Battle of Dunkerque
Battle of Dunkirk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dunkirk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is
about the Second World War battle in 1940. For details about the major
evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, see Dunkirk evacuation. For the other battles of the same name, see Battle of Dunkirk (disambiguation).
| Battle of Dunkirk | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Battle of France in the Second World War | |||||||||
 A British soldier on Dunkirk's beaches fires at strafing German aircraft[3] |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 United Kingdom Canada[1] France Poland Belgium Netherlands[2] |
 Germany |
||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Lord Gort Maxime Weygand Georges Blanchard René Prioux J. M. Abrial[4] |
Gerd von Rundstedt Ewald von Kleist (Panzergruppe von Kleist) |
||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| approx. 400,000 338,226 evacuated[5] |
approx. 800,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Other figures Total: up to 350,000[10] |
Other figures Total: up to 140,000[10] |
||||||||
| Civilian casualties: 1,000 civilians killed during air raids | |||||||||
After the Phoney War, the Battle of France began in earnest on 10 May 1940. To the east, the German Army Group B invaded the Netherlands and advanced westward. In response, the Supreme Allied Commander—French General Maurice Gamelin—initiated "Plan D" and entered Belgium to engage the Germans in the Netherlands. The plan relied heavily on the Maginot Line fortifications along the German-French border, but German forces had already crossed through most of the Netherlands before the French forces arrived. Gamelin instead committed the forces under his command, three mechanised armies, the French First and Seventh Armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to the River Dyle. On 14 May, German Army Group A burst through the Ardennes and advanced rapidly to the west toward Sedan, then turned northward to the English Channel, in what Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein called the "Sickle Cut" (known as "Plan Yellow" or the Manstein Plan), effectively flanking the Allied forces.[11]
A series of Allied counter-attacks—including the Battle of Arras—failed to sever the German spearhead, which reached the coast on 20 May, separating the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) near Armentières, the French First Army, and the Belgian Army further to the north from the majority of French troops south of the German penetration. After reaching the Channel, the German forces swung north along the coast, threatening to capture the ports and trap the British and French forces before they could evacuate to Britain.
In one of the most widely debated decisions of the war, the Germans halted their advance on Dunkirk. Contrary to popular belief, what became known as the "Halt Order" did not originate with Adolf Hitler. Field Marshals 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 (OKW). The army was to halt for three days, which gave the Allies sufficient time to organise the Dunkirk evacuation and build a defensive line. Despite the Allies' gloomy estimates of the situation, with Britain even discussing a conditional surrender to Germany, in the end more than 330,000 Allied troops were rescued.[12]
Contents
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 mi (97 km) deep and 15–25 mi (24–40 km) wide. Most of the British forces were still around Lille, over 40 mi (64 km) from Dunkirk, with the French further 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 these officers were later promoted to field marshal.)[11]Halt order
See also: Battle of Arras (1940)
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.[13]
- Major L. F. Ellis wrote:
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.[14]
- Halder wrote in his diary on 30 May:
"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."[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, 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, no evidence exists that Hitler wanted to let the Allies escape.[16][18][19] The historian Brian Bond stated:
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.[20]Whatever the reasons for Hitler's decision, the Germans confidently believed the Allied troops were doomed. American journalist William Shirer reported on 25 May, "German military circles here tonight put it flatly. They said the fate of the great Allied army bottled up in Flanders is sealed." BEF commander Lord Gort agreed, writing to Anthony Eden, "I must not conceal from you that a great part of the BEF and its equipment will inevitably be lost in the best of circumstances".[18] 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.[21]
Battle
"Fight back to the west"
Map of the battle.
