Who Truly Won the Battle of Dunkirk?
Who could have imagined Adolf Hitler actually stopping the Wehrmacht, the German Army, from completely destroying a French city? The Battle of Dunkirk was one of the best examples of Hitler re-thinking his strategies during World War II. The real question is though, was the battle a victory for a defeat, and for which Army, the Wehrmacht or the British Expeditionary Force (B. E. F.) and France? Nobody is quite sure what the answer is, but everybody has their own ideas. The Wehrmacht advancing on British soldiers in Dunkirk highlights Hitler’s more successful battles, but also one of his least successful battles, which very well could have resulted in the British and French never recovering.
On May 10, 1940,
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Adolf Hitler ordered the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe (the German Air Force) to unleash an attack against Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Luxembourg. This invasion caused France and other countries to become even weaker than they were. On May 27, 1940, the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht invaded a French city, named Dunkirk. The British government at the time had to attempt to evacuate all civilians before the German forces got there. On the beaches of Dunkirk, were mostly British, French, and Belgian soldiers. Initially, France and Great Britain knew that they were about to encounter an atrocious battle (Farley). Over a quarter of a million, approximately 390,000 combined, soldiers were evacuated from Dunkirk in a seven day period. During that week, British soldiers were trying as hard as possible to get everybody evacuated safely. On day one, they started the evacuation and warned their troops of a German attack. The Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had to make a big decision. Does he keep the his soldiers on the ground and make them fight back, or does pull them out of Dunkirk? He had two options, and some people believe that he made the right decision (Hanson). On May 26, 1940, Neville Chamberlain makes the decision to evacuate everybody, troops and civilians, out of the city. This evacuation was called Operation Dynamo, and played a large role in World War II. When Operation Dynamo began, soldiers were rushing all around the beaches to find a boat, whether it be a Destroyer, yacht or a fishing boat. As one could imagine, most soldiers panicked and were scared, but a few soldiers kept calm and completed their jobs. Most soldiers were in such a rush to get out, almost all of their weapons and artillery was left behind on the beaches (Hanson). While the British government had been planning on evacuating the B. E. F., Hitler had other plans. As allied forces attempted to retreat, planes flew over beaches and dropped bombs, shot boats, and killed soldiers. The ports were destroyed by bomb shells and bullets. If the Royal Air Force (R. A. F.) and Royal Navy had failed, the battle of Dunkirk would have been yet another German success and could have resulted in the Germans defeating the entire Allied powers. British troops knew that France was doomed, but never lost hope in the war (Peck). Although Dunkirk was in France and had over a quarter million soldiers, some people wonder, where was the United States during this battle? The United States did not enter the war until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. If a person were to think about it, this battle was over a year before they were in the war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed that entering World War II would be joining a lost cause. Seeing that there were more than 250,000 soldiers at Dunkirk, a person could imagine that the United States was not really necessary, as the Allies survived long enough for the U.S. to join and push even further into the war (Hanson). As the battle drew closer, the Fuhrer, Hitler, hit the stop button. He made an executive decision to halt the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe, confusing all of the German soldiers, British and French as well. Hitler said later in German headquarters, “Churchill was quite unable to appreciate the sporting spirit of which I have given proof by refraining from creating from creating an irreparable breach between the British and ourselves. We did, however, refrain from annihilating them at Dunkirk.” German Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt mentioned, “My tanks were halted for three days… If I had had my way, the English would not have got off so lightly. But my hands were tied by direct orders from Hitler himself.” As a result, the Allied powers were eventually able to defeat the German army, but mostly because they lived past Dunkirk (Ricks). The British and French forces had fought a very hard battle, despite the general Allied collapse.
Although the Allies never truly collapsed during the war, it was believed that they were done for and that Hitler had won. If Hitler never stopped the invasion on Dunkirk, the Panzers and other infantry would have completely obliterated Dunkirk. Soldiers were furious at the R. A. F. and Royal Navy for leaving them stranded on the beaches, despite orders from Churchill. Although the R. A. F. was too weak to stop the Luftwaffe, they still had enough power to at least slow down the invasion. At least 40,000 soldiers became P. O. W.’s to the Wehrmacht, and roughly more than 338,000 escaped the invasion (Peck; …show more content…
Britannica). In the long run, the Battle of Dunkirk was actually an invasion by the Germans, not as much of a battle, except it was a very important invasion.
If Dunkirk never happened, World War II may not have had the same outcome. If Dunkirk never happened, Germany wcould have attacked an even bigger, more important city and ended up winning the war. When one thinks about it, the Battle of Dunkirk was actually a huge win for both sides. The British were never defeated, and Hitler technically did not lose the battle. In reality, Germany and the British both consider this neither a win, nor defeat, which made the British army mentally stronger from surviving the evacuation, causing them to believe in themselves and eventually gain enough strength over several months after the battle to eventually defeat Hitler and the other Axis powers.
Works Cited
Farley, Robert. “The Battle of Dunkirk: The Real Turning Point of World War II?”
NationalInterest.org. The National Interest, 2017. Web. 18 Oct. 2017.
Hanson, Victor. “Miracle At Dunkirk.” HooverInstitution.org. Board of Trustees of Leeland
Stanford Junior University, 2017. Web. 19 Oct. 2017.
Peck, Michael. “The Real Reason You Should See Dunkirk: Hitler Lost World War II There.”
NationalInterest.org. The National Interest, 2017. Web. 20 Oct. 2017.
Ricks, Thomas. “The Dunkirk Evacuation, and Why It Was A Near-Miracle for England and
Churchill.” ForeignPolicy.com. Penguin Press, 2017. Web. 25 Oct.
2017.
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Resnick p. 15. However, these events infuriated Hitler who refused to believe that the Germans had been defeated fairly on the battlefield.... ... middle of paper ... ...
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