Within a month, Germany swept through France, and even the British troops who came to support were no match, and the Anglo-French forces had to flee from the port in a hurry. Seeing that the whole of Western Europe was about to fall into the pocket, why did Germany abandon the victory at the last minute and allow Britain to evacuate 400,000 Anglo-French soldiers in 7 days?
In fact, long after Germany attacked Poland, several countries in Western Europe understood that a war was inevitable. However, at that time, The British and French politicians were all indifferent to themselves, but only condemned Germany at the diplomatic level, and did not go to great lengths with Germany.
At that time, both countries also had capital that ignored Germany, britain had the natural English Channel as a barrier, and France had man-made fortifications - the Maginot Line. The two countries do not consider themselves to have no resistance to German aggression, and even fantasize that Germany will not attack them.
But it wasn't until the German armored forces passed through the Ardennes, which was considered impossible for armored vehicles to pass, that France and Britain woke up to the fact that Germany had taken a murderous stake in all of Western Europe. However, it was too late at this time, France, which had the "first european army", was not a rival to Germany at all, and was quickly pushed by Germany, even with the addition of British troops, the defeat in the Western European battlefield was powerless, and the Anglo-French coalition forces could only retreat in a hurry.
However, under german shelling, there was no safe place, and the British and French troops could only flee to the British territory on the other side of the strait, planning to counterattack Germany in the future.
After a period of struggle, the Anglo-French coalition forces could only be forced to choose the small port of Dunkirk as the final "retreat", even if the throughput of this port seriously affected the evacuation progress, once attacked by germany, it would be destroyed, and the Anglo-French coalition could only take a risk, because other places could not guarantee the safety of the evacuation operation.
At the same time, several German forces attacked the remaining Anglo-French forces from the south, forcing them to withdraw to Dunkirk as well. But when the Anglo-French coalition forces retreated to Dunkirk, germany stopped continuing to pursue, giving the Anglo-French coalition forces enough room to retreat.
Not only modern people have this question, but even the german military leaders at that time were also a question mark in their stomachs, discussing why not eliminate the Anglo-French coalition in one fell swoop, so that Western European countries no longer have the ability to fight back?
In fact, it was not that Germany was unwilling to eliminate the Anglo-French alliance, but that conditions at the time did not allow it. The first was the terrain around Dunkirk, where the large number of swamps deprived the German armored forces of great superiority, and would suffer heavy losses if they were trapped in the terrain to fight trench warfare.
Secondly, Germany did not have the idea of destroying Britain in one fell swoop. Because of the obstruction of the English Channel, Germany could not guarantee that it could quickly take Britain, and once it fell into a protracted war, the United States would certainly not stand idly by, just as it directly intervened in the battlefield during the First World War. At the same time, the forced withdrawal of the Anglo-French coalition forces can achieve the same effect, because people can withdraw, but the weapons and equipment cannot be withdrawn, and it can also abolish the Anglo-French coalition forces to a certain extent.
In the end, Germany did not have the intention of bringing Britain to its knees, but once it killed too much, Britain had no room for surrender, and would only fight with Germany to the end, coupled with the plot against the Soviet Union, Germany watched the Anglo-French coalition withdraw.