The Nazis have French and British forces surrounded at Dunkirk. Once Hitler gives the
order for German troops and tanks to advance, he will have won the war. Luftwaffe bombers
continuously drop their payloads on the evacuation ships. Fighter planes fall from the sky like fiery
shooting stars. Intense urban warfare demolishes entire towns along the Dunkirk border. All seems
lost for the Allies, yet, the mad dictator hesitates. Without the Fuhrer giving the
order to overrun the remaining Allied forces, the Nazi war machine could not finish what they
started. Dunkirk will be both Germany’s greatest victory and biggest mistake of World War II.
September 1, 1939.
Nazi Germany invades Poland. Their heavily armored tanks, well-supplied troops,
and lightening fast aircraft quickly sweep across the landscape and secure victory for
the Third Reich. The rest of the world watches in horror as Adolf Hitler does the unthinkable
and brings everyone to the brink of war. France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Belgium immediately
begin preparing for an attack that will inevitably come from the power-hungry dictator to their East.
September 3, 1939.
France declares war on Germany. All of their allies, including Britain,
are now part of the unfolding conflict in Europe, whether they want to be or not. In a few days,
light skirmishes will break out along the French-German border. It’s as if Hitler is
probing the French defensive line testing it for weaknesses. The Nazis will find a way into France,
but it’s nowhere near where the Allies expect it to come from.
For the next six months, there seems to be an eerily calm that settles just before the
storm breaks out across Europe. This is knowns as the “phony war.” The small skirmishes along
the French border appear to be little more than idle threats. The French command orders their
forces to fall back behind the Maginot Line to provide them with slightly more protection.
German U-boats patrol the waters of the English Channel, North Sea, and the Atlantic. They hunt
for any unguarded supply ships that may be aiding their enemy in the war that is to come.
While tensions rise across the continent, Adolf Hitler reaches out to the other powers in Europe
to see if there is any chance of maintaining peace while also allowing him to keep Poland
and other slight border gains made during this time. The response is not what he had hoped.
The British concoct a plan to hurt the Nazi war machine and allow them to build up their
forces for when war does break out. In secret, the Allies start to place mines in the harbors
of Norway, which is a neutral country in this dispute. By placing mines in Norweigian ports,
Britain is risking lighting a match that could ignite the powder keg of war in Europe,
but Germany must be stopped at all costs.
Germany is receiving a massive amount of coal from Norway,
and the disruption of this critical resource should slow down the Nazi’s military growth.
April 7, 1940.
Adolf Hitler hears rumors of the Allies' plans to place mines in Norway to cut off
one of his most vital supply lines. For many months German military strategists have been
planning the best way to overtake western Europe and bring the Allies to their knees.
April 9, 1940.
The sun rises on the Danish-German border. It’s a quiet morning. A gentle spring breeze wisps
through the fields, gently blowing tall grass from side to side. It’s peaceful in the countryside,
but along the water, mechanical beasts make their way into Copenhagen's ports.
The Nazis first deploy their warships into the harbors of Denmark, then they deploy their tanks
which plow through the Danish countryside and dispatch the minimal resistance they encounter.
The sound of roaring engines from the Luftwaffe fills the sky over
Norway and signals that the country is now under German occupation. The planes
drop paratroopers who quickly capture major ports and cities.
With the invasion of Norway and Denmark underway, the Netherlands and Belgium know they are next.
They join forces along with the French and British to fortify their Eastern borders to stop
the onslaught of the Nazis that are knocking on their doors. 900,000 troops from the Netherlands
and Belgium are deployed to the border. Their combined airforces number around 900 planes,
almost all of which are obsolete compared to the much larger and vastly superior Nazi Luftwaffe.
Germany has around 3.5 million troops, 5,500 aircraft, and 10 Panzer divisions ready to
fight the most bloody war the world will ever see. One of the key differences between Nazi
military strategy and that of the Allies is they have their tanks in their own divisions.
The Allies have their tanks dispersed between different infantry units.
This will be a fatal flaw in the battles to come as Nazi Panzers
take advantage of this and decimate entire battalions of Allied infantry and tanks.
