Introduction: In the early morning of May 10, 1940, the German army bypassed the strong Maginot Line in France with a strong military force, and attacked Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Luxembourg and other countries with two army groups A and B. At that time, the German army was pressing from the west, south and east of Dunkirk, the nearest tank corps of the German army was only 16 kilometers away from this port, Dunkirk was already at the reach of the German army, and 400,000 British and French troops were about to be completely annihilated.
Dunkirk Evacuation (from the network)
Strange command
Curiously, however, just as Dunkirk could be captured with a show of hands, on 24 May the Germans received hitler's personal order to stop advancing. At that time, the German armored forces crossed the French mainland and were invincible, and in just over ten days they were directly inserted into the shores of the English Channel. Hitler's order surprised the German generals at the front, and Guderian, who commanded the battle, sighed even more, he did not understand why the Fuehrer did not take advantage of the victory to pursue!
Guderian (from the web)
The vitality of the coalition forces
As a result of this order, the German Army Group A, which was close to it on the allied retreat, inexplicably stopped its attack in the canal area west of Dunkirk, and did not gather troops to encircle along the coast, which gave the Anglo-French coalition a rare breathing space. Naturally, more than 400,000 British and French troops were overjoyed, and they seized the opportunity to urgently retreat to Dunkirk, and the English Channel in front of them was the only hope for the coalition forces to survive!
The Anglo-French forces retreated to a small triangular plot of land in Dunkirk, but the situation remained critical, for they were facing rough seas and not far behind by wolf-like German pursuers. If Hitler had changed his mind at this time and attacked Dunkirk at once, the allied forces, which had been squeezed into a pot of porridge, would not be able to resist for long and would be completely annihilated!
The coalition forces escaped
Fortunately, Hitler gave the Anglo-French forces plenty of time to retreat. The British urgently mobilized more than 850 ships of all types, from cruisers and destroyers to ordinary wooden galleons, all concentrated on the coast near Dunkirk. From 26 May to 4 June, British and French sailors and crew braved German bombing and artillery bombardment to transport the remnants of the remnants across the Strait one after another.
After nine days and nights of bitter fighting, in addition to more than 40,000 French troops who were too late to retreat as defenders, 338,000 British and French troops and other Allied troops successfully escaped and crossed the strait into Britain. This great retreat, which preserved the living strength of the coalition forces and enabled it to regroup and resist the German attack, was of great significance.
Hitler's considerations
Why, then, did Hitler give such a strange order? Hitler's order did later cause a lot of controversy. Many military historians believe that this is a manifestation of Hitler's arbitrary interference in military command, and it is a stupid order.
Hitler (from the internet)
Was Hitler really a stupid man with no military common sense? I am afraid that no one and no one will agree with this view. In fact, Hitler's order, he had his own considerations, at that time the war in northern France was already clear, the German army needed to save the strength of the armored forces for the next step of the operation, to know that the Dunkirk area is full of swamps, very unfavorable to the armored forces to fight, Hitler felt that there is no need to let the elite armored troops suffer losses.
Hitler's order was also related to a person he trusted very much, and that person was The Air Force General Goering. Goering assured Hitler that the Air Force could wipe out the Allied forces that Taught Kerke, and of course Hitler believed them, so he ordered an end to the Allied attacks. Only later, the aerial bombardment did not achieve the desired results, so Hitler resumed the offensive of the armored forces. It can be said that 400,000 British and French troops can escape from death, and the biggest contribution should be german general Goering!
Goering()
epilogue
However, Hitler's rescue measures were too late, because the Allies built many fortifications in a limited time, which effectively delayed the German offensive and bought more time for the troops to withdraw from Dunkirk. By the time Germany's mighty armored forces finally broke through the defensive line, most of the Allied forces had retreated to Britain! At this time, the sigh of the sky may become Hitler! Do you have any comment on that?