackle, Patrick (2009). The British Army in France After Dunkirk. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-84415-852-2.
- Thompson, Julian (2009). Dunkirk: Retreat to Victory. London: Pan Books. ISBN 978-0-330-43796-7.
Further reading
Books
- Atkin, Ronald (1990). Pillar of Fire: Dunkirk 1940. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 978-1-84158-078-4.
- Fantom, P. (2021). A Forgotten Campaign: The British Armed Forces in France 1940 – From Dunkirk to the Armistice. Warwick: Helion. ISBN 978-1-914059-01-8.
- Forrester, C. (2018) [2015]. Monty's Functional Doctrine. Combined Arms Doctrine in British 21st Army Group in Northwest Europe 1944–45. Wolverhampton military studies (pbk. repr. ed.). Warwick: Helion. ISBN 978-1-912174-77-5.
- ISBN 978-0-11-630181-9.
- ISBN 978-0-11-630933-4.
- ISBN 978-0-14-005042-4.
- ISBN 978-1-85043-329-3.
- Postan, Michael Moissey; Hay, D.; Scott, J. D. (1964). OCLC 681432.
- Richards, Denis (1974) [1953]. Royal Air Force 1939–1945: The Fight At Odds. Vol. I (pbk. ed.). London: ISBN 978-0-11-771592-9. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
- Warner, P. (2002) [1990]. The Battle of France, 1940: 10 May – 22 June (Cassell Military Paperbacks repr. ed.). London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-304-35644-7.
- Whelan, P. (2018). Useless Mouths: The British Army's Battles in France after Dunkirk May–June 1940. Solihull: Helion. ISBN 978-1-912390-90-8.
Reports
- War Department (31 March 1942). The German Campaign in Poland September 1 to October 5, 1939 (Report). Digests and Lessons of Recent Military Operations. U. S. War Department, General Staff. OCLC 16723453. AG 062.11 (1–26–42). Retrieved 23 June 2018.
Theses
- Harris, J. P. (1983). The War Office and Rearmament 1935–39 (PhD thesis). Registration. King's College London (University of London). OCLC 59260791. Docket uk.bl.ethos.289189. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
- Nelsen II, J. T. (1987). Strength Against Weakness: The Campaign In Western Europe, May–June 1940 (Monograph). School of Advanced Military Studies US Army Command and General Staff College. OCLC 21094641. Docket ADA 184718. Archived from the originalon 23 June 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
- Perry, F. W. (1982). Manpower and Organisational Problems in the Expansion of the British and other Commonwealth Armies during the Two World Wars (PhD thesis). London University. OCLC 557366960. Docket uk.bl.ethos.286414. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
- Salmon, R. E. (2013). The Management of Change: Mechanizing the British Regular and Household Cavalry Regiments 1918–1942 (PhD thesis). University of Wolverhampton. OCLC 879390776. Docket uk.bl.ethos.596061. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
- Stedman, A. D. (2007). 'Then what could Chamberlain do, other than what Chamberlain did'? A Synthesis and Analysis of the Alternatives to Chamberlain's Policy of Appeasing Germany, 1936–1939 (PhD thesis). Kingston University. OCLC 500402799. Docket uk.bl.ethos.440347. Retrieved 23 June 2018.