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75-460: Ronald Leslie Bassett DSM (10 April 1924 – March 1996) was a British writer and novelist. He wrote numerous works of historical fiction , sometimes under the pseudonym of "William Clive". He received many awards for his medical and pharmaceutical writing. Bassett was born in London to George William Bassett, a bank clerk, and Louisa (Vine) Bassett. He attended high school in London, and while in

150-686: A failed Allied attempt on 21 May at Arras to cut through the German spearhead, the BEF was trapped, along with the remains of the Belgian forces and the three French armies, in an area along the coast of northern France and Belgium. Without informing the French, the British began planning on 20 May for Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the BEF. This planning was headed by Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay at

225-505: A large gap to the east of Dunkirk. Several British divisions were rushed in to cover that side. The Luftwaffe flew fewer sorties over Dunkirk on 28 May, switching their attention to the Belgian ports of Ostend and Nieuwpoort . The weather over Dunkirk was not conducive to dive or low-level bombing. The RAF flew 11 patrols and 321 sorties, claiming 23 destroyed for the loss of 13 aircraft. On 28 May, 17,804 soldiers arrived at British ports. On 29 May, 47,310 British troops were rescued as

300-517: A national day of prayer. The Archbishop of Canterbury led prayers "for our soldiers in dire peril in France". Similar prayers were offered in synagogues and churches throughout the UK that day, confirming to the public their suspicion of the desperate plight of the troops. Just before 19:00 on 26 May, Churchill ordered Dynamo to begin, by which time 28,000 men had already departed. Initial plans called for

375-675: A particularly heavily mined portion of the Channel. Ships on this route travelled 55 nautical miles (102 km) north out of Dunkirk, proceeded through the Ruytingen Pass, and headed towards the North Goodwin Lightship before heading south around the Goodwin Sands to Dover. The route was safest from surface attacks, but the nearby minefields and sandbanks meant it could not be used at night. The longest of

450-566: A post he held until 1975 when he and his wife retired to Surrey . Bassett's historical fiction includes The Carthaginian (1963), The Pompeians (1965), Amorous Trooper (1968), and Blood of an Englishman: A Novel of the Siege of Cawnpore (1975). His novel Witchfinder General (1966) was made into the controversial 1968 film of the same title directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price . Among Bassett's awards are: Distinguished Service Medal (United Kingdom) The medal

525-552: A reasonably good capacity and speed. Some boats were requisitioned without the owner's knowledge or consent. Agents of the Ministry of Shipping , accompanied by a naval officer, scoured the Thames for likely vessels, had them checked for seaworthiness, and took them downriver to Sheerness , where naval crews were to be placed aboard. Due to shortages of personnel, many small craft crossed the Channel with civilian crews. The first of

600-560: A repeat of the First World War . The area immediately to the north of the Maginot Line was covered by the heavily wooded Ardennes region, which French General Philippe Pétain declared to be "impenetrable" as long as "special provisions" were taken. He believed that any enemy force emerging from the forest would be vulnerable to a pincer attack and destroyed. The French commander-in-chief, Maurice Gamelin , also believed

675-411: A small number of French Senegalese soldiers and Moroccans. Three routes were allocated to the evacuating vessels. The shortest was Route Z, a distance of 39 nautical miles (72 km), but it entailed hugging the French coast and thus ships using it were subject to bombardment from on-shore batteries, particularly in daylight hours. Route X, although the safest from shore batteries, travelled through

750-465: A thousand copies to be made of the required charts, had buoys laid around the Goodwin Sands and down to Dunkirk, and organised the flow of shipping. Larger ships such as destroyers were able to carry about 900 men per trip. The soldiers mostly travelled on the upper decks for fear of being trapped below if the ship sank. After the loss on 29 May of 19 British and French navy ships plus three of

825-573: A variety of civilian merchant ships. Others had to wade out from the beaches, waiting for hours in shoulder-deep water. Some were ferried to the larger ships by what became known as the Little Ships of Dunkirk , a flotilla of hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats , pleasure craft , yachts , and lifeboats called into service from Britain. The BEF lost 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign and had to abandon nearly all of its tanks, vehicles, and equipment. In his " We shall fight on