On 27 May, the British fought back to the Dunkirk perimeter line. The Le Paradis massacre took place that day, when the 3. SS Division Totenkopf machine-gunned 97 British and French prisoners near the La Bassée Canal. The British prisoners were from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment, part of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division. The SS men lined them up against the wall of a barn and shot them all; only two survived. Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe dropped bombs and leaflets on the Allied armies. The leaflets showed a map of the situation. They read, in English and French: "British soldiers! Look at the map: it gives your true situation! Your troops are entirely surrounded – stop fighting! Put down your arms!" To the land and air-minded Germans, the sea seemed an impassable barrier, so they believed the Allies were surrounded; but the British saw the sea as a route to safety.[25][26]
As well as the Luftwaffe's bombs, German heavy artillery (which had just come within range) also fired high-explosive shells into Dunkirk. By this time, the town contained the bodies of over 1,000 civilian casualties. This bombardment continued until the evacuation was over.[23]
Battle of Wytschaete
Gort had sent Lieutenant General Ronald Adam, commanding III Corps, ahead to build the defensive perimeter around Dunkirk. Lieutenant General Alan Brooke, commanding II Corps, was to conduct a holding action with the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 50th Divisions along the Ypres-Comines canal as far as Yser, while the rest of the BEF fell back. The battle of Wytschaete, over the border in Belgium, was the toughest action Brooke faced in this role.[27]On 26 May, the Germans made a reconnaissance in force against the British position. At mid-day on 27 May, they launched a full-scale attack with three divisions south of Ypres. A confused battle followed, where visibility was low because of forested or urban terrain, and communications were poor because the British at that time used no radios below battalion level and the telephone wires had been cut. The Germans used infiltration tactics to get among the British, who were beaten back.[28]
The heaviest fighting was in the 5th Division's sector. Still on 27 May, Brooke ordered the 3rd Division commander, Major-General Bernard Montgomery[Notes 1] to extend his division's line to the left, thereby freeing the 10th and 11th Brigades, both of the 4th Division, to join the 5th Division at Messines Ridge. The 10th Brigade arrived first, to find the enemy had advanced so far they were closing on the British field artillery. Between them, the 10th and 11th Brigades cleared the ridge of Germans, and by 28 May they were securely dug in east of Wytschaete.[29]
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's effect was to disrupt the Germans, holding them back a little longer while the BEF retreated.[30]
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% 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.[31]The German 6. Panzerdivision could probably have destroyed 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.[32]
Belgian surrender
Gort had ordered Lieutenant General Adam, commanding III Corps, and French General Fagalde, to prepare a perimeter defence of Dunkirk. The perimeter was semicircular, with French troops manning the western sector and British troops the eastern. It ran along the Belgian coastline from Nieuport in the east via Furnes, Bulskamp and Bergues to Gravelines in the west. The line was as strong as it could be made under the circumstances, but on 28 May the Belgian army, who were largely outnumbered by the attacking Germans, and still under the direct command of King Leopold, who had refused to abandon his troops and the Belgian refugees inside the little enclave of what remained of unoccupied Belgium, surrendered. This left a 20 mi (32 km) gap on Gort's eastern flank between the British and the sea. The British were surprised by the Belgian capitulation, although King Leopold had warned them in advance.[33][34] As a constitutional monarch, Leopold's decision to surrender without consulting the Belgian government led to his condemnation by the Belgian and French Prime Ministers, Hubert Pierlot and Paul Reynaud.King George VI sent Gort a telegram that read:
"All your countrymen have been following with pride and admiration the courageous resistance of the British Expeditionary Force during the continuing fighting of the last fortnight. Faced by circumstances outside their control in a position of extreme difficulty, they are displaying a gallantry which has never been surpassed in the annals of the British Army. The hearts of everyone of us at home are with you and your magnificent troops in this hour of peril."[33]Gort sent the battle-worn 3rd, 4th and 50th Divisions into the line to fill the space the Belgians had held.[35]
Defence of the perimeter
British prisoners of war with a PzKpfw Ib German tank
Meanwhile, Erwin Rommel had surrounded five divisions of the French First Army near Lille. Although completely cut off, the French fought on for four days under General Molinié, thereby keeping seven German divisions from the assault on Dunkirk and saving an estimated 100,000 Allied troops.[35]
The defence of the perimeter held throughout 29–30 May, with the Allies falling back by degrees. On 31 May, the Germans nearly punched through at Nieuport, and the situation grew so desperate that two British battalion commanders had to personally man 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.[36]
In the afternoon of the same day, the Germans breached the perimeter near the canal at Bulskamp, but the boggy ground on the far side of the canal, with sporadic fire from the Durham Light Infantry, halted them. As night fell, the Germans massed for another attack at Nieuport. Eighteen RAF bombers found the Germans while they were still assembling, and scattered them with an accurate bombing run.[37]
Retreat to Dunkirk
Feature film re-enactment of British troops under fire on the beach at Dunkirk.
