The French Perimeter

As the last days and hours of the Dunkirk defense passed and the perimeter shrank to within four miles of the city, the British turned their remaining positions over to the French forces. On the western side of the perimeter …

1940-06-02

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As the last days and hours of the Dunkirk defense passed and the perimeter shrank to within four miles of the city, the British turned their remaining positions over to the French forces. On the western side of the perimeter the Grossdeutschland Regiment, supported by tanks of the 9th Panzer Division hurled themselves at the defenses of the 68th Division near the town of Spycker in an effort to breakthrough to the evacuation beaches on the channel. The determined German attack steadily pushed the defenders back until finally the French Resistance stiffened as the Germans entered the outskirts of Spycker.

Spyckar, 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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