Describing Dunkirk

Dunkirk battle could be called a failure or success depending on the viewpoint. From 27th May to 4th June the British Expeditionary Force with the remainder of the French and Belgian armies were attacked from behind by the Germans while waiting for a ‘ferry service’ back to Britain.

landing ships and assault and mechanized landing craft, there were now available also tank landing

So, what exactly happened at the Battle of Dunkirk? Why did Churchill have to deliver a speech about it? The Battle of Dunkirk was a skirmish between the Allies and the Nazi Germans, ending in a defeat for the Allied forces. The overall attack of the German forces was too overwhelming for the Allies to bear, and the mistakes they made weren’t helping. The outcome was inevitable, “...when the force of and scope of the German penetration was realized...”

The Germans at Dieppe were informed ahead of time by German U-boats and French double agents. Allies weren’t aware what had occurred, and made their way into Dieppe. Allies thought the element of surprise would work and catch the enemy off-guard, but it was the opposite. As soon as the allies beached, they were slaughtered. Loss of life was unimaginable.

The Battle of Britain as a Turning Point in the Defeat of German in World War Two

Was the raid on Dieppe (Operation Jubilee) really a blood filled failure or a valuable military lesson? On August 19th, 1942, over five thousand Canadian, British and American soldiers landed on the beaches of Dieppe. Ready to launch a full scale raid against the German occupied French port. For years Operation Jubilee has been considered a complete disaster, leaving more than nine hundred Canadian dead and thousands more taken prisoner and wounded. After the raid, allies soon realized that there were highly important details that could have been the key to their success. Operation Jubilee gave allies the experience and knowledge they needed in order to be successful in other future raids and battles. Learning that the need for proper intelligence

The significance of the bombing has to be considered in relation to its cost. It took up 7% of Britain’s war effort; 120,000 American and British airmen died; and 21,000 bombers were lost. Some argue that the money should have been spent on developing and building better surface ships and tanks and that, as the British Naval blockade had suffocated Germany of much needed resources, its defeat was inevitable

Winston Churchill was in full authority at this time and had approved of allowing all types of ships cross the channel to evacuate as many soldiers possible and rescue them back to Britain. This was when The Popular event Dunkirk took place. Dunkirk took place on the 27th May where, the British had created the Plan of ‘Operation Dynamo’ where now the only intentions was to retreat British and even French soldiers to the Sea Port of Dunkirk where people sailed back and forth rescuing many. The German forces were still advanced enough to exploit the gap left in the Allied Line which made this process harder for the British. It is said around 345,000 allied troops were rescued from Dunkirk and that this was more than expected even recusing more French Troops but yet some say this was not a large enough total and many were captured by the German or went missing. Dunkirk can be seen as both a defeat and victory or even both due to the different events which took place before and during the battle of Dunkirk. Dunkirk will go down in history as a remarkable and history changing event which with all the activity took place will never have a certain answer as such

Therefore if something were to happen it would take a lot of time for the leaders to find out. Furthermore, the soldiers did not feel the sense of trust with their leader because they were not out in the field fighting with them they were under no risk. Additionally, the battle was harsh on the families of the soldiers too. The families would hear news about their country winning but sometimes it was false or the news were way behind because the communication was horrible. Moreover, since for most of the families there children went to war they did not know what was going on if their children were okay or if they were dead. In some cases the family would lose all the soldiers that went to war. (Keegan, 217-218) The combination of them not being in the best shape to go to war, the people around them dying next to them, and not having their leaders by there side fighting with them. On the other hand, in The battle Waterloo it only lasted a day and a half. Even though a lot of lives were lost it did not last months. Also, the soldiers in waterloo were in better shaped and prepared for the battle and the leaders in Waterloo were by the side of the

The lack of food supplies due to the British Blockade and increasing casualty lists begun to make an impact on German morale. This, combined with the allies’

To further justify evacuation and therefore show its success in keeping evacuees safe, source six shows casualties in Liverpool. It shows that the death rate was generally over 100 and even in May 1941, at 1453. Again, this justifies the need to evacuate and the safety achieved through evacuation.

However, by the end of July, the RAF had lost 150 aircraft while the Luftwaffe had lost 268. These figures illustrate that there was a much greater loss of aircraft experienced by Germany than the British. These large losses of planes from the outset of a battle would have been a significant blow to any army however, this would have damaged German morale as a greater loss of planes was not something they would have contemplated and as they were coming into this battle with such high expectations, this would have been a significant blow to the Luftwaffe and a stern wake up call to their commanders. However, Britain too was suffering, it was the loss of trained pilots that was crippling the RAF, and the real battle had yet to begin. In August, the Luftwaffe changed their tactics and started to attack Fighter Command's airfields, operation rooms and radar stations - the idea being that the RAF

Many people hold the belief that Dunkirk was a miracle as the troops were facing almost certain annihilation trapped between the enemy and miles of sea. However over 300,000 troops were successfully rescued and evacuated back to Britain.

European land was annihilated and the European countries were all in dispute. Men from all around stepped up and fought for their country, risking and generally losing their lives to save their loved ones. This fatal war was known as World War 2, the deadliest war in history. The war took a devastating toll on many people worldwide, while they watched a majority of their loved ones pass; many felt defeated, until one man stepped up, Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill pronounced his “We Shall Never Surrender” speech on June 4, 1940 at the House of Commons, in the United Kingdom. He delivered his speech in the aftermath of a successful evacuation of the British forces at Dunkirk, following the German Army attack. Churchill’s uplifting words gave the nation hope and a sense of pride, which had been lost during the brutal war. Through imagery and repetition, Winston Churchill delivered his theme in his speech, “We Shall Never Surrender”, that no matter the hardships and defeats that a nation might experience, to not lose hope and to unite together in order to gain strength.

But, by early June some 366 000 of the trapped troops had managed to escape. They had been evacuated back to England by a fleet of small vessels and naval ships. Although the evacuation was a success, Prime Minister Churchill was quick to dampen the celebration, and told the British people, ‘ We must be careful not to assign to this the deliverance the attributes of victory. Wars are not won by evacuations.’