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900-751: The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH; German High Command) via his superior, Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt . Manstein's plan suggested that panzer divisions should attack through the Ardennes, then establish bridgeheads on the Meuse River and rapidly drive to the English Channel. The Germans would thus cut off the Allied armies in Belgium. This part of the plan later became known as

975-714: The British Empire declared war on Germany and imposed an economic blockade . The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to help defend France. After the Phoney War of October 1939 to April 1940, Germany invaded Belgium , the Netherlands , and France on 10 May 1940. Three panzer corps attacked through the Ardennes and drove northwest to the English Channel . By 21 May, German forces had trapped

1050-765: The Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal . From 1916, ribbon bars could be authorised for subsequent awards of the DSM. In 1940 the award was extended to Royal Air Force personnel serving with the Fleet and, in 1942, to members of the Merchant Navy , and Army personnel serving afloat, for example manning a merchant ship's anti-aircraft guns. A number of awards were also made to civilians, including two for ferrying troops from

1125-470: The Korean War zone. He retired from the navy in 1954 as commander . In 1956, Bassett went to work for Smith, Kline & French Laboratories Ltd. as a public relations officer, and remained with them until 1966. After devoting himself solely to writing for three years, in 1969 he returned to the pharmaceutical corporate world going to work as a public relations officer for E. R. Squibb & Sons ,

1200-514: The Luftwaffe ' s Ju 87s exacted a heavy toll on shipping. The British destroyer HMS  Grenade was sunk and the French destroyer  Mistral was crippled, while her sister ships, each laden with 500 men, were damaged by near misses. British destroyers Jaguar and Verity were badly damaged but escaped the harbour. Two trawlers disintegrated in the attack. Later, the passenger steamer SS  Fenella sank with 600 men aboard at

1275-672: The Military Medal after those medals were established in 1940 and 1916 respectively. Awards of the DSM were announced in the London Gazette . Recipients are entitled to use the post-nominal letters "DSM". The DSM was intended to reward bravery at sea. For example, members of the Royal Naval Division , who served alongside the Army in France in the First World War, were eligible for Army decorations, including

1350-651: The Miracle of Dunkirk , or just Dunkirk , was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk , in the north of France , between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The operation commenced after large numbers of Belgian , British , and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the six-week Battle of France . After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, France and

1425-583: The Sichelschnitt ("sickle cut"). Adolf Hitler approved a modified version of Manstein's ideas, today known as the Manstein Plan , after meeting with him on 17 February. On 10 May, Germany invaded Belgium and the Netherlands . Army Group B , under Generaloberst Fedor von Bock , attacked into Belgium, while the three panzer corps of Army Group A under Rundstedt swung around to

1500-401: The "little ships" arrived at Dunkirk on 28 May. The wide sand beaches meant that large vessels could not get anywhere near the shore, and even small craft had to stop about 100 yards (91 m) from the waterline and wait for the soldiers to wade out. In many cases, personnel would abandon their boat upon reaching a larger ship, and subsequent evacuees had to wait for boats to drift ashore with

1575-468: The 445 British tanks despatched to France were abandoned. Six British and three French destroyers were sunk, along with nine other major vessels. In addition, 19 destroyers were damaged. Over 200 British and Allied sea craft were sunk, with a similar number damaged. The Royal Navy's most significant losses in the operation were six destroyers: The French Navy lost three destroyers: The RAF lost 145 aircraft, of which at least 42 were Spitfires , while

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1650-783: The BEF were the Belgian Army and the French First , Seventh , and Ninth Armies. During the 1930s, the French had constructed the Maginot Line , a series of fortifications along their border with Germany. This line had been designed to deter a German invasion across the Franco-German border and funnel an attack into Belgium, which could then be met by the best divisions of the French Army . Thus, any future war would take place outside of French territory, avoiding

