The Real Miracle at Dunkirk and the Other Channel Ports in May 1940

Source B5 is the front page of the “daily express”. A British newspaper at the time, published May 31st 1940. The source tells me that all three armed forces came together in “one of the most magnificent operations in history”. Most content comes from information give out by the government at the time. This source tells me that Dunkirk was triumph not only because of its clear reference to Germany’s failure: “shattering losses”. But also it’s clear message of how many soldiers were home by then “tens of thousands safely home already”, a triumph to Britain and its people. This source can be useful in in terms of what the British people knew at the time but also what information the government was giving away in order not to crush British morale. It cannot be fully relied upon as it’s extremely biased, propaganda, as well as that there are no eyewitness accounts, no primary evidence only secondary evidence given out by the government.

The Germans were losing aircraft and pilots fast; Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion. Germany had lost. The fighter pilots of the battle of Britain had saved Britain from invasion, but many of its major cities were severely bombed. German U boats and surface vessels also began a new campaign.

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...”

By the time the Germans launched their air offensive against Fighter Britain 1940 Command had planes ready for immediate action. During the Battle of Britain these figures remained roughly constant as increased aircraft production made good high losses. These 700 or so planes were really all that stood between Hitler and complete victory insofar as all of continental Europe by this time was either Nazi- occupied, neutral or allied with Hitler's Germany. If the RAF failed to deny the Luftwaffe control of the skies, then 'Operation Sealion', the proposed Nazi invasion of Britain, could proceed and there's no doubt that had Hitler's armies crossed the Channel, then Britain would have been knocked out of the war. The fact that the Battle of Britain

After Germany conquered France’s 800,000 man army, they could go after the British. The germans had and issue going after Great Britain, Great Britain’s Army had a great defense system. When Adolf Hitler planned to send a fleet of fighter planes to Britain, the British found out and had a plan to stop them. Great Britain’s plan was to be prepared to fight in the sky. So when the German Luftwaffe came to attack the British Royal Air Force was already there to fight them. It was a struggle for both sides for many months and was the first major battle fought completely in the air. Adolf Hitler’s plan was to win air superiority over Southern Britain by destroying the British Air Force and aircraft industry. (The

The plot to deceive Hitler was successful and it is believed that on the 9th June message sent to the Führer by Garbo was the key factor that kept some of the German’s best army divisions away from Normandy which eventually pave way for Allies victory of the war. The Germans were still holding to their belief that the Allies would invade in Pas-de-Calais until September 1944

Following the defeat of France, Hitler attention is to invade the Britain whom the only nation left in Western Europe oppose him.As a result, British government encourages civilians to prepare for Air raid defense as resulted of relocating needed.The use of air warfare had a terrifying emotional effect. The relocating process showed the nation presses success in communicating notice out to people.

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

Imagine hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting in blizzard conditions, both sides fighting for their country, The Battle of the Bulge was one of the largest battles of the war and proved to be one of the most important. Some people ask how the Allied forces were able to stop the seemingly unbeatable Nazi war machine, this battle would be the last major offensive by the Third Reich in attempt to change the tides of the Second World War. The Allied forces were about to be a part of the true terrors of war.

World War one is strongly linked with the landing of Gallipoli, yet the Australian experience of WW1 is a lot more than the 8 months of the Gallipoli campaign. It can be argued that the experiences of Australian soldiers on the Western Front in 1916, including the Battles of Fromelles and Pozieres, have been largely overlooked in accounts of World War One. The landing of Gallipoli has become legendary and all it represents connects with most Australians. Consequently, the Battles of the Western Front have been overlooked. Thus, most ordinary Australians have only heard of the story behind the landing of Gallipoli. This event has taken precedence in the public’s mind and has been the focal point of war memories and remembrance.

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

Why Britain Won the Battle of Britain After taking France in addition to his list of captured countries on mainland Europe, Adolf Hitler set his sights on Britain. After the success of Blitzkrieg, the evacuation of Dunkirk and the surrender of France, Britain was by herself. However, before Hitler could contemplate undertaking an invasion he was advised by his generals that Germany had to destroy the Fighter Command of the Royal Air Force in order to gain superiority in the air. This would in turn enable him to gain control of the English Channel in order to transfer the 160,000 German troops on the 2000 invasion barges, which had been assembled in German, French and Belgian harbors, over the

Source 2 is a valid source as it is a textbook extract with accurate statistics from a reliable source. The Source tells of the many positive aspects of the Battle of Dunkirk; including, the number of troops, heavy guns and vehicles successfully evacuated. As well as the effects of the Battle on affairs such as politics and the British public’s view of the armed forces. The source is taken from a school history textbook called Essential Modern World History published in 2003; and written by Ben Walsh. The purpose of this source is to educate students so the information will be accurate. A negative aspect of this source is that it is written from a British perspective and does not highlight the heavy and costly losses suffered during the battle.

There were plenty of indications that the Luftwaffe might face real problems in accomplishing their initial step towards the conquest of Britain. The first came during the evacuation of Allied troops from the Dunkirk beaches at the end of May. The Luftwaffe's principal modern fighter, the Messerschmitt Bf109E (Me-109), had limited range and was operating from bases some way from Dunkirk, making the German bombers very vulnerable to the most modern RAF fighters. This was a foretaste of the problems that they would soon face over Britain itself, and during the operation they lost 240

Germany did not have a numerically superior force on the western front, but bold strategy, careful planning and blitzkrieg tactics set the foundation for the French defeat. In June 1940 Hitler invaded Paris, eight days later the French surrendered. After the French surrender, Hitler attempted to end the war with Britain. Speaking to the Reichstag in June, he said, “I can see no reason why the war need go on.” But Hitler was already had his sights set on invading Russia. He now aimed to end the war in the west so he could concentrate on attacking communist Russia in the east. Hitler knew that invading Britain would be difficult, but still he informed his military to leaders to prepare for the operation, Operation Sea Lion, and proceeded in planning a landing operation against Britain.