Dunkirk

Operation Dynamo was an evacuation of Allied troops from the port town of Dunkirk from 27 May to 4 June, 1940. The operation's name came from the evacuation that was planned in the dynamo (generator) room of Dover Castle. Over …

1940-05-27

4525

Operation Dynamo was an evacuation of Allied troops from the port town of Dunkirk from 27 May to 4 June, 1940. The operation's name came from the evacuation that was planned in the dynamo (generator) room of Dover Castle. Over the course of nine days 338,226 French and British soldiers were evacuated off the beach by a combination of destroyers, large ships, and a fleet of over nine hundred small vessels. These smaller vessels, later referred to as the "Little Ships of Dunkirk", were a mixture of merchant marine vessels, fishing boats, pleasure craft, and RNLI lifeboats that had been requisitioned or commandeered by the Admiralty on or after May 14 for use in the rescue. Hitler may have refrained from a full-scale assault on Dunkirk because he hoped a peace treaty could be reached with the British if he allowed the troops to escape. Despite the general success of the Operation Dynamo, sometimes called a miracle, over fifty thousand vehicles and forty thousand French troops were abandoned after a valiant rearguard action. The British also lost 235 ships of various types. Some of the evacuated troops, both French and British, were shipped straight back to the battle via ports in Normandy and Brittany, where most were subsequently killed or captured.

Dunkirk, 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 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

German

French / British

Game Type: Standard

Board Type: Countryside

Website Access: Classified