Dunkirk, 1940
English Lit: AQA A Level Atonement - Specification B, topic 9.1.2
Historica Context for Atonement: Dunkirk in 1940
The Second World War began in September, 1939 when the German army invaded Poland, prompting Britain and France to declare war on Germany.
Reasons for British evacuation
- British troops began moving to France and Belgium that month to help defend these countries from a German invasion.
- However, a German attack in May, 1940 was so devastating that France would fall to Hitler in just six weeks.
- British forces were in serious danger of being encircled by invading forces from both north and south and so the decision was taken to order British troops to fall back to the northern coast of France to be evacuated home.
Operation Dynamo
- Codenamed Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk evacuations began on 26 May, 1940, and lasted until 4 June.
- The British used any seagoing vehicle they could find to bring troops home, with some troops brought home in such rudimentary crafts as rowing boats.
- 338,000 Allied soldiers were successfully evacuated from France, with the RAF and a small defending force at Dunkirk holding off a German attack.
Significance of the evacuations
- The evacuations meant that the Allies survived to fight another day: Allied troops would return to France four years later and eventually succeed in liberating the country from the Germans.
Test yourself on Dunkirk, 1940
Which of these are true of the Dunkirk evacuations?