Dunkerque / Dunkirk

The Battle of Dunkirk was a military operation that took place in Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France, during the Second World War. The battle was fought between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and Allied forces in Europe from 26 May to 4 June 1940.

In one of the most debated decisions of the war, the Germans halted their advance onine. Despite the Allies' gloomy estimates of the situation, with Britain even discussing a Dunkirk. Contrary to popular belief, what became known as the "Halt Order" did not originate with Adolf Hitler. Generalfeldmarschall (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 l conditional surrender to Germany, in the end more than 330,000 Allied troops were rescued.

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 [2]
Date 26 May – 4 June 1940 Location Dunkirk , France Result Allied forces expelled from Dunkirk. Allied withdrawal to Britain.
Belligerents
United Kingdom  France  Poland  Belgium  Netherlands	Germany
Commanders and leaders
Lord Gort  Maxime Weygand  Georges Blanchard  René Prioux  JM Abrial	Gerd von Rundstedt  Ewald von Kleist(Panzergruppe von Kleist)
Strength
approx. 400,000 338,226 evacuated	approx. 800,000
Casualties and losses
British 68,111 killed, wounded or captured (~3,500 killed) 63,879 vehicles including tanks and motorcycles 2,472 field guns 6 destroyers over 200 marine vessels over 100 aircraft  French 18,000 killed 35,000 captured 3 destroyers	(Estimated) 20,000 killed and wounded 100 tanks 156 aircraft
Civilian casualties : 1,000 civilians killed during air raids

                                                     Betram Ramsay

          

Battle of Dunkirk, full story

          

          

----------------------------------------

Dunkerquen taistelu oli toisessa maailmansodassa Saksan ja liittoutuneiden joukkojen välinen Dunkerquen kaupungin hallinnasta käyty taistelu, joka alkoi 26. toukokuuta ja päättyi 4. kesäkuuta 1940 saksalaisten vallattua kaupungin vangiten 40 000 kaupungin puolustajaa. Taistelun aikana kaupungista evakuoitiin arviolta 338 226 sotilasta Britteinsaarille.

                                                          Senegal soldier

                                                     Royal Indian army service corps

Taustaa

Saksan hyökkäys Ranskaan alkoi 10. toukokuuta 1940. 20. toukokuuta he olivat edenneet Englannin kanaalille katkaisten Britannian siirtoarmeijalta yhdeyden Ranskan 1. armeijaan, joka piiritettiin Lilleen. Saksalaiset pysäyttivät joukkojensa etenemisen 24. toukokuuta, mikä antoi liittoutuneille aikaa järjestää ja evakuoida joukkonsa Dunkerqueen. Arviolta 400 000 liittoutuneiden sotilasta oli piiritettynä Dunkerqueen. Saksalaiset aloittivat hyökkäyksen Dunkerqueen 26. toukokuuta kaikilta rintamilta. Britit aloittivat samanaikaisesti Operaatio Dynamon, jossa he 11 päivän ajan evakuoivat joukkonsa englantiin. Yli 861 alusta osallistuivat evakuointiin. Näistä 243 upotettiin operaation aikana, mukaan lukien yhdeksän hävittäjää. Britit menettivät 177 lentokonetta puolustaessaan aluksia ja saksalaiset 240.

3. kesäkuuta saksalaiset olivat vain kolmen kilometrin päässä kaupungista. Seuraavana päivänä brittien evakuoitua viimeisetkin joukkonsa kaupungista saksalaiset etenivät kaupungin satamaan ja nostivat hakaristilipun kaupungin valtauksen merkiksi. Viimeiset kaupunkia puolustaneet 40 000 ranskalaissotilasta antautuivat saksalaisille. Saksalaiset saivat merkittävän sotasaaliin brittien hylättyä kaiken raskaan sotakalustonsa kuten ajoneuvot ja tykit. 

Saaliiksi saatiin 880 kenttätykkiä, 310 suuren kaliiperin tykkiä, 500 ilmatorjuntatykkiä, 850 panssarintorjuntatykkiä, 11 000 konekivääriä, noin 700 panssarivaunua, 20 000 moottoripyörää ja 45 000 moottoroitua ajoneuvoa. Dunkerquen valtauksen jälkeen saksalaiset aloittivat Fall Rotin eli operaatio Punaisen, jossa joukot etenivät Ranskan eteläosiin. Pariisi vallattiin 14. kesäkuuta. Tulitauko solmittiin 17. kesäkuuta ja Saumurissa käydyn puolustustaistelun jälkeen Ranska antautui saksalle 22. kesäkuuta 1940.

------------------------------------------

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." 

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, little evidence that Hitler wanted to let the Allies escape exists apart from a self-exculpatory statement by Hitler himself in 1945. 

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. 

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". 

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