May 10, 1940.
Adolf Hitler sits in Nazi Command with his generals. He decides that the time has come
to attack. After numerous battle scenarios, Hitler chooses Lieutenant-General Erich von
Manstein’s tactic to launch an invasion along Germany’s western front with three
main forces. The Nazis wait for updates as their men begin a unified attack into Allied territory.
General Wilhelm von Leeb commands Army Group C as it slams against French defenses along the
Maginot Line. This will be the hardest line to break for the Nazis but the plan doesn’t
necessarily hinge on Army Group C’s success. Hitler and his Generals know that they can
throw everything they have at the French border and likely come out on top, but it will cost
them an unfathomable amount of soldiers and resources. Instead, Wilhelm von Leep and his
force just need to keep the French busy while the other two Nazi forces carry out their missions.
General Fedor von Bock commands Army Group B. He is tasked with invading Belgium and
the Netherlands. His goal is to make it to the English Channel and then push west to control
the ports and coastal regions of northern Europe. Army Group B will meet the second most resistance
as the bulk of the Belgian and Dutch forces are concentrated along the Grebbe and Peel Lines.
As Army Group B pushes further west, the Allied forces fall right into the Nazi’s
trap. Hitler’s military strategists predicted that if Allied forces in the north became overwhelmed,
the Allies would send reinforcements to aid in the protection of the coast. This
causes Allied forces to be drawn forward into Belgium, leaving a key region open
for the Nazis to pass through. It’s this decision that allows Germany to carry out
the final part of their plan. It will also lead to a German victory at the Battle of Dunkirk.
As the French are fighting to hold the line against General Wilhelm von Leeb, the remaining
Allied Forces are repositioned to meet General Fedor von Bock and his army in the north. At the
same time, General Gerd von Rundstedt leads Army Group A through the Ardennes to penetrate the
Allied defensive lines. Army Group A consists of 1.5 million soldiers and over 1,500 tanks.
The Nazi plan of attack goes exactly according to plan. The Allies let themselves fall right
into the trap the Germans laid by splitting their forces to the north and south. This leaves a gap
straight through Luxenburg and southern Belgium, where Army Group A meets little resistance.
There is now no way to stop the spread of Nazi forces from Army Group B since reinforcements
from the south can’t reach the northern line of defense. Army Group A demolishes any resistance
they come across while rolling through the Ardennes forests and hilly landscape. The
geography of the region is the only thing slowing them down, but it does not stop them. The Allies
truly believed that there was no way Hitler would send his troops through the Ardennes because of
its landscape. Unfortunately, they were wrong, and now Germany is dominating the battlefield.
May 11, 1940.
British and French forces scramble to aid their Allies to the north. They reinforce
the middle of the Belgium countryside but fail to offer any relief along the coast.
Army Group A continues its mission through the Ardennes to reach the French border
and flank Allied forces to the south. Divisions within Army Group A scream across the Ardennes;
their target is the Meuse River, which they will need to cross in order to enter France.
May 13, 1940.
French and British units are stationed along the Meuse River. They await orders on where they
will be deployed next. Suddenly Allied soldiers hear the roar of engines from across the river.
Above them, white parachutes open like circular clouds drifting across the blue sky. Then the Nazi
infantry breaks through the tree line. The Allied forces stationed across the Meuse never expected
to see Germans here. Word reached them that the Nazis were trying to pass through the Ardennes,
but Allied command was sure it would take them several days to get through the rough terrain.
In fact, they were so sure that the Nazis wouldn’t be able to get their tanks through the Ardennes
that they didn’t bother deploying anti-tank guns in the region. This turns out to be a huge error.
May 14, 1940.
The Germans open fire on the Allied troops. They are able to repel the Nazis until
Panzer Group Kleist rushes across the river and breaches Allied lines. The Nazi tanks are fast,
durable, and armed to the teeth. The few tanks the French and British forces have
available to them are no match for the Panzer division. Shells rain down like
hellfire. Allied armor is torn through as their own bullets ricochet off of the Panzers’ armor.
