In general, most of the war known historical events referred to battles (from Alesia to Normandy, through Hastings, Agincourt, Waterloo, etc.) or sieges of cities or countries (Malta sites, Cadiz, etc.) but, despite which, as Napoleon said: "one-time withdrawal is a victory" , rare is the time that these folds pass into history. One of these few cases could be to Dunkerque.
During the spring of 1940, in the middle of World War II, the Nazi offensive was at its peak. The advance of the Wehrmacht on the west side was becoming increasingly more powerful and faster thanks to the well-known Blitzkrieg tactics and much of the allied army was cornered near Dunkirk. Given this situation, senior allies began planning a mass evacuation of its troops in northern France . We had to get out of there and out before too low and increase the chances of winning the war would vanish altogether. Then the call was hatched Operation Dynamo, which would be evacuated by sea to all British and French troops as possible. The shipment would be made in the French town of Dunkerque, close to the Strait of Calais, and the fate that would be the nearby island of Great Britain.
Dunkerque (Note-Pas de Calais, France)
The troop withdrawal began on May 27, lasted for 9 days (until June 4) and at all times be conducted with harassment, both by land and by air, the German army was virtually at the gates of the city. Despite the poor conditions, the evacuation was a success, achieving except put the incredible figure of over 300,000 soldiers 200,000 British and 100,000 French and the allies to maintain their chances of winning the war.
curious thing about this episode is that Germany had in their hands have easily prevented this retreat will be held. In May of that year, the Wehrmacht remained unstoppable in their advance through Belgium and northern France, and wore down the allied troops until he had a point of annihilation. However, few days before the start of that evacuation, rather than opt to give the coup de grace, mysteriously stop Hitler ordered his troops advancing , which was used by British and French to gain time and eventually lead successfully withdrawn. Still unclear the reasons for the decision Führer (not wanting to humiliate the British in order to more easily reach an agreement, lack of supplies, etc..), But what is certain is that had it not made that decision, the sign and the result of the war could have been very different.
As always, all these historical passages are accompanied by personal and compelling stories today, searching the net for the exact figures of the retreat, I encountered two testimonies which I reply here as I found:
Among the soldiers who then fled from Dunkerque, Romeo Jenkins. A sly old man who turns 91 years in September and recalls his last hours on the beach in the city. "I remember being rendered" says staring, "we had several days without food and fell asleep. Then I woke up and all my mates had gone. I smoked a cigarette and waited on the beach that Germans come after me. Suddenly I heard a voice shouting from a boat, 'Come here. This is your last chance! ". And there I was" .
so lucky as he was Dennis William Black, a rifleman who arrived late to get on a minesweeper and had to board a boat piloted by a drunken sailor. Upon arriving at Ramsgate learned that a German bomb had sunk the ship that had not been mounted. He had survived thanks to a fluke.
Source: ElMundo.es
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