Related situations of the Dunkirk evacuation and Normandy landings in World War II

Dunkirk Evacuation

On May 10, 1940, at Neville. Five weeks after Chamberlain resigned as British Prime Minister and declared that "Hitler has missed the opportunity (to attack France)," Germany launched a lightning attack on Western Europe.

The German army that launched the offensive had 136 divisions, including 10 armored divisions and 6 motorized infantry divisions, with more than 3,000 tanks and more than 4,500 aircraft. Nazi Germany used this huge The armed forces began the invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France.

The 70 divisions under Generals Bock and Rundstedt, with paratroopers, harassment troops and armored divisions as the vanguard, moved forward rapidly under the cover of a powerful air force; tanks and armored vehicles converged An unstoppable torrent rushed towards the defending British and French allied forces. In front of the tanks and armored vehicles, batches of "Stuka" bombers carried out low-altitude bombing with high-explosive bombs. Faced with German air attacks, the inexperienced Allied forces began to collapse. The German armored forces broke through the Maas River defenses with almost no effort.

When disasters occurred one after another on the southern battlefield, the Allied northern defense line was also torn apart. In this case, the British Expeditionary Force and the French 1st Army had to retreat to the next line of defense, the Escaut River Defense Line. Nonetheless, the Germans quickly captured Brussels and Cambrai and bypassed Saint-Quentin. On May 18, German armored divisions surrounded Amiens. On May 21, the German armored forces arrived at the coast of the English Channel, splitting the strategic fronts of the British and French allies, and using the Netherlands and Belgium as airborne and submarine bases, they blocked the Pas de Calais and prevented British reinforcements. About 40 divisions of the British and French Allied Forces were surrounded in the Dunkirk area of ??northern France.

At this time, the German army annihilated the trapped British troops on land and air. The onslaught of the French Allied Forces is already underway. Five divisions of General Rundstedt's armored forces have advanced to Gravelin, within 30km of the port of Dunkirk, blocking the network entrance from the west and south; Bock The army group is pressing forward step by step from the east and southeast: Rundstedt will provide the "iron drill", while Bock will use its absolutely superior infantry and artillery as the "iron hammer". The German Air Force also exerted all its power in the air in an attempt to destroy the British and French Allied Forces or force them to surrender.

The British Expeditionary Force and the French 1st Army were in an increasingly critical situation under the fierce offensive of the German armored forces. To this end, the Allied Command held an emergency meeting to discuss the war situation and combat plans. Churchill, who had just succeeded the British Prime Minister, believed that it was no longer possible for the hundreds of thousands of besieged Allied troops to break out from the siege on land. The only way to survive was to quickly mobilize all available forces. The ships headed for the Dunkirk area, passed through the English Channel, and evacuated the soldiers who were trapped in the siege.

Most generals agreed with Churchill and believed that it was best to take action at this moment and preserve a group of troops that had been tested by war, so that in the future there would be hope of returning to Western Europe and achieving final victory. Several French generals, led by General Blanchard, firmly opposed it. They advocated fighting the Germans to the bitter end and spilling the last drop of blood on French soil. After intense debate, the headquarters formulated a retreat plan code-named "Generator" and decided to maintain a tenacious defense while mobilizing all available ships, large and small, in preparation for a strategic retreat.

As the war situation worsened, the Allied forces became increasingly precarious. The British Expeditionary Force and the French 1st Army had no choice but to retreat. At this juncture, Hitler suddenly ordered the armored forces to stop advancing, which provided the Allies with a rare respite. As a result, the Allied forces began to implement the "Generator" plan on May 26. To this end, the British army quickly mobilized more than 1,000 ships and reluctantly issued the "fight to the death" order to some troops to cooperate with the French and Belgian troops, block the German offensive, and cover the retreat of the large forces. At the same time, they quickly organized strong anti-tank firepower and established relatively solid defensive positions in the areas of Gravelines, Dunkirk, and Nipot, from Calais to Dunkirk, especially in Gravelines. An important "flood defense line" has been established on the front line. The so-called "flood defense line" is to open the sluices along the coast between Dunkirk and Calais, allowing floods to flood the surrounding lowlands, in order to block the German armored forces that are rapidly moving north along the coast and advancing towards the channel ports. When the water gradually receded, leaving only some not-so-deep water, the German tanks roared towards the water. Amidst the rumbling sound of cannons, the water splashed up into countless tall water columns. In an instant, the standing water suddenly turned into a sea of ??fire. This is the Allied Forces' "Water Trapped Fire Attack" formation. They poured large amounts of gasoline and alcohol into the standing water. As soon as the shells and incendiary bombs hit the water, the gasoline and alcohol burst into flames. The flames engulfed the German tanks. Some tank crews panicked and rushed around in the fire; some drivers were burned unconscious, and the tanks stopped there and let them burn... A German armored unit disappeared in the flames.