The Panzers move like lightning, and after a decisive battle, German forces enter France for
the first time in World War II. The Nazis claim victory after victory. The Allied
forces cannot stop them, and now that Panzer tanks and Nazi soldiers are on French soil,
things are about to get even worse. The Battle of France has only been raging for four days,
but during this time, the Nazis have been able to completely demolish much of the Allied
defenses. Now they will break through the most heavily fortified front in France.
Once the German Panzer Corps tore through Allied forces in Sedan, France, they were able to circle
around behind the Maginot line. Army Group C keeps up the pressure on the western front while Nazi
forces from Army Group A race south to surround the Allied troops. With the combined forces of
Army Groups A and C, the Maginot Line falls, and France faces the real threat of Nazi occupation.
May 15, 1940.
French troops retreat towards Paris to try and defend their capital. Nazi tanks and
troops are in hot pursuit. Paris will fall in time, but that battle will not determine
the outcome of the war. However, the Battle of Dunkirk and the evacuation of soldiers across
the English channel will play a pivotal role in the years to come. The Battle of
France and the coming Battle of Dunkirk will both be successful victories for Germany,
but a crucial mistake is made. A mistake that will haunt Adolf Hitler for the rest of his life.
Although much of the German forces from Army Group A push towards southern France,
a sizable portion heads further west and then north to block the escape of the retreating
French and British forces. Army Group B continues pushing Allied forces towards Dunkirk putting
their backs against the English Channel. Now that Army Group A has encircled them,
the Allies have nowhere to go but across the channel and into Britain
if they have any hope of saving the men that are now stuck in Dunkirk.
While the Nazis close in on French and British forces from all sides,
the Dutch surrender after a heavy bombing campaign on Rotterdam. Heinz Guderian’s XIX Panzer Corps
is moving at lightning speed across the middle of France, causing the German line to extend
over a hundred miles. This starts to worry Nazi command because if the Allies manage to
launch a successful counterattack out of northern France, it will be disastrous for the Germans.
May 20, 1940.
Only days before, both Antwerp and Brussels fell to the Nazis. When this happened,
the remainder of the Allied forces were pushed to the coastline of France,
where there is literally nowhere to go. Around one million men are trapped between
the British Channel and the Nazi legions that want nothing more than to crush them.
Battles rage in the south of France as soldiers desperately try to fend off the
Panzer divisions that are headed towards Paris. Communication between the southern forces and
those stuck in the north of France has been severed. Each part of the Allied army is on
its own. It seems as if the war is about to end right then and there, with the Nazis dominating
much of Europe. The only hope for the Allies is to get their men across the channel and regroup
in Britain. But it will take a miracle to move a million men before the Nazis breach Dunkirk.
The Nazis begin pushing towards Dunkirk. The Allies set up defensive positions all around
the region and fight with everything they’ve got to repel attack after attack from the unrelenting
German tanks, soldiers, and planes. Their bravery allows them to slow the Nazi advance,
but it does not stop it. The crushing pressure that German forces put on the
Allied soldiers in northern France becomes unbearable. There just aren't enough
ships to ferry the men off the European mainland and onto the shores of Britain.
May 24, 1940.
The Allies are about to lose the war. Luftwaffe bombers and fighter planes
strike defensive positions around Dunkirk, annihilating Allied troops and cannons. Then
something incredible happens. The relentless Nazi advance stops. Allied soldiers look at
one another in disbelief as the Panzer tanks sit idly on the front line of the battlefield.
German soldiers watch from a safe distance as their enemy is stunned by the pause in battle.
The Allied lines hold around Dunkirk. The Nazis could easily reach the city in only
a few hours if nothing stood in their way. All it would take was one Panzer
division to breach the Allied line of defense, and the war would be over, yet,
no one moves. The Allies can’t believe their luck. Allied command is informed of the Nazi halt and
frantically tries to devise a plan to get their men out of the tight situation around Dunkirk.
