Why didn't The attack at Dunkirk

 in world war ii history in a miraculous

escape from nearly complete destruction

the british expeditionary force managed

to flee the grasp of the german panzers

and live to see

another day many view the evacuation

and its aftermath as the turning point

for the war as a whole

while others at a minimum cannot deny

the simple fact

that had the germans continued their

attack the british

would have not been so lucky by any

stretch

winston churchill became prime minister

of the united kingdom

on may 10 1940 during a

precarious time for the brits and as the

germans were on a mad

dash to defeat the allies as swiftly and

fully

as possible at this point many of

churchill's colleagues were already

considering the possibility of accepting

defeat

and coming to a deal with the germans

many brits believed that germany and the

uk

were not natural enemies and that making

peace with the german chancellor

was not as bad as it may appear

churchill

contrarily was not ready to give up just

yet

still the germans had been ripping

through both french and belgian defenses

and the british were already facing

defeats from the attacker

the situation was not looking hopeful

for the brits

until may 21st at which point

the expeditionary force known as the bef

was able to surprise the german troops

and execute a strong

counter-attack at the northern french

city of eris

the strike included both infantry and

tanks that apparently triggered

psychological warfare in the mind of

german general rommel

who told his field marshal gerd von

brunsted that the brits had attacked his

seventh panzer division

with hundreds of tanks in actuality the

allies had only used

74 tanks and only 16 of those were of

the newest

and most capable to face off with the

panzer armor

at this point multiple things happened

for one

field marshal von runestet and the

chancellor himself had agreed that the

terrain

surrounding dunkirk did not seem

suitable for german armor

and they would be better off focusing on

aerys additionally

harman goring a lute vapha commander

requested that he be given the lead on

defeating the allied troops at dunkirk

furthermore the german chancellor would

later claim that at this time

he decided to give prime minister

churchill and his men

a sporting chance and lastly field

marshal von runestad was warned by one

of his generals that their tanks had

been moving at such a rapid pace

annihilating the allied forces

throughout both belgium and france that

their infantrymen were unable to keep up

at the same speed and needed time to

catch up

one or more of these reasons led to the

panzer troops being halted for

36 hours ending on may 25th

while the germans seemed confident that

the bef troops they had trapped at the

port of dunkirk

and the remaining bottled up french

forces fates were sealed and victory

for germany was imminent runestet

misread the situation though

and in reality this pause actually gave

the allies time to orchestrate their

recovery

both literally and symbolically the bef

was able to set up new lines of defense

and begin a solid plan for evacuation

of the pinned down troops

this suspension which ended up lasting

for three days as the germans did not

call

for a re-engagement into battle until

may 26th

also gave the british royal air force

time to prepare for such a crucial

and risky evac which was necessary given

the fact that the raf

had previously taken notable hits and

been weakened while attempting to assist

the unprepared french at this point as

well

the french were ready to give up as one

general even stated that he believed in

a

very early capitulation the escape of

the allies was a

make-or-break moment and the germany's

decision to hope their advancement

gave the brits the perfect opportunity

to make it happen

on may 26th when the battle recommenced

general lord gort the commander-in-chief

of the bef

had already started to plan for an

escape effort along the lease canal

the situation was complicated due to the

new offensive from the germans

and the british second and fiftieth

divisions became pins down

while the first 5th and 48th divisions

took heavy fire

the second division managed to keep an

open corridor for the first

third 4th and 42nd divisions to escape

alongside a third of the french first

army the second division took heavy

casualties but was successful

nonetheless

the following day the germans became

more aggressive

dropping bombs and showering the allies

with highly explosive artillery shell

while the battle raged on the luftwaffe

began to drop

leaflets on the allies with maps of the

current situation

reading in both french and english look

at the map

it gives your true situation your troops

are entirely surrounded

stop fighting put down your arms on may

27th

the germans still relentlessly aim to

prove their superiority

staging a full-scale attack to the south

of ipra using

three divisions and aiming to infiltrate

the british ranks and push them back

luckily for the allies the 10th and 11th

brigades of the 4th division were able

to reach the 5th division

who was taking the brunt of the beating

and they cleared the german troops

enough for a counter-attack to be

launched

this counter-attack was able to stall

the germans just enough for

more of the bef to retreat although

those attempts to head back towards

dunkirk were met with the luftwaffe a

bombing that went on for two

hours as the british troops tried to

pass over a bridge on the easter canal

and roughly 80 percent of their vehicles

were either destroyed

or rendered unusable another bombing

occurred the following night leaving the

brits with almost

none of their vehicles by the time they

finished their trek

meanwhile on may 28th the belgian army

under the command of king leopold iii

stunned the british and

surrendered leaving a gap in the

perimeter that the allies had created

along the belgian coastline

general gort was forced to send the

already worn down

3rd 4th and 50th divisions to fill the

hole between the rest of the brits and

the sea

all the while general rommel had

encircled and cut off

five french first army divisions near

lille and engaged directly with those

troops under the command of

general mullany while this was a

dangerous defense for the unrelenting

french garrison

it was a vastly important act as it

preoccupied

seven german divisions for four days

keeping them

away from dunkirk the battle between the

brits and the germans continued as the

latter pushed the former

farther and farther back as june rolled

around

the allies were almost entirely

evacuated as they made their way

more and more into dunkirk followed

closely

by the germans the french held their

ground covering the british troops as

they boarded the evacuation ships

finally

on june 3rd the french began to fall

back until they themselves could

evacuate with the last

round of ships so what happened and why

did germany

allow their foes to escape their grasp

the answer to why the german fuhrer made

the ultimate decision to halt the german

troops for over 36 hours remains a

mystery

historians have been unable to decide

whether it was an issue of

poor strategy or if it was truly about

wanting to give

churchill and the allies a sporting

chance

according to a letter from franz halder

in july of 1957 the decision was mainly

influenced by goring who had convinced

him to give responsibility to the

luftwaffe

instead of the infantrymen halder later

wrote in his diary

expressing his anger surrounding the

fact that the luftwaffe had been

grounded by

poor weather and was unable to stop the

allies from evacuating

as they had expected to do on the other

hand

field marshal von roonstedt after the

war had ended

expressed his own thoughts on the matter

he believed that the supreme commander

had

undermined the military's abilities

because he wished to

help the british due to the fact he had

previously admitted to having notable

respect for the british empire as an

entity adding to this theory the

chancellor himself was the one to

reference in his political testament on

february 26 1945 that prime minister

churchill was quite unable to appreciate

this sporting spirit

pointing to the fact that he refrained

from completely destroying the allied

forces at dunkirk

implying that he was in fact going easy

on the brits

still at the time of the actual conflict

directive number 13 was issued by the

supreme headquarters on may 24th and

explicitly called for the complete

annihilation of the belgian

french and english troops at and around

dunkirk

the luftwaffe in addition was directly

ordered to stop

any escape attempts by the allies across

the channel

no matter what the reason behind the

halt order was it is clear

that the decision was appallingly

detrimental for the germans

and quite likely changed not only the

course of the battle of dunkirk but o