Dunkirk
Essay by 24 • March 3, 2011 • 590 Words (3 Pages) • 992 Views
The evacuation Dunkirk is though as the turning point of World War II. When all hope was lost they pulled together and beat the stacked odds. It gave new hope for the alleys and kept them in the war. From the Royal air force to the lone fishermen every one contributed. Along with the men in the rear fighting off the Germens, so there buddies could pack onto the hundreds of boats.
Dunkirk is a city in north France. On May 10th Field marshal Grdvon Rudsted directed 101,500,000 men and 1,500 tanks, two thirds of Germany's forces and in the west, and nearly three quarters of it's tanks, against the weakest point of the front (Macdonald 9). It was defended by just twelve infantry divisions and four Calvary divisions, mounted on horse (Macdonald 9).. The British and French had imagined that the German attack would come through liege and Numar in begum, but instead they came through dense and hilly Ardennes Forest, the French thought was impassible. They also calculated that they would sweep across Belgium to the coast and then turn southward as they did in the First World War. Instead they moved southward into France then swept around in an arch to the was and the north. This move was known as the Schmitt (sickle cut). Quickly defeating the troop in the south the troops in the north were trapped in northern France (Macdonald 10). And in need evacuation. And Dunkirk was the launching pad. How this evacuation going to effect the rest of the war?
The evacuation commenced on May 26, by which time the encircled Allies were being forced to retreat ever closer to the coast. On May 28 the Belgian Army surrendered and by May 30 the whole of what remained of the BEF, along with a large number of French troops, withdrew within a narrow coastal strip between Nieuport (Nieuwpoort) in Belgium and Mardyk, west of Dunkirk. The defense of this perimeter was aided by the presence of embanked canals. Further assistance to the Allies came in the form of a decision by Rundstedt, confirmed by Hitler himself on May 24, to halt his tanks. This halt, which
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