1725-490: The BEF, surrendered on 26 May. Remnants of the French First Army, surrounded at Lille , fought off seven German divisions, several of them armoured, until 31 May, when the remaining 35,000 soldiers were forced to surrender after running out of food and ammunition. The Germans accorded the honours of war to the defenders of Lille in recognition of their bravery. The Belgian Army surrendered on 28 May, leaving

1800-450: The BEF, the remains of the Belgian forces, and three French field armies along the northern coast of France. BEF commander General Viscount Gort immediately saw evacuation across the Channel as the best course of action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest good port. Late on 23 May, the halt order was issued by Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt , commander of Army Group A . Adolf Hitler approved this order

1875-589: The BEF. By contrast, Conservative accounts at the time portrayed Dunkirk as a merely one part of a wider "battle of the ports" which also included the battle of Boulonge and the siege of Calais . Conservative accounts of the "battle of the ports" tended to focus on the professionalism and the bravery of the British military, especially the British Army, in desperate conditions, which were portrayed as symbols of British martial prowess. Conservative newspapers and journals in early 1940 tended to give more coverage to

1950-591: The Canal Line and only one British battalion barred the way to Dunkirk. On 23 May, at the suggestion of Fourth Army commander Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge , Rundstedt had ordered the panzer units to halt, concerned about the vulnerability of his flanks and the question of supply to his forward troops. He was also concerned that the marshy ground around Dunkirk would prove unsuitable for tanks and he wished to conserve them for later operations (in some units, tank losses were 30–50 per cent). Hitler

2025-549: The Channel was the best course of action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest location with good port facilities. Surrounded by marshes, Dunkirk boasted old fortifications and the longest sand beach in Europe, where large groups could assemble. On 20 May, on Churchill's suggestion, the Admiralty began arranging for all available small vessels to be made ready to proceed to France. After continued engagements and

2100-995: The Distinguished Service Cross, previously only open to Commissioned and Warrant Officers , has been awarded to all ranks. The DSM had also been awarded by Commonwealth countries but by the 1990s most, including Canada , Australia and New Zealand , were establishing their own honours systems and no longer recommended British honours. The medal was awarded with one of five obverse designs: Between 1914 and 1993, approximately 11,311 medals and 227 bars were awarded. These figures include: Notes Citations Dunkirk evacuation [REDACTED] United Kingdom [REDACTED] Belgium [REDACTED] Canada [REDACTED] France Luxembourg The Netherlands Belgium France Britain 1941–1943 1944–1945 Germany Strategic campaigns The Dunkirk evacuation , codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as

2175-487: The French First Army fought a delaying action against seven German divisions , including three armoured divisions . On the first day, only 7,669 Allied soldiers were evacuated, but by the end of the eighth day, 338,226 had been rescued by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 vessels. Many troops were able to embark from the harbour's protective mole onto 39 British Royal Navy destroyers , four Royal Canadian Navy destroyers, at least three French Navy destroyers, and

2250-508: The German side, Kampfgeschwader 2 (KG 2) and KG 3 suffered the heaviest casualties. German losses amounted to 23 Dornier Do 17s . KG 1 and KG 4 bombed the beach and harbour and KG 54 sank the 8,000-ton steamer Aden . Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers sank the troopship Cote d' Azur . The Luftwaffe engaged with 300 bombers which were protected by 550 fighter sorties and attacked Dunkirk in twelve raids. They dropped 15,000 high explosive and 30,000 incendiary bombs , destroying

2325-399: The Goodwin Sands to Dover. Ships on Route Y were the most likely to be attacked by German surface vessels, submarines, and the Luftwaffe . You knew this was the chance to get home and you kept praying, please God, let us go, get us out, get us out of this mess back to England. To see that ship that came in to pick me and my brother up, it was a most fantastic sight. We saw dog fights up in

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2400-581: The Lys Canal, part of a canal system that reached the sea at Gravelines . Sluice gates had already been opened all along the canal to flood the system and create a barrier (the Canal Line) against the German advance. By 24 May, the Germans had captured the port of Boulogne and surrounded Calais . The engineers of the 2nd Panzer Division under Generalmajor Rudolf Veiel built five bridges over

