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Dunkirk

Napoleon's invasion of Spain and Portugal drove the Portuguese royal house to its great colony in Brazil, in 1807; there its members continued to reign, though as an independent empire, until Nov. 15, 1889, when Dom Pedro II was compelled to abdicate. The French invasion of the peninsula, with the consequent weakening of the Spanish monarchy, gave the South American nations their chance to spring into independent life. England first recognized and supported them, as an act of hostility to Napoleon. On May 25,1810, the people of the Argentine rose against Spanish rule, declaring their independence on July 9, 1816. Chile declared its independence in September, 1810. Paraguay followed in 1811. In the House of Commons Canning took up the cause of the new republics, declaring that he "had called a new world into existence, to redress the balance of the old"; that "France may get Spain, but she will not get the Spanish colonies." Great Britain then formally recognized the Empire of Brazil and the republics of Mexico and Colombia.

On 10 May 1940, the Germans invaded the West, and by 22 June, after a short 43-day campaign, France surrendered. Hitler's miscalculations include his "inexplicable" decision after the Allies' failure to save Belgium to allow the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of General Lord Gort to evacuate at Dunkirk. In May 1940, the small British Expeditionary Force was sent to help the Belgians and French against the advancing German army. Ill-equipped and under-trained, they conducted a fighting withdrawal in the face of the formidable German army. Churchill feared that nearly all of the BEF would be killed or captured, but most were rescued, though abandoning all their equipment.

On 24th May 1940, Hitler's armies were on the brink of a shattering military victory. Only ten miles away, Allied Troops were pinned against the coast at Dunkirk. Goring and his Luftwaffe did inflict terrible damage and caused much death. Only 11 days later, by the 4th June, 338,000 men had been successfully evacuated to England, amounting to what Winston Churchill called "the whole root, core, and brain of the British Army." Some 226,000 British and 112,000 French and Belgian soldiers were evacuated to England, despite German efforts to stop them.

The German Panzers, so successful in Poland, now found themselves at a disadvantage. Neither the 20-millimeter cannon of the Panzer II, the 37-millimeter gun of the Panzer 38(t), nor the low velocity 75-millimeter gun of the Panzer IV was able to reliably stop the British Matilda. Conversely, the Matilda’s 2-pounder gun was capable of defeating the heaviest armor of all three panzers. At the end of the exchange, the Germans had lost six Panzer 38(t)s, three Panzer IVs, and four Panzer IIs. British losses amounted to seven Mk Is, and no Matildas.

The panicked retreat of the SS-Totenkopf division, having just seen large numbers of German tanks knocked out of action by enemy armor, is perhaps the first example of German troops suffering from “tank terror”. Sensing the potential for a disaster, Rommel ordered the antiaircraft and artillery units in the divisions’ rear area to engage the British with direct fire. Fire from the 88-millimeter FlaK guns and 105-millimeter howitzers finally penetrated the Matilda’s thick hide, and halted the British advance. The Battle of Arras was over.

On May 23-24 the advance of Guderian's XIX Armored Corps abruptly halted. The BEF took full advantage of the lull, filling 41 destroyers, escorts and numerous civilian craft that were hastily pressed into service. Many troops escaped on barges and fishing trawlers. From May 26 to June 4, 1940, under constant fire all the time from German artillery on the shore and stuka bombers from above, this melange of seacraft was able to evacuate 338,000 Allied soldiers. Large ships evacuated most British troops, not the "little fleet" of civilian boats as in popular imagination. In addition to the effort at sea, the Dunkirk operation was made possible by determined resistance by British armor and infantry at Calais and Arras, and by an RAF not yet at peak effectivesness but able to hamper Luftwaffe operations over the beleaguered port. It was a remarkable accomplishment, and when the beaten BEF disembarked in England it was greeted by cheering crowds, hardly the historical reception for a defeated army.

