Baroud d'Honneur

On the final day of the French resistance in the pocket of Dunkirk, scattered units that had been surrounded and fighting for days and nights without rest, continued to defend down to the last bullet. They used any obstacles, farms, …

1940-06-03

Comp05

On the final day of the French resistance in the pocket of Dunkirk, scattered units that had been surrounded and fighting for days and nights without rest, continued to defend down to the last bullet. They used any obstacles, farms, bridges, canals, roads, slopes, that could delay the German advance. Four kilometers from Dunkirk, despite heavy bombings and fierce infantry attacks, the reduced 3rd Battalion of the 341st Infantry Regiment held Spycker. Just before the village was completely surrounded the last survivors were ordered to retreat to the Bourbourg Canal. Here, they established a final frontline and waited for reinforcements from the 59th GRDI. Unfortunately, the Germans had infiltrated the French lines and seized the bridge. With enemies running after them, the Frenchmen had to take back the bridge quickly and then hold it

Spycker, 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 defence 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 mechanised 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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