2475-498: The RAF to protect them, as most of the dogfights took place far from the beaches. As a result, many British soldiers bitterly accused the airmen of doing nothing to help, reportedly leading to some army troops accosting and insulting RAF personnel once they returned to England. On 25 and 26 May, the Luftwaffe focused their attention on Allied pockets holding out at Calais, Lille , and Amiens , and did not attack Dunkirk. Calais, held by

2550-650: The air, hoping nothing would happen to us and we saw one or two terrible sights. Then somebody said, there's Dover, that was when we saw the White Cliffs , the atmosphere was terrific. From hell to heaven was how the feeling was, you felt like a miracle had happened. The Royal Navy provided the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS  Calcutta , 39 destroyers, and many other craft. The Merchant Navy supplied passenger ferries, hospital ships, and other vessels. Britain's Belgian, Dutch, Canadian, Polish, and French allies provided vessels as well. Admiral Ramsay arranged for around

2625-497: The area to be of a limited threat, noting that it "never favoured large operations". With this in mind, the area was left lightly defended. The initial plan for the German invasion of France called for an encirclement attack through the Netherlands and Belgium, avoiding the Maginot Line. Erich von Manstein , then Chief of Staff of the German Army Group A , prepared the outline of a different plan and submitted it to

2700-561: The attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations." In September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland , the United Kingdom sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to aid in the defence of France, landing at Cherbourg , Nantes , and Saint-Nazaire . By May 1940 the force consisted of ten divisions in three corps under the command of General John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort . Working with

2775-482: The battle of Calais, where Brigadier Claude Nicholson chose to fight on despite being informed that escape was impossible from Calais, rather than the Durkirk evacuation. The triumph of the "people's war" interpretation, which completely obliviated the rival "battle of the ports" interpretation in the popular memory of 1940, was largely due to cinema, as filmmakers chose to focus on the evacuation at Dunkirk and ignored

2850-496: The beach at low tide, anchoring them with sandbags, and connecting them with wooden walkways. Before the operation was completed, the prognosis had been gloomy, with Churchill warning the House of Commons on 28 May to expect "hard and heavy tidings". Subsequently, Churchill referred to the outcome as a miracle, and the British press presented the evacuation as a "disaster turned to triumph" so successfully that Churchill had to remind

2925-440: The beaches " speech on 4 June to the House of Commons , British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the event "a colossal military disaster", saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured. He hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance". Churchill also reminded the country that "we must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance

3000-532: The beaches during the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation . In 1979 eligibility for a number of awards, including the DSM, was extended to permit posthumous awards. Until that time, only the Victoria Cross and a mention in dispatches could be awarded posthumously. The Distinguished Service Medal was discontinued in 1993, as part of the review of the British honours system which recommended removing distinctions of rank in respect of awards for bravery. Since then

3075-403: The beaches out to larger craft in the harbour, as well as larger vessels that could load from the docks. An emergency call was put out for additional help, and by 31 May nearly four hundred small craft were voluntarily and enthusiastically taking part in the effort. The same day, the Luftwaffe heavily bombed Dunkirk, both the town and the dock installations. As the water supply was knocked out,

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3150-506: The country in a speech to the House of Commons on 4 June that "we must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations." Andrew Roberts comments that the confusion over the Dunkirk evacuation is illustrated by two of the best books on it being called Strange Defeat and Strange Victory . The 51st (Highland) Infantry Division

3225-446: The defensive lines, along with more than half of the French First Army. By this time, the perimeter ran along a series of canals about 7 miles (11 km) from the coast, in marshy country not suitable for tanks. With the docks in the harbour rendered unusable by German air attacks, senior naval officer Captain (later Admiral) William Tennant initially ordered men to be evacuated from the beaches. When this proved too slow, he re-routed

3300-480: The east mole, organised and regulated the flow of men along the mole into the waiting ships. Once more, low clouds kept Luftwaffe activity to a minimum. Nine RAF patrols were mounted, with no German formation encountered. The following day, the Luftwaffe sank one transport and damaged 12 others for 17 losses; the British claimed 38 kills, which is disputed. The RAF and Fleet Air Arm lost 28 aircraft. The next day, an additional 53,823 men were embarked, including

