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On May 24,
Hitler, true to his original invasion plans but against the counsel
of his officer corps, ordered his forces to turn toward Paris. Had
the German armored formations followed the retreating Allied forces,
they would have obliterated them by narrowing the pockets of
territory that they continued to hold. The greatest concentration of
Allied troops—380,000 soldiers in all—was trapped by German
forces at Dunkirk, in an area of 60 square miles.
Hitler
waited two days before ordering his forces to attack the troops at
Dunkirk. By then, however, it was too late to attain a sweeping
victory. The evacuation of the trapped forces at Dunkirk began on
May 26 in one of the most dramatic retreats in military history, as
861 ships and boats were mobilized and began to remove the trapped
forces. Within a week, 224,585 British soldiers and 112,546 French
and Belgian fighters were taken to safe shores; 40,000 French
soldiers were left behind. 231 vessels were sunk, most by the
Luftwaffe. The British left behind 11,000 machine guns, 1,200
cannons, 1,250 anti-aircraft and anti-tank pieces, and 75,000 motor
vehicles.
At
Britain’s most difficult hour, Churchill addressed the House of
Commons and proclaimed: “We shall not flag or fail. We shall fight
on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing ground, we shall fight
in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We
shall never surrender.”
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