A Book; Dunkirk, The Great Escape

Dunkirk, The great escape; A.J. Barker, J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd.

Is an evacuation regarded as amphibious warfare? Yes, in my book (as a matter of speaking) it is. In 1940 the BEF, British Expeditionary Force, fought alongside the Belgian, Dutch and French in order to halt the German advance. The swift maneuvers and heavy fire power of the Germans were not possible to stop but the defenders were gradually wiped out or forced back. When the final outcome was clear to the British an order was issued to evacuate the remaining forces. It was understood that at some point it was useless to pour in more soldiers and fighers just to have them slaughtered and shot down, it was better to save the men and aeroplanes to fight another day, so plans were made up to pull back slowly and in order. The beaches and harbours were filled up by retreating soldiers in Dunkirk. Vehicles massed up and were set a blaze to hinder the Germans from using them after the inevitable end. Hundreds of vessels, small civilian, trawlers, destroyers, tugs and so on went from the French coast to the English to save what could be saved of an army. From 26 May to 4 June 1940 soldiers endured artillery shelling and aerial bombarment on the beaches and on the ships. When the evacuation was over more than 300 000 soldiers were saved to British soil. The survivors were battle hardened and experienced now and formed a foundation to build up new forces to keep the fighting going. This is however another story.