3375-584: The evacuation disappeared onto the boats. On 22 May, Churchill ordered the BEF to attack southward in coordination with the French First Army under General Georges Blanchard to reconnect with the remainder of the French forces. This proposed action was dubbed the Weygand Plan after General Maxime Weygand , appointed Supreme Commander after Gamelin's dismissal on 18 May. On 25 May, Gort had to abandon any hope of achieving this objective and withdrew on his own initiative, along with Blanchard's forces, behind

3450-431: The evacuation should proceed on equal terms and that the British would form the rearguard. In fact, the 35,000 men who finally surrendered after covering the final evacuations were mostly French soldiers of the 2nd Light Mechanized and the 68th Infantry Divisions. Their resistance allowed the evacuation effort to be extended to 4 June, on which date another 26,175 Frenchmen were transported to England. The evacuation

3525-411: The evacuees to two long stone and concrete breakwaters, called the east and west moles , as well as the beaches. The moles were not designed to dock ships, but despite this, the majority of troops rescued from Dunkirk were taken off this way. Almost 200,000 troops embarked on ships from the east mole (which stretched nearly a mile out to sea) over the next week. James Campbell Clouston , pier master on

3600-477: The event as "the greatest annihilation battle of all time". Within Britain, there was a sharp ideological division about the portrayal of the Dunkirk evacuation. Left-wing and liberal accounts at the time such as by the writer J. B. Priestley and the journalist Hilda Marchant tended to focus exclusively upon Dunkirk, which was portrayed as the beginning of the "people's war", where ordinary people rallied to save

3675-563: The failure to order a timely assault on Dunkirk to be one of the major German mistakes on the Western Front . Rundstedt called it "one of the great turning points of the war", and Manstein described it as "one of Hitler's most critical mistakes". B. H. Liddell Hart interviewed many of the generals after the war and put together a picture of Hitler's strategic thinking on the matter. Hitler believed that once Britain's troops left continental Europe, they would never return. The retreat

3750-400: The first French soldiers. Lord Gort and 68,014 men were evacuated on 31 May, leaving Major-General Harold Alexander in command of the rearguard. A further 64,429 Allied soldiers departed on 1 June, before the increasing air attacks prevented further daylight evacuation. The British rearguard of 4,000 men left on the night of 2–3 June. An additional 75,000 French troops were retrieved over

3825-657: The heavy cruiser HMS  Norfolk during the Bismarck action and during the North African landings. Bassett was a radio operator on a landing craft during the Normandy invasion. As a non-commissioned officer during the Second World War he received the Distinguished Service Medal for bravery and resourcefulness. He remained in the navy after the war, and served on an aircraft carrier in

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3900-428: The larger requisitioned vessels, the Admiralty withdrew their eight best destroyers for the future defence of the country. A wide variety of small vessels from all over the south of England were pressed into service to aid in the Dunkirk evacuation. They included speedboats, Thames vessels, car ferries, pleasure craft , and many other types of small craft. The most useful proved to be the motor lifeboats , which had

3975-580: The military married Ivy Owens on 21 November 1944. His first wife died and he later married Sylvia Cruttwell on 6 November 1956, and they had two children. Bassett joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a rifleman in 1938 and then transferred to the Royal Artillery as a gunner. In 1940 he transferred to the Royal Navy , where he worked in the communications branch. He served as a radio operator on

4050-524: The naval headquarters below Dover Castle , from which he briefed Churchill as it was under way. Ships began gathering at Dover for the evacuation. On 20 May, the BEF sent Brigadier Gerald Whitfield to Dunkirk to start evacuating unnecessary personnel. Overwhelmed by what he later described as "a somewhat alarming movement towards Dunkirk by both officers and men", due to a shortage of food and water, he had to send many along without thoroughly checking their credentials. Even officers ordered to stay behind to aid

