As a small port town with little name in France, Dunkirk was world-famous for a retreat during World War II. But this famous retreat plan was carried out under the condition that the German army was surrounded and not annihilated, why did the German army make this decision?
And was it right or wrong for the Germans to let go of Dunkirk's 400,000 Allied troops?
On September 1, 1939, Britain and France, who held the idea of "dead friends do not die poor roads", led the disaster to the east, but they did not expect that Germany quickly conquered Poland with "blitzkrieg". Britain and France, who thought that their appeasement policy had worked, were very happy and breathed a big sigh of relief, after all, in their view, the Germans attacked Poland, but wanted to better attack the Soviet Union, which was not harmful to Britain and France.
Plus France feels it has a solid one
Maginot Line
All of a sudden, I was at peace. After all, during World War I, the Maginot Line helped France hold off a large number of enemies. But what didn't even think of Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg was that the mighty Germans, under Hitler's command, marched all the way up and pocketed half of Europe into their pockets. At this time, Britain and France panicked, because the "Daoist friends" were almost dead, and it was immediately their turn to be the two "poor daos".
Terrified, Britain and France pinned all their hopes on the Maginot Line, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to guard the Maginot Line. But to the surprise of Britain and France, the Germans did not start from the Maginot Line in order, but bypassed the Maginot Line and crossed the river from the Sedan area into France.
Now it was the turn of Britain and France to be dumbfounded, and they wanted to keep the Germans out of the door, but they blocked their own way of life. The overwhelming Germans quickly cut off communications between the French and Allied forces in the south, and then from May 10 to May 24, 1940, they hit 400,000 people
The Anglo-French forces fled all the way to Dunkirk.
At this point, 400,000 Anglo-French troops were strictly surrounded by the German army in Dunkirk, and because Dunkirk was a low-lying French town, once the German bombers and artillery continued to attack, then the 400,000 British and French troops would become the ghosts of the German artillery.
So although the British army used all its strength to rescue this army, and the initial goal was only to rescue as many as 30,000 people as possible out of 400,000 troops. But the shocking thing happened again, at a critical juncture of the survival of the Anglo-French coalition, Hitler called a halt to the war, and the British managed to evacuate 330,000 people.
This decision made later generations of scholars feel that calling a halt to the war at this time was Hitler's biggest decision-making mistake. Countless military enthusiasts, when learning about this history, are all heartbroken, denouncing Hitler for missing the best opportunity to annihilate the Anglo-French coalition forces, and attacking Hitler's stupidity.
Was hitler really wrong in making this decision? People are still arguing about this issue, but it seems to me that Hitler made this decision from the perspective of the big picture. And in the real calculation, it is not that Hitler missed this opportunity, but that the Anglo-French coalition lost this excellent counter-attack opportunity.
With that said, many people may want to ask, why? First of all, from the layout of the two sides, after the German and British and French allies went to war, there was nothing wrong with the German army quickly occupying the advantage of the war. But this does not mean that the German army at this time has won the victory, in the early stage of World War II, although the German army at this time has been vigorously developed, but because of the long-term constraints of the Versailles system, so on the whole, Germany's strength is not as good as the British and French forces. In terms of armored vehicles, aircraft and other military equipment, whether it is quantity or quality, the German army is far behind the British and French forces.
What's more, the German army at this time was a coalition of allied countries composed of Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries, and because Germany had many battlefields, in addition to fighting the British and French coalition forces, it was also necessary to leave a part of the troops in the direction of the Soviet Union, plus Germany's naval strength was extremely weak, almost negligible, so the German army at this time did not have the advantage in strength.
At the time of the war with the Anglo-French forces, Germany already knew that it would be a fierce battle. But I didn't expect France to surrender so quickly. Although more than 400,000 British and French troops were besieged, they were not unarmed old and weak women and children, they were eight-foot men with guns in their hands. The desire to completely annihilate them with the help of the main German light tank attack force is something that even Hitler himself did not believe.
Although german armored forces had the advantage on the battlefield at the beginning of the war, German infantry was left behind, and British and French troops still had plenty of room to counterattack. There were still a large number of soldiers behind the Maginot Line, and if the Germans rushed to attack them, it was likely that the German armored units that rushed ahead would be completely wiped out.
Meanwhile, in Dunkirk
The 400,000 allied troops were indeed exhausted at this time
But after all, at this time, their way of life has not been completely cut off. Once the German army launched a siege operation without authorization in order to quickly eliminate these troops in front of them, in order to save time and wait for the arrival of the German infantry, it was likely that the German armored troops would face huge attrition.
In the German army, the armored forces were the main force of the German Army, and the German Navy did not expect that if it was consumed too much in this war, it was likely to make Hitler's dream of "dominating the world" end again.