Although several reasons have been cited for Hitler's decision to halt the British pursuit 12 miles short of the beach -- ranging from a victor's noblesse oblige to the exhaustion of German troops -- many still wonder why Hitler failed to press his advantage. All sorts of arguments were advanced justifying the halt order. Hitler probably wanted to save his panzer force for future operations. He could not risk losing them fighting in the Flanders marshes. In Hitler's mind the French armies holding out below the Somme river appeared more menacing than the trapped BEF at Dunkirk. This was consistent with German thinking that France was the mortal foe rather than Britain. In this view, Hitler was saving the tanks for France. Some British historians [Ellis, Fuller] argue that the terrain around Dunkirk was marshy, and would have impeded German attempts to seize the port, as would the plain exhaustion of German armored units from their long charge to the coast.

Some suggest that Adolf Hitler finally lost his nerve in view of the breathtaking speed of the operation. With his disastrous halt order at Dunkirk the strategic success that General Manstein had envisaged was reduced to merely operational success.

Goering (out of vanity and an overweening pride in his air forces) convinced Hitler the Luftwaffe could destroy the allied forces. Hitler announced with arrogant pride, "Dunkirk will be turned over to the German Luftwaffe". But during the invasion of Poland the Luftwaffe had lost 285 aircraft, 18% of the strength committed to the campaign. Norway and Denmark cost a further 242 airplanes. The Battle of France caused surprisingly high Luftwaffe casualties: in May alone, 517 aircrew died. Fully 21% of the Luftwaffe's combat aircraft committed to the Battle of France were destroyed on operations from enemy action: a staggering 1,129 out of 5,349 aircraft. At times the weather over Dunkirk was decidedly bad and heavy showers precluded large-scale activity of the Luftwaffe. Although the Luftwaffe attacked the staging bases in Great Britain, they could not prevent the British fighter patrols from gaining localized air superiority over the Dunkirk beach. The Royal Air Force inflicted such heavy losses that the Luftwaffe ceased operations against Dunkirk by 2 June.

Hitler's decision to allow the Luftwaffe to destroy the BEF on the shores of Dunkirk seems to contradict the assertion of those who may have felt Hitler had political motives for issuing the stop order. Hitler hoped the rapid defeat of France would be enough to encourage Britain to agree to peace terms. The German Commander in Chief of the Navy (Kriegsmarine), Admiral Raeder, recalled after the war, "Our mental as well as materiel preparations before the war had not been aimed at an armed conflict with England" It was suggested by Liddell Hart, through an interview with Blumentritt - Rundstedt's operational planner, that Hitler may have intentionally allowed the BEF to escape from Dunkirk in order to make peace with the British easier to achieve. Hitler had always envisioned uniting with Britain against Russia, but his offer to establish relations with the British after his invasion of France were rejected. During Hitler's visit to Rundstedt's headquarters on May 24th, Blumentritt recalls Hitler said: " .. all he wanted from Britain was that she should acknowledge Germany's position on the Continent. The return of Germany's lost colonies would be desirable but not essential, and he would even offer to support Britain with troops if she should be involved in any difficulties anywhere.... He concluded by saying that his aim was to make peace with Britain on a basis that she would regard as compatible with her honour to accept."

The infamous "stop" order at Dunkirk and his "no retreat" policy at Stalingrad are often referred to as Hitler's greatest blunders of World War II. American willingness to render Lend Lease aid to Britain was influenced by the British saving their army and thereby, the means to stay in the war. On June 1, for example, as France's Third Republic writhed in its final agonies, Roosevelt directed that the War and Navy Departments assess what they could immediately spare for Britain, to make up for the tremendous weapons stocks lost during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk.

When the evacuation was complete, in his "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech of June 4, 1940, Churchhill stated to the House of Commons, "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

One of the largest military and refugee evacuations in American military history concluded on Christmas Eve, 1950, as the X (US) Corps was evacuated from the port of Hungnam, Korea. The corps [containing the 3rd and 7th Infantry Divisions, the 1st Marine Division, and part of the 1st Republic of Korea (ROK) Corps] numbered over 100,000 Soldiers and Marines. Almost that many Korean civilian refugees were also evacuated.