4125-583: The next day, and had the German High Command send confirmation to the front. Attacking the trapped BEF, French, and Belgian armies was left to the Luftwaffe until the order was rescinded on 26 May. This gave Allied forces time to construct defensive works and pull back large numbers of troops to fight the Battle of Dunkirk . From 28 to 31 May, in the siege of Lille , the remaining 40,000 men of

4200-549: The nights of 2–4 June, before the operation finally ended. The remainder of the rearguard, 40,000 French troops, surrendered on 4 June. Of the total 338,226 soldiers, several hundred were unarmed Indian mule handlers on detachment from the Royal Indian Army Service Corps , forming four of the six units of Force K-6 transport. Cypriot muleteers were also present. Three units were successfully evacuated and one captured. Also present at Dunkirk were

4275-412: The oil tanks and wrecking the harbour. No. 11 Group RAF flew 22 patrols with 287 aircraft this day, in formations of up to 20 aircraft. Altogether, over 3,500 sorties were flown in support of Operation Dynamo. The RAF continued to inflict a heavy toll on the German bombers throughout the week. Soldiers being bombed and strafed while awaiting transport were for the most part unaware of the efforts of

4350-562: The other battles along the French coast. During the entire campaign, from 10 May until the armistice with France on 22 June, the BEF suffered 68,000 casualties. This included 3,500 killed and 13,053 wounded. Most heavy equipment had to be abandoned during the various evacuations, resulting in the loss of 2,472 pieces of artillery, 20,000 motorcycles, nearly 65,000 other vehicles, 416,000 long tons (423,000  t ) of stores, more than 75,000 long tons (76,000 t) of ammunition, and 162,000 long tons (165,000 t) of fuel. Almost all of

4425-526: The panzer groups to continue their advance, but most units took another 16 hours to attack. Some accounts quote Hitler as saying he deliberately allowed the British to escape. The delay gave the Allies time to prepare defences vital for the evacuation and prevented the Germans from stopping the Allied retreat from Lille. The halt order has been the subject of much discussion by historians. Guderian considered

4500-579: The pier but the men were able to get off. The paddle steamer HMS  Crested Eagle suffered a direct hit, caught fire, and sank with severe casualties. The raiders also destroyed the two rail-owned ships, the SS ; Lorina and the SS  Normannia . Of the five major German attacks, just two were contested by RAF fighters; the British lost 16 fighters in nine patrols. German losses amounted to 11 Ju 87s destroyed or damaged. On 30 May, Churchill received word that all British divisions were now behind

4575-417: The recovery of 45,000 men from the BEF within two days, at which time German troops were expected to block further evacuation. Only 25,000 men escaped during this period, including 7,669 on the first day. On 27 May, the first full day of the evacuation, one cruiser , eight destroyers , and 26 other craft were active. Admiralty officers combed nearby boatyards for small craft that could ferry personnel from

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4650-453: The repatriated troops were redeployed against the Germans before the surrender of France. For many French soldiers, the Dunkirk evacuation represented only a few weeks' delay before being killed or captured by the German army after their return to France. Of the French soldiers evacuated from France in June 1940, about 3,000 joined Charles de Gaulle 's Free French army in Britain. In France,

4725-589: The resulting fires could not be extinguished. An estimated one thousand civilians were killed, one-third of the remaining population of the town. RAF squadrons were ordered to provide air supremacy for the Royal Navy during evacuation. Their efforts shifted to covering Dunkirk and the English Channel, protecting the evacuation fleet. The Luftwaffe was met by 16 squadrons of the RAF, who claimed 38 kills on 27 May while losing 14 aircraft. Many more RAF fighters sustained damage and were subsequently written off. On

4800-536: The south and drove for the Channel. The BEF advanced from the Belgian border to positions along the River Dyle within Belgium, where they fought elements of Army Group B starting on 10 May. They were ordered to begin a fighting withdrawal to the Scheldt River on 14 May when the Belgian and French positions on their flanks failed to hold. During a visit to Paris on 17 May, Prime Minister Winston Churchill