The morning of 1 June was clear–good flying weather, in contrast to the bad weather that had hindered airborne 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 French who held the line while the last remaining British soldiers were evacuated. Enduring concentrated German artillery fire and Luftwaffe strafing and bombs, the French stood their ground. On 2 June (the day the last of the British units embarked onto the ships),[Notes 2] the French began to fall back slowly, and by 3 June the Germans were about two miles (3 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 under their noses.[40][41][42]
The desperate resistance of Allied forces, especially the French 12th Motorised Infantry Division from the Fort des Dunes, 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 Regiment of Infantry); 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 the hands of the enemy.[citation needed]
Evacuation
Main article: Dunkirk evacuation
Feature film re-enactment of British fisherman giving a hand to an
Allied soldier while a Stuka's bomb explodes a few metres ahead
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 indeed at the rescue operation's peak, on 31 May, over 68,000 men were taken off.[23][40]
The last of the British Army left on 3 June, and at 10:50, Tennant signalled Ramsay to say "Operation completed. Returning to Dover." However, Churchill insisted on coming back for the French, so the Royal Navy returned on 4 June in an attempt 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 forced to surrender to the Germans.[44]
Aftermath
Battle of Dunkirk memorial
The loss of materiel on the beaches was huge. The British Army left enough equipment behind to equip about eight to ten divisions. Discarded in France were, among 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. 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 numbers of obsolete buses and coaches from British scrapyards to press them into use as troop transports. Some of these antique workhorses were still in use as late as the North African campaign of 1942.[46]
The Dean of St Paul's, Walter Matthews was the first to call the evacuation the "Miracle of Dunkirk" (on 2 June).[47]
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.
"Dunkirk Spirit"
Further information: Little ships of Dunkirk
British troops evacuating Dunkirk's beaches
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. 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".The design of the bronze medal included the arms of the town of Dunkirk with "Dunkerque 1940" on the reverse.
See also
- 1940 Dunkirk Veterans' Association
- Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II
- British Army during the Second World War
- Marcus Ervine-Andrews - who won the Victoria Cross in the battle
- Dunkirk (1958 film)
- Dunkirk (2017 film)
References
Notes
Citations
- Rodgers, Lucy. "The men who defined the 'Dunkirk spirit'." BBC, 14 May 2010. Retrieved: 30 July 2010.
Bibliography
- Atkin, Ronald. Pillar of Fire: Dunkirk 1940. Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, 1990. ISBN 1-84158-078-3.
- Bond, Brian. Britain, France and Belgium 1939–1940. London: Brasseys, 1990. ISBN 0-08-037700-9.
- Butler, J. R. M., ed. The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940: Official Campaign History. Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press Ltd., 2009. ISBN 978-1-84574-056-6.
- Frieser, Karl-Heinz. The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 2005. ISBN 978-1-59114-294-2
- 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 Allen, 2007. ISBN 978-1-85780-272-6.
- Keegan, John. The Second World War. New York: Viking Penguin, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82359-7.
- Kershaw, Ian. Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940–1941. London: Penguin Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-14-101418-0.
- Kilzer, Louis. Hitler's Traitor: Martin Bormann and the Defeat of the Reich. New York: Presidio Press, 2000. ISBN 0-89141-710-9.
- Liddell Hart, B.H. History of the Second World War. New York: G.P. Putnam, 1970. ISBN 0-306-80912-5.
- Lord, Walter. The Miracle of Dunkirk. New York: The Viking Press, 1982 / London: Allen Lane, 1983. Citations from the Wordsworth Military Library reprint of 1998. ISBN 1-85326-685-X.
- MacDonald, John. Great Battles of World War II. Toronto, Canada: Strathearn Books Limited, 1986. ISBN 0-86288-116-1.
- 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, Willamson. Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1935–1945. Princeton, New Jersey: University Press of the Pacific, 2002. ISBN 0-89875-797-5.
- 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.
- Postan Michael M.History of the Second World War: British War Production, London: HMSO, 1952.
- 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.
- Sebag_Montefiore, Hugh. Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man. London: Penguin Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0-141-02437-0.
- Shirer, William L. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1959. ISBN 0-330-70001-4.
- Taylor, A.J.P. and S.L. Mayer, eds. A History Of World War Two. London: Octopus Books, 1974. ISBN 0-7064-0399-1.
- 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.
- Thompson, Major General Julian. Dunkirk: Retreat to Victory. London: Pan Books, 2009. ISBN 978-0-330-43796-7.
- 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
Comments
Post a Comment