Despite the Allied forces' best efforts to defend, the German army continued to intensify its attacks on Dunkirk and the Channel from land, sea and air.

Groups of German aircraft flew over the English Channel, dropping bombs on unprotected beaches and on Allied ships loaded with evacuating officers and soldiers. The difficulty of the Allied retreat can be imagined. In order to cover the retreat of the soldiers, the British Air Force fought tenaciously with the numerous German Air Force time and time again, shooting down hundreds of German aircraft, thus saving the retreating fleet from greater losses.

This was a day in the retreat. Groups of German aircraft took turns to attack and bomb. Artillery shells and bombs roared and exploded. The beaches, causeways and ports became a sea of ??fire. At least 11 British ships were sunk and 9 were seriously damaged. However, despite the roar of bombers overhead, groups of British Expeditionary Forces still quickly boarded the ship in an orderly manner. From midnight to 3 a.m., the police evacuated 26,256 people, of whom 19,561 were picked up from the port by large ships and 6,695 were evacuated from the beach by small boats.

After the large forces of the British Expeditionary Force had evacuated, several British generals came to the headquarters of the French 1st Army, which was fighting alongside them, and persuaded them to retreat with the British army as soon as possible. But these generals were as tough as their commander-in-chief Blanchard, who said categorically: "We would rather shed the last drop of blood on French soil than retreat!" Two days later, the French 1st Army The troops were surrounded and annihilated by the German army, and more than 40,000 people were captured. Several generals among them led about 50,000 French soldiers in a desperate fight. They fought their way out of the siege on the corpses and blood of their comrades, boarded ships at Dunkirk, and retreated with the British Expeditionary Force. By 5:23 pm on June 4, Allied forces withdrew from the port of Dunkirk and the beaches. 33. There are more than 80,000 people, including 215,000 British troops and 123,000 French and Belgian troops. "

During the retreat, the British army suffered more than 68,000 casualties and the French army captured more than 40,000 people. During the entire battle, the British army lost 302 aircraft, 226 ships, and 6 cars. More than 30,000 vehicles, 500,000 tons of other supplies and ammunition, and the French army lost about 60 ships. On the same day, the German army occupied Dunkirk. In the Dunkirk strategic retreat, despite the heavy losses of the Allied forces, many military commentators believed that "Germany's defeat and the recovery of Europe began here" and called this strategic retreat "a major event in the history of war." Miracle".

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Normandy Invasion

In the spring of 1944, the Second World War was coming to an end. . In order to speed up the demise of German fascism, the Allied Forces of the United States, France and the United States decided to land in Normandy and open up a second battlefield.

Normandy is the most ideal landing place because it is close to the British air base and can be obtained. The air force provided cover, and there was a large seaport nearby, which ensured the transportation of logistics supplies and follow-up troops. In addition, the German defense force there was relatively weak.

The Allies made careful preparations for the landing. While using all means to create illusions and confuse the enemy, the Allied forces gave the Germans the illusion that the Allies would land in the Calais area.

On the morning of June 6, 1944, the Allies took advantage of the high tide and the brief period that had just appeared. In good weather, the landing in Normandy began. 4 to 5 hours before the landing, under the cover of intensive air force assaults, the US 82nd Division, the 101st Division, and the British 6th Division were deployed on both sides of the landing area 10 to 15 meters away from the coast. At 5 o'clock in the morning, the Allied forces began airborne fire preparations, and carried out a half-hour artillery preparation for the German defensive positions on the coast. From 6:30 to 7:45, the first batch of landing troops landed in five landing areas. At 9:00, they basically broke through the German defensive positions and established a relatively solid foothold. 132,000 people landed on land and captured several landing sites with a depth of 8 to 10 kilometers. From June 7 to 12, a unified landing site was established with a frontal width of about 80 kilometers and a depth of 13 to 19 kilometers. Kilometers. On June 17, 19 divisions had landed 500,000 troops. On July 5, the Allied troops landed on a front of 150 kilometers and a depth of 13 to 35 kilometers. The strategic landing site. At this point, the Allied forces completed the planned landing, and the Normandy landing campaign came to an end.

The Normandy landing campaign was the largest landing campaign in World War II and an unprecedented scale in the history of human warfare. The landing battle. Its victory laid the foundation for the opening of the second battlefield in Europe.

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