Back at Nazi headquarters, Hitler’s generals are giving their leader mixed messages. “We
can decimate their forces only using my Luftwaffe planes, thus eliminating the
Allied threat without losing a single tank or infantry regiment,” Hermann Göring exclaims.
“Both General Kleist and I agree with Göring mein Fuhrer. It would be a mistake to advance
our troops further into Dunkirk. We are spread too thin, and the enemy could launch
a counterattack that would break our lines. The British tanks entrenched at Arras pose
a grave threat to the success of our mission,” Günther von Kluge chimes in.
“We also need to conserve our armored divisions for the next stage of the
offensive. If we lose too many tanks to secure Dunkirk, our push into southern France could
be hindered. And we should not forget that the end goal of all of this is to create a
Third Reich that spans from the Atlantic Ocean into Eastern Europe. At some point,
we will need to deal with the Soviets,” General Gerd von Rundstedt states.
Hitler sits quietly, thinking of what he should do next. Even though many of his
top generals have told him to slow the assault in Northern France, many warn
that if Germany allows the British and French forces to escape across the English Channel,
it could ultimately lose them the war. However, Adolf Hitler cannot forget what happened to the
men he served with in World War I when they got bogged down in the marshy landscape of Flanders.
This thought instills fear in the Fuhrer that his tanks may become stuck and all will be lost.
Then again, perhaps if he allows Britain to pull its men out of France,
they may be more likely to enter into peace talks. Hitler would be more than
happy to let Great Britain keep their little island momentarily if they stayed out of his
affairs on the European continent. “I cannot make such an important decision
with haste,” Hitler says to his generals. “We will reconvene and discuss our choices
in the days to come. Until then, our ground forces will remain halted outside of Dunkirk.”
Many of the Nazi leaders in the room nod their approval;
others shake their heads in dismay. Adolf Hitler may have just handed the war to the Allies.
May 26, 1940.
As Hitler and his generals debate on what to do about the invasion of Dunkirk,
the Allies work fast. When German ground forces were brought to a halt,
Allied command ordered as many troops as possible to retreat to Dunkirk for evacuation. Over 700
civilian ships are sent from Britain to Dunkirk to bring soldiers across the channel. Operation
Dynamo has commenced, and it will become the largest military evacuation of all time.
That evening Hitler makes up his mind. When reports start coming in that Allied soldiers
are escaping across the channel, he has no choice but to unleash his ground forces and
rush them towards Dunkirk as quickly as possible. The Luftwaffe tries to
conduct bombing runs on the massive evacuation fleet that seems to have appeared overnight,
but the British Royal Air Force claims air superiority for the moment.
Dog fights break out in the night sky over Dunkirk as ships ferry soldiers away from
the Nazi threat. Not every ship makes it back to British shores. Both Naval and
civilian ships are used in the evacuation. Many are either damaged or destroyed by Nazi
planes. British aircraft try their best to take out as many bombers as possible,
but the Nazi Lufftwafe seems to have an endless supply of aircraft with skilled pilots.
May 27, 1940.
After a night of bombing and air-to-air combat, the Luftwaffe return to finish the job. The German
aircraft swoop in and drop their payloads on the docks of Dunkirk Harbor; this entire section of
the city is destroyed. Admiral Bertram Ramsay is given overall command of the operation to
evacuate Allied forces from Dunkirk. He tasks Captain William Tennant with overseeing the
evacuation efforts on the shores of France. When Tennant arrives he finds that the Allies can only
evacuate from the beaches of Dunkirk since the port has been completely destroyed. The makeshift
fleet ferries just under 8,000 troops from Dunkirk to Britain in the first full day of evacuations.
At the same time, the renewed German advance slams into heavy resistance.
Allied soldiers have had a few days to rest and know that the evacuation efforts hinge on their
ability to hold the Nazi ground forces back. As reports come in to the German high command,
Hitler is furious that his forces aren’t getting through the Allied
lines. He orders another halt in the Nazi’s attack, which buys the Allies precious time.
Hitler then redirects his forces further south to try and get around the Allied
line of defense. The German tanks and soldiers end up being too much
for the limited Allied forces. They are slowly pushed back closer to Dunkirk.
