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Written by Chikyun
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introduction
If you go to Dunkirk in 1940, you will see the roar of fighter jets in the sky, and countless soldiers in military uniforms fleeing towards the distant beach in confusion, and soldiers throwing away their guns in order to run faster.
Tens of thousands of cars, trucks, motorcycles are stacked on the side of the road just like the shared bikes of today. If you walk around the city, you will see a lot of anti-aircraft guns and machine guns thrown aside.
On the distant beach, more than 300,000 Anglo-French troops crowded into the crowded sand, looking in horror at the German planes approaching in the sky, and in the distance thousands of ships were heading here, ready to rescue these soldiers from the bitter sea.
This became known as the Dunkel Retreat, which nearly cost Britain its future position as the P5.
(Dunkirk Retreat)
1. The beginning of the escape
On May 10, 1940, when the British and French troops were still sleeping peacefully in the Maginot Line, more than 300,000 German troops in the distance were bypassing the invincible defense line that cost 5 billion francs under the opening of tanks, and rushed straight to Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries next to it.
When the Anglo-French army came to their senses, they found that they had become a turtle in an urn, and more than 400,000 Anglo-French troops were surrounded by German troops in the Flemish region of northern France, and this was only 47 days after the Germans bypassed the Maginot Line.
In this way, the British and French troops, which had more than 400,000 men and carried a large amount of weapons and ammunition and vehicle shells, could only flee in disarray to the French city of Dunkirk in the west.
Dunkirk and the English Channel are across the sea, and as long as the British government can mobilize a large number of ships, it can take them back to the British mainland, retain their vital forces, and counterattack fascist Germany.
(Dunkirk Retreat)
In the process of evacuation, in order to reduce the weight, it is not conducive to the destruction of all the evacuated in situ to prevent the Germans from seizing. The car is out of gas? Then just burn it! Anti-aircraft guns are too heavy? Then just smash it!
Now that the defeat was decided, the British government could only collect ships together with France and Belgium, and if there were not enough warships, they would go to transport ships, and if there were not enough transport ships, they would requisition fishing boats.
For the British government, the German troops around Dunkirk were like tigers and wolves, and they could swallow the Anglo-French troops in the middle at any time, and the matter of collecting ships at will was urgent, and it was necessary to do everything possible to help the Anglo-French troops in Dunkirk to carry out a major evacuation.
To this end, the British Cabinet and the Naval Staff quickly formulated "Operation Dynamo" to rescue as many Anglo-French troops as possible trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk.
On May 26, the British officially launched Operation Dynamo, and a large number of ships sailed out of British ports and headed for Dunkirk on the other side. This time, Britain mobilized the strength of the whole country, as long as they can swim in the water and can carry people, they must rescue as many soldiers as possible.
(Dunkirk Retreat)
At the same time, the Anglo-French forces encircled in Dunkirk were also engaged in fierce German warfare, preventing them from taking Dunkirk and defending the remaining port of Dunkirk.
For the next nine days, ships continued to come to the port of Dunkirk for transportation under German fire. With the concerted efforts of the whole country, a world miracle was finally created, that is, the withdrawal of 338,000 British and French troops in just nine days, preserving the vital force for the British and French counteroffensive.
2. Heavy losses
However, defeat was defeat after all, although most of the soldiers were withdrawn. However, in the process of evacuation, the amount of military materiel, weapons and ammunition that was forced to be thrown away can be called an astronomical amount.
According to statistics, from the encirclement of the German army to the retreat of the Anglo-French forces to Dunkirk, and then to the withdrawal to the British mainland. Among them, Britain lost more than 140 million pounds,
(Supplies discarded on the beach)
More than 1,900 artillery pieces and anti-aircraft guns, more than 20,000 machine guns, 245,000 rifles, firearms, and 500,000 tons of military supplies were abandoned by the British and French forces, and this is only the weapons and materials abandoned during the retreat.
When they arrived at the retreat site, there were still a large number of transport vehicles that could not be transported onto the ship due to the shortage of transportation space, and had to be discarded in Dunkirk. Among them, there were more than 60,000 cars, about 75,000 motorcycles, and various ships sunk while transporting coalition soldiers, totaling more than 100,000.
These transport vehicles, which used to be like treasures, are piled up on the streets, roadsides, and beaches of Dunkirk like shared bicycles. It was destroyed in time, and it was left in place for the Germans to capture.
What is the concept of these losses? In World War II, it took about 500 motorcycles and 200 armored vehicles to arm an all-motorcycle division. This is still calculated according to the highest equipment, and the vehicles lost by the British and French forces in Dunkirk can arm about 30 to 40 divisions, that is, more than 300,000 people.
(Supplies discarded on the side of the road)
Comparing the retreating Anglo-French forces in the Dunkirk retreat, it can be said that the Anglo-French forces have discarded all their own weapons and weapons in this retreat.
And that's just supplies, and the coalition forces killed in this retreat and captured more than 100,000 people. Among them, the British army suffered the heaviest losses, more than 70,000 people were captured or killed, and the French army lost more than 30,000 people.
3. Retreat victoriously
Although from the point of view of the war, the Dunkirk retreat was a lost campaign. It wasn't even a battle, it was the flight of the Anglo-French army being chased and beaten.
However, later generations generally believed that although the Allies lost a lot of equipment and supplies in this operation, it was definitely a great strategic victory over the fascist countries. It succeeded in retaining most of its vital forces for countries such as Britain that resisted fascism.
(Great retreat with heavy losses)
It laid the foundation for the subsequent counteroffensive and even the Normandy landings, and was of great significance to the final victory of the Allies in World War II. After this war, Britain completely swept away the appeasement atmosphere of former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's administration, and made the British government firm in its belief in fighting the fascist countries to the end.
It also retained the status of the five permanent members of the United Nations in the future, after all, once the 300,000 people in Britain were completely annihilated, they would basically have no fighting strength and could only surrender to Germany. The reason why France surrendered and still has the status of the P5 is because De Gaulle established a government in Africa and continued to resist, but Britain may not be able to produce another De Gaulle.
(British Prime Minister Winston Churchill)
At the same time, a large number of outstanding officers were discovered and promoted during this retreat, and the representative of them was Montgomery, the most outstanding general of the Allied army, who is considered one of the great military commanders in British history.
As the famous British historian and military scientist Henry Moore said, the Dunkirk retreat was by no means a humiliating defeat, but the beginning of the demise of the fascist state.
Of course, there are also those who say that the Battle of Stalingrad was the starting point for the demise of fascism. I wonder what everyone thinks of this Dunkirk retreat?
Resources
[1] Wang Yi. Exploring the success of the Dunkirk retreat from the perspective of the German army[J].Journal of China University of Petroleum,2018,34(04):72-77.)
[2] Battle of Dunkirk: the largest retreat in World War II[J].Knowledge Base,2015,(07):12-13.
[3] The Dunkirk retreat was a "miracle"? The Paper.2020-12-23