WW2- New Race to the Sea (Part 6)

 

New Race To The Sea

During the opening of World War 1, the Allies had been successful in preventing the Germans from reaching the coast of France and Belgium. When it came to World War 2, the Allies were not so fortunate. When they realized that the German forces could not be stopped it put a whole new complexion on the situation at hand. The British decided that the best plan of action was to use the sea to their advantage and organize a mass evacuation, thereby leaving the Germans on the coast.

Dunkirk

The point of evacuation was to be a small French town named Dunkerque(Dunkirk) and the operation named 'Dynamo' began on 27th May 1940, just seventeen days after the Blitzkrieg had begun. On the 28th May, the French army began defending the area around Lille to stall the Germans and gave the British a chance to get away. They held up for 4 days before the Germans punched their way through, but it had done the trick. By the 4th June, 1940 the evacuation was complete, so that most of the British force had escaped, along with many French soldiers.

Over nine-hundred (900) vessels had been used to evacuate 1,98,000 British and 1,40,000 French troops back to the British shores. The majority of the rescue fleet had been non-military boats responding to the crisis and risking shellfire to fit in as many soldiers as they could. Some craft made several trips over and over for the 9 days of evacuation, which saved a third of a million combatants from death or incarceration. More importantly, it meant that the Allies still had an intact fighting force, albeit stationed on the wrong side of the English Channel.

So, the Germans had won the Battle of France in some style, but that was just one battle with many more to come. A little of 4 years later, many of those who were evacuated would return too French shores as part of the Normandy Landings and begin the process of pushing the Germans all the way back to Germany.

The evacuation of Dunkirk has taken its place in British folklore, because it was a classic example of people making the best out of a bad situation. The participation of so many civilians also demonstrated cohesion(coming together and strengthen) of spirit against the enemy and gave the British something to be positive about at a time when their future not certain.

Thank you all for reading this article. Stay tuned for more war-related blogs. Make sure to read other parts of this series. I will be posting them regularly. Stay safe and take care. PEACE