Dunkirk evacuation

The Dunkirk Evacuation

After the start of World War II, after Germany defeated Poland, it quickly occupied Norway to the north in 1940, and at the same time began to launch an offensive against France in the southwest.

But at first, Britain and France confidently believed that after Germany eliminated Poland, its next target would be the Soviet Union.

France also made a preliminary plan to establish a solid Maginot Line of defense at the junction of France and Germany, and deployed heavy troops there, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

However, to the surprise of Britain and France, the German army cleverly bypassed the Maginot Line and launched a fierce attack on France via Belgium.

On May 21, 1940, 400,000 French and British forces stationed in northern France were forced to Dunkirk. The only way out was to take a boat to England by sea.

If the German army continues to chase the British and French troops at this time, they will all be wiped out in Dunkirk, and the German tanks are not far from Dunkirk.

But sometimes history is always full of surprises. Hitler ordered the army to stop advancing and mobilized another army from a farther place to deal with the coalition forces, which gave the coalition forces valuable time to retreat.

Starting from the 26th, the British government sent a large number of ships and mobilized the British people to donate ships to evacuate as many soldiers as possible to the UK.

After the British and French troops began to retreat, the German army immediately stepped up its attack, so the British sent the air force to cover it. After nine days and nine nights of hard fighting, 338,000 British and French troops successfully evacuated to the United Kingdom.

During this evacuation, all kinds of ships could be seen, including brightly colored French fishing boats, tourist boats transporting passengers, colorful warships, etc., which formed a A weird "Armada". Although the fleet did not have advanced equipment, the British people voluntarily participated in the rescue regardless of the danger to their lives.

The success of the Dunkirk evacuation allowed the British and French armies to escape the danger of annihilation, and preserved their strength for future Allied counterattacks.

War sometimes surprises us. Perhaps when we thought we were going to fail, we did not expect that there would be another possibility and a turning point.

So, if we encounter difficulties, we must not give up easily. Maybe there is another possibility.