Dunkirk Research Paper

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British naval commander responsible for planning and executing evacuation of troops. A plan to evacuation of British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from the French sea point Dunkirk and then back to England. Naval vessels and a lot of civilian boats were used in this evacuation, which started on May 26 1940, and which will end on the June 4 1940, about 198 000 British and 140 000 French and Belgian troops were saved from Dunkirk. (https://media1.britannica.com/eb-media/52/195152-004-63549777.jpg) Blitzkrieg and the Allied collapse The immediate context of the Dunkirk evacuation was Germany’s attack of the low counties and the northern part of France in May 1940. The Germans used the blitzkrieg attack on the Netherlands on the May 10, …show more content…

They were collecting any type of craft to help bringing away the troops and the retreat to the coast now became a race to re-embark before the German pincer closed Adm. Bertram Ramsay was the overall commander of the operation. Capt. William Tennant was the tactical oversight of the evacuation. Capt. William Tennant arrived on May 27, to discover that Luftwaffe raids had knocked out the ports facilities, he determined that lifting the troops directly from the beaches would be too time-consuming, he turned his attention to the breakwaters at the harbour entrance. The western breakwater was useless to him, he decided to use the eastern breakwater, and about 200 000 troops could use it as a dock to board the ships. The remaining Allied forces had to be taken directly off the beaches, making the evacuation a slow and difficult process which extended from May 26 to June 4, 1940. On June 2 Capt. William Tennant radioed Ramsay at Operation Dynamo’s Dover command post with the following messages: “BEF evacuated”. Capt. William Tennant and General Harold Alexander then toured the beach and harbour are in a motor launch, making sure there are missing BEF evacuees. In the end about 198 000 BEF troops were taken away and 140 000 Allied troops, mainly French, most of the equipment had to be left

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