Little ships. The Dunkirk Miracle.
With the amazing strength of the German War machine, overrunning all in its way, they managed to encircle the British Expeditionary Forces and a large number of French soldiers.
The Allies had no idea what was awaiting them and they were ill prepared against the Nazi's tanks, bombers and other superior weaponry. They had to be evacuated immediately, as they were taking enormous losses of their soldiers.
Britain had to evacuate more than 100.000 troops including British, French and some Poles who managed to get to the evacuation points. On May 26th till June 4th the evacuation lasted with Nazi's fighter planes and bombers in action. They even tried to play strafe the soldiers in hiding places. The British Hurricanes and Spitfires helped to make a success of "Operation Dynamo" as the evacuation was called.
One problem was to get together enough ships to do the job. There wasn't much of a harbour, hence war ships couldn't get close enough. This and relentless German bombing caused an immense problem. The soldiers were so eager to get to safety, causing chaos.
It was at this point that Churchill amassed all seagoing vessels. Such as barges, holiday boats and that which could float. Eventually 860 crafts sailed across the channel. Although many vessels succumbed because of bombing and some capsized as a result of anxious men trying to be saved, 132000 British were safe on English soil, as well as +, - 21000 Frenchman arriving safely.
The were disastrous losses of men, many injured and sea vessels. The irony I see in this is that so many had to be evacuated, but 2 years later the Allies had to think and reason hard to get man and machine back there. This would of course be " D - Day".
Sources: Stories of WW2 ( Readers Digest) A compilation of WW1 and 2. Google Images
The problem for the Germans was that Goering said the Luftwaffe would destroy the Allies at Dunkirk and that the German ground forces must wait for the air force to do its work. The problem for the Germans was that the bombs were much less effective on the soft beach sand. This gave the Expeditionary Force desperately needed time. Also the ferocious defense of the Expeditionary Force would have made the German ground forces happy to sit back and avoid extra casualties.
I for one, can't imagine the chaos, the number of fatalities and the fear those soldiers had to endure.
Nice post
good
Was it actually a miracle? Remarkable, yes, Nolan’s movie suggests. More than 300,000 British and other Allied troops made it back to England, allowing Britain to fight on. And it wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for the “little ships” from Britain — hundreds of fishing boats and pleasure yachts, ferries and fireboats that sailed the channel and rescued countless soldiers, shuffling them either home or to British naval vessels in deeper waters. But a miracle?
The fact that so many were brought to safety, while the German relentlessly attacked. I'd say that's a miracle as the great history boffins agree.
The second World War was the worst thing in the history of modern civilization, thousands of people became victims, they were soldiers and civilians spread across the continent of Europe, and Germany with the Nazis under Hitler's leadership was the culprit of everything.
I am very sad to remember or re-read the history of the second world war, as a peace-loving civilian, I will continue to pray while hoping that the second world war is the worst story in world civilization, hopefully it will not happen again
It must have been so difficult for the civilians.
That's so cool.
Well yes a lot of soldiers escaped but a huge number soldiers died on those shores.
a good history to know.
Nice history post. I love german football team :)
Incredible piece of History. I did not know about this.
There are so many aspects, battles that it's an endless pursuit learning about them I love researching history.
Me too.