4875-473: The three was Route Y, a distance of 87 nautical miles (161 km); using this route increased the sailing time to four hours, double the time required for Route Z. This route followed the French coast as far as Bray-Dunes , then turned north-east until reaching the Kwinte Buoy. Here, after making an approximately 135-degree turn, the ships sailed west to the North Goodwin Lightship and headed south around

4950-423: The tide before they could make use of them. In most areas on the beaches, soldiers queued up with their units and patiently awaited their turn to leave. But at times, panicky soldiers had to be warned off at gunpoint when they attempted to rush to the boats out of turn. In addition to ferrying out on boats, soldiers at De Panne and Bray-Dunes constructed improvised jetties by driving rows of abandoned vehicles onto

5025-482: The unilateral British decision to evacuate through Dunkirk rather than counter-attack to the south, and the perceived preference of the Royal Navy for evacuating British forces at the expense of the French, led to some bitter resentment. According to Churchill, French Admiral François Darlan originally ordered that the British forces should receive preference, but on 31 May, he intervened at a meeting in Paris to order that

5100-436: Was also apprehensive, and on a visit to Army Group A headquarters on 24 May, he endorsed the order. Air Marshal Hermann Göring urged Hitler to let the Luftwaffe (aided by Army Group B ) finish off the British, to the consternation of General Franz Halder , who noted in his diary that the Luftwaffe was dependent upon the weather and aircrews were worn out after two weeks of battle. Rundstedt issued another order, which

5175-407: Was astonished to learn from Gamelin that the French had committed all their troops to the ongoing engagements and had no strategic reserves. On 19 May, Gort met with French General Gaston Billotte , commander of the French First Army and overall coordinator of the Allied forces. Billotte revealed that the French had no troops between the Germans and the sea. Gort immediately saw that evacuation across

5250-453: Was cut off south of the Somme, by the German "race to the sea", in addition to the 1st Armoured Division and a host of logistical and labour troops. Some of the latter had been formed into the improvised Beauman Division . At the end of May, further elements of two divisions began deploying to France with the hope of establishing a Second BEF. The majority of the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division

5325-683: Was established on 14 October 1914 as the third level decoration for gallantry in action for ratings of the Royal Navy, not at the standard required to receive the Victoria Cross or the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal . The equivalent decoration for Officers and Warrant Officers was the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). The DSM ranked below the DSC in order of precedence, between the George Medal and

5400-867: Was forced to surrender on 12 June. However, almost 192,000 Allied personnel, including 144,000 British, were evacuated through various French ports from 15 to 25 June under the codename Operation Aerial . Remaining British forces under the French Tenth Army as Norman Force retreated towards Cherbourg. The Germans marched into Paris on 14 June and France surrendered eight days later. The more than 100,000 French troops evacuated from Dunkirk were quickly and efficiently shuttled to camps in various parts of south-western England, where they were temporarily lodged before being repatriated. British ships ferried French troops to Brest , Cherbourg , and other ports in Normandy and Brittany , although only about half of

5475-428: Was presented to the German public as an overwhelming and decisive German victory. On 5 June 1940, Hitler stated, "Dunkirk has fallen! 40,000 French and English troops are all that remains of the formerly great armies. Immeasurable quantities of materiel have been captured. The greatest battle in the history of the world has come to an end." Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (the German armed forces high command) announced

5550-573: Was sent uncoded. It was picked up by the Royal Air Force (RAF) Y service intelligence network at 12:42: "By order of the Fuhrer ;... attack north-west of Arras is to be limited to the general line Lens–Bethune–Aire–St Omer–Gravelines. The Canal will not be crossed." Later that day, Hitler issued Directive 13, which called for the Luftwaffe to defeat the trapped Allied forces and stop their escape. At 15:30 on 26 May, Hitler ordered

5625-470: Was undertaken amid chaotic conditions, with abandoned vehicles blocking the roads and a flood of refugees heading in the opposite direction. Due to wartime censorship and the desire to keep up British morale, the full extent of the unfolding disaster at Dunkirk was not initially publicised. A special service attended by King George VI was held in Westminster Abbey on 26 May, which was declared

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