Despite the fact that the French in many areas fought well, the Germans destroyed the Allied forces in the field in short order. The second act of the Battle of France began on 5 June, with the Germans striking southwards from the River Somme. It also strengthened the credibility of Churchill's insistence that Britain would fight on, thus influencing the neutral USA at a time when American aid was vital.īritish and French prisoners of war at St Valéry-en-Caux The return of the troops, even without much of their equipment, gave Britain a basis on which to rebuild the Army, sheltering behind the Navy and the RAF. That the German forces failed to press their attack on Dunkirk was largely thanks to grim defence of the Dunkirk perimeter by British and French troops, and the efforts of the much-depleted RAF.Īlthough as Churchill, who had become Prime Minster on 10 May rightly commented, 'wars are not won by evacuation', Dynamo was a victory of incalculable importance for the BEF. Between 26 May and 4 June, a hastily organised evacuation by sea, code-named Operation Dynamo, lifted 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk.
The French, not surprisingly, regarded this as a betrayal, but Gort's decision saved the BEF. Then General Lord Gort, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), on 23/4 May took the morally courageous decision to abandon his role in a projected Anglo-French counterattack, and fell back on the Channel ports. General Weygand replaced General Gamelin as French commander-in-chief, but it made no difference. The Belgian army surrendered on 28 May, leaving a gaping hole on the British flank of the Allied forces.Īllied high command seemed paralysed.
With German forces pushing through Belgium and the Panzers looping up from the south and west, the Allies were encircled. Then at Arras on 21 May, a scratch force of British tanks and infantry gave a rough reception to Erwin Rommel's 7th Panzer Division. And the Germans did not have it all their own way, as French forces under Charles de Gaulle showed how vulnerable the flanks of the German forces were to bold counterattacks. Lacking a centrally placed strategic reserve, the Allies tried to pull their armies out of Belgium to respond to the new threat emerging in their rear.
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