May 28, 1940.
The Belgian Army surrenders to Germany. This leaves the Nazi forces to the East with the
task of dealing with hundreds of thousands of prisoners. The surrendering of Belgium is
a blessing in disguise as it greatly slows the Nazi advance along the coast towards Dunkirk.
Clouds and smoke fill the sky, allowing ships to continue their
evacuation efforts while hindering the sight of the Luftwaffe pilots.
17,800 troops are evacuated while their comrades hold the line against the Nazis.
May 29, 1940.
Adolf Hitler is inconsolable. He wants the Battle of Dunkirk won immediately.
He screams at Hermann Göring to deliver on his promise to defeat the Allies using the
German airforce. Practically every bomber and fighter available is launched and flies
towards Dunkirk. They unleash an iron rain of bombs. Machine guns strafe the beaches as
Allied soldiers are crammed onto fishing and merchant boats. Thousands are slaughtered in
the mayhem, but 47,000 soldiers make it safely to the shores of Britain.
May 30, 1940. Bad weather and low
visibility hinder the German Luftwaffe's efforts to stop the evacuation of Allied
soldiers once again. Almost 59,000 troops make it to safety across the English Channel.
May 31, 1940.
Throughout the evacuation during Operation Dynamo, a brave contingent of Allied forces
hold the area around Lille, France. The Nazis have been trying to conquer this city,
as if they push into Dunkirk without making sure that the Allied soldiers holding Lille
are dealt with, it might lead to a devastating counterattack. Nazi generals shout orders at
their commanders as they desperately try and smash the Allied force holding the city.
The men have been fighting valiantly, but on May 31, they are overwhelmed by the Nazis,
who allocate even more forces to secure the city. The sacrifice of the soldiers at Lille
allows thousands of soldiers to escape that might not have otherwise if the Germans had been able
to focus solely on Dunkirk. When Lille falls, 35,000 troops are captured. But at the same time,
68,000 men make it out of Dunkirk in the biggest evacuation day of the battle.
June 1, 1940.
The weather clears up. Nazi airplanes wreak havoc on evacuation efforts. Four destroyers and 27
ships are sunk. Thousands of lives are lost. Even still, the Allies evacuate around 62,500 men.
June 2, 1940.
26,256 troops are evacuated from Dunkirk. German ground forces creep closer and closer
to the city while thousands of soldiers still need to be evacuated. Time is running out.
June 3, 1940.
Evacuation efforts are taking their toll on the ships, men, and sailors who are
doing everything they can to save as many lives as possible. 26,700 Allied soldiers
are rescued. The Nazis are within eyeshot of Dunkirk. The soldiers who are holding them
back are sustaining heavy casualties. It will not be long before the Germans are victorious.
June 4, 1940.
A final round of 26,175 Allied soldiers are evacuated from the shores of Dunkirk. The
Nazis enter the city just in time to see the last of the British ships sail away.
It’s this sight that signifies the failure of Adolf Hitler to act strategically during
the battle. No one knew it then, but his orders to stop the German advance outside
of Dunkirk while he assessed his options might have cost him the war in the end.
Make no mistake. The Nazis were victorious at the Battle of France and the Battle of Dunkirk.
They secured Dunkirk and, with it, captured 40,000 French soldiers. Another 40,000 British soldiers
were also seized in the surrounding area. An even bigger win for the Nazis was that
in the turmoil and expediency of the evacuation, the Allies left behind hundreds of field guns,
anti-aircraft guns, and anti-tank guns. It’s also estimated that the Germans were able
to capture around 700 Allied tanks, which they used in their own battalions throughout the war.
After the Battle of Dunkirk, German forces could focus on capturing the rest of France,
including Paris, which is exactly what they did. Dunkirk and the Battle of France may
have been the Nazi's greatest victory in World War II, but allowing so many
British and French soldiers to escape may have cost them war in the years to come.
Now watch “How I Survived D-Day - The Battle of Normandy.” Or check out “The Battle of the Bulge.”