By These Deeds They Shall Be Known

The rapid advance of Rundsted's Army Group A had by 20 May isolated the French and British forces that had rushed into Belgium in the opening stages of the campaign. Pressure from both Army Groups A and B had steadily …

1940-05-27

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The rapid advance of Rundsted's Army Group A had by 20 May isolated the French and British forces that had rushed into Belgium in the opening stages of the campaign. Pressure from both Army Groups A and B had steadily forced the Allies to withdraw into a pocket that quickly centered on the Port of Dunkirk. To ensure that the port remained open it was necessary for the BEF to conduct numerous and desperate rearguard actions to slow the advancing Germans. One such place was the village of Cassel where the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestshire Regiment faced off against the advancing elements of the 6th Panzer Division. On 27 May, Capt. E. H. Lynn Allen's C Coy. dashed with the advancing German lnfantry of the 114 Panzergrenadier Regiment.

Cassel, France

The Battle of Dunkirk was fought in Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France, during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defense and evacuation to Britain of British and other Allied forces in Europe from 26 May to 4 June 1940. After the Phoney War, the Battle of France began in earnest on 10 May 1940. To the east, the German Army Group B invaded the Netherlands and advanced westward. In response, the Supreme Allied Commander, French General Maurice Gamelin, initiated "Plan D" and British and French troops entered Belgium to engage the Germans in the Netherlands. French planning for war relied on the Maginot Line fortifications along the German–French border protecting the region of Lorraine but the line did not cover the Belgian border. German forces had already crossed most of the Netherlands before the French forces had arrived. Gamelin instead committed the forces under his command, three mechanized forces, the French First and Seventh Armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), to the River Dyle. On 14 May, German Army Group A burst through the Ardennes and advanced rapidly westward toward Sedan, turning northward to the English Channel, using Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein's plan Sichelschnitt (under the German strategy Fall Gelb), effectively flanking the Allied forces.

Wikipedia: Battle of Dunkirk

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British