BATTLE OF DUNKIRK
Battle and Evacuation
NAZI GERMANY INVADES FRANCE
MAY 1940
War was declared between Nazi Germany and the allies Britain and France in
September 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland. As in 1914, Britain sent an army to
help defend France against the expected German invasion. But there were
months of "phony war" before the German war machine suddenly launched a
carefully planned knockout blow.
As defenses collapsed and the Germans swept towards key targets like Paris and
the Channel ports, hundreds of thousands of defeated British and French troops
were surrounded in an "island" of not-yet-conquered territory around
Dunkerque
On the night of May 9/10, 1940, German forces attacked the Low Countries.
Moving to their aid, French troops and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF)
were unable to prevent their fall. On May 14, German panzers tore through the
Ardennes and began driving to the English Channel. Despite their best efforts,
the BEF, Belgian, and French forces were unable to halt the German advance. Six
days later, German forces reached the coast, effectively cutting off the BEF as
well as a large number of Allied troops. Turning north, German forces sought to
capture the Channel ports before the Allies could evacuate.
Withdrawing, the BEF, with support from French and on Belgian troops, established a
perimeter around the port of Dunkirk. In England, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay met at Dover Castle to begin planning the
evacuation. Designated Operation Dynamo, the evacuation was to be carried out by a
fleet of destroyers and merchant ships. Supplementing these ships, were over 700
"little ships" which largely consisted of fishing boats, pleasure craft, and smaller
commercial vessels.
In planning, it was hoped that 45,000 men could be rescued over two days, as it was
expected that German interference would force the end of the operation after forty-
eight hours. As the fleet began to arrive at Dunkirk, the soldiers began preparing for
the voyage. Due to time and space concerns, almost all heavy equipment had to be
abandoned. While many were able to board ships directly from the harbor's mole,
others were forced to wade out to waiting boats. Commencing on May 27, Operation
Dynamo rescued 7,669 men on the first day and 17,804 the second.
EVACUATION - "MIRACLE" OF
DUNKIRK
From May 22 preparations for the evacuation began, codenamed
Operation Dynamo, commanded from Dover by Vice-Admiral Bertram
Ramsay. He called for as many naval vessels as possible as well as every
ship capable of carrying 1,000 men within reach.
It initially was intended to recover around 45,000 men of the British
Expeditionary Force over two days, this was soon stretched to 120,000
men over five days.
On May 27 a request was placed to civilians to provide all shallow
draught vessels of 30 to 100 feet for the operation, that night was the
first rescue attempt.
A large number of craft including fishing boats and recreational vessels,
together with Merchant Marine and Royal Navy vessels, were gathered
at Sheerness and sent to Dunkirk and the surrounding beaches to
recover Allied troops.
Due to heavy German fire only 8,000 soldiers were recovered.
Another ten destroyers were recalled for May 28 and attempted rescue
operations in the early morning but were unable to closely approach the
beaches although several thousand were rescued.
It was decided that smaller vessels would be more useful and boatyards
were scoured for suitable craft, gathering them at Sheerness, Chatham and
Dover.
The Allied held area was reduced to a 30 sq km block by May 28.
Operations over the rest of May 28 were more successful, with a further
16,000 men recovered but German air operations increased and many
vessels were sunk or badly damaged, including nine destroyers.
On May 29 there was an unexpected reprieve, the German armour stopped
its advance on Dunkirk leaving the operation to the slower infantry, but due
to problems only 14,000 men were evacuated that day.
On the evening of May 30 another major group of smaller vessels was
dispatched and returned with around 30,000 men.
By May 31 the Allied forces were compressed into a 5 km deep strip from La
Panne, through Bray-Dunes to Dunkirk, but on that day over 68,000 troops
were evacuated with another 10,000 or so overnight.
On June 1 another 65,000 were rescued and the operations continued until
June 4, evacuating a total of 338,226 troops aboard around 700 different
vessels.
BRITISH ESCAPE DUNKIRK!
May 24, 1940, Hitler urged General Gerd von Rundstedt to push forward
the infantry of Army Group B with the goal of destroying the British
Expeditionary Force in northern France. The next day, with the Allied
situation in France rapidly decaying, the commander of the BEF, General
Lord Gort, made the decision to evacuate his force back to England.
Retreating 30 miles northwest, the BEF and other Allied forces formed a
pocket around the port of Dunkirk. To remove the forces from the Dunkirk
pocket, the Royal Navy organized Operation Dynamo.
Using destroyers, merchant ships, and over 700 "little ships" (privately
owned, smaller boats), rescue operations began on May 26. Despite
Luftwaffe attacks, the evacuation proceeded for nine days ultimately
rescuing 338,226 men. Among these were 139,997 French, Belgian, and
Dutch soldiers.
Though much of their heavy equipment was lost in France, the successful
evacuation ensured that Britain would be able to continue the war against
Germany.