The so-called "speed of war", at this time, Hitler wanted to eat these 400,000 British and French troops in a short period of time, it was impossible. But too much entanglement is likely to give Britain and France time to react, and when their new defensive lines are deployed, it will lead the German army into a tug-of-war, which in turn will affect Hitler's next battle plan, which Hitler does not want to see.
So pressing the pause button at this time is really not Hitler's confusion at this critical juncture. This is precisely because of Hitler's far-reaching plans after careful consideration.
And from the perspective of the German way of fighting, this is not conducive to the German army to beat these people out of one go. In this war, the Germans still used the "blitzkrieg" method of warfare, tearing apart the Anglo-French defense line through armored and mechanized troops. And the use of the German modern mechanized combat units, quickly knock out the logistics, transportation, and communication equipment of the Anglo-French coalition forces, so that they are divided into pieces, so that the coordination ability of the troops is cut off, do not give them time to react, quickly squeeze the Anglo-French coalition forces, push the troops to the rear of the enemy army, and then completely eliminate their will to resist.
Therefore, the essence of "blitzkrieg" is fast, quickly hit the enemy out of reach, the brain is blank, and quickly harvest the fruits of victory. But it was clear that the 400,000 allied troops around Dunkirk were simply impossible to do so quickly. And once the war is launched and the war is glued, then the German army will break the sand here. So instead of putting their armies in danger, let them go and turn around and attack the French hinterland.
Therefore, after the German army opened a net to the Anglo-French forces, they quickly launched an attack on France, and France, which was still in a state of encirclement, did not have time to gather troops to build a defensive line. Under the fierce attack of germany, the beaten had no time to think, and finally had to agree to a truce on June 22.
But a war is too one-sided to judge the correctness of things by only one side, so let's talk about why the German withdrawal was correct from the perspective of the strength of Britain and France.
From the British point of view, we said earlier that because of the influence of the Versailles system, the German navy was far inferior to the British navy, so in this war, Germany could not count on the navy at all. Coupled with the fact that Germany was fighting far from the mainland, even if the German army had the advantage in the air force, but the United Kingdom was quite close to Dunkirk, as long as the British fighters took off from its homeland and fought with the German army to the death, it was impossible for Germany to fully occupy the air supremacy.
Therefore, if the Anglo-French coalition forces, after germany suspended the attack on them, thought about it a little calmly, and built a defensive line on the spot, adjusted the operational thinking, and stuck to Dunkirk, it was impossible for the German army to take France, so in the end, the Anglo-French coalition army was not incapable of defeating Germany, but because it was frightened by Germany.
There were two reasons for france's rapid surrender, the first was because in the First World War, the French suffered heavy casualties, which led to the French people's extreme hatred of the war, and they did not want their country to be bloody, so they spent a lot of money to build the Maginot Line, in order to keep the war out of France. But it was also because of their excessive dependence on the defensive line, and after seeing the heavy losses, that the fear of war that had been planted in the hearts of France during the First World War was once again provoked.
Therefore, at the beginning of the war, the French army still took a positive attitude towards the war. But because more than 300,000 Anglo-French troops fled the battlefield,
Maginot defense
The line is useless, and this kind of bravery in the French heart is crushed, and all this is caused by psychological factors, not because the French have no spare strength, but because the French feel that they are not good.
If the Germans did not let go of the Anglo-French forces, they fought them to the death. Once the patriotism of the French prevailed over their fears, it was impossible for Germany to take France under such circumstances.
The second reason is because Germany's "blitzkrieg" is quite applicable in France, France's terrain is flat and abnormal, not a wide territory, very suitable for mechanized vehicles to move forward, so the German army in Paris after the "blitzkrieg", the rapid fall of Paris is the best poison in France's heart, after the fall of Paris, France's war-weary mood is like a monstrous flood that quickly swept France.
So Hitler let go of 400,000 allied troops and took France instead, which was not a stupid act of picking up sesame seeds and throwing watermelons, it was a very good deal. After all, with 400,000 allies, Germany really may not get anything, and once the war begins, there will be no end. But letting go could be an obstacle to the 400,000 Allied forces that prevented them from taking France, and could also take the opportunity to deter France, which was really what Germany earned. So for the controversial German withdrawal at Dunkirk, it seems to me that the stupid humiliation was not germany at all, but the Anglo-French coalition that fled very quickly.
Because the British did not want to sacrifice for the French, they left France behind, which was nothing less than a terrible thing for France, which was already afraid, and indirectly became an accomplice of the German army. But history is black and white, it is all laughed at by the last people, whether the withdrawal of German troops is stupid or not, we have not counted, the best way to confirm it is to see what this practice has brought to Germany, and what kind of situation Britain is in to choose to escape, these are the best evidence of black and white.