comets to the attack 1939

On 10 May 1940 the Germans invaded Holland and Belgium. French and British forces rushed into Belgium to meet them. However they were driving into a trap. German panzer tanks advanced through the forest called the Ardennes in Southeast Belgium behind the allied forces.

At first the French Commander in Chief, Gamelin did not realise what was happening. At first he thought the attack through the Ardennes was merely a subsidiary attack and the main attack was coming through North Belgium. By the time he realised the truth it was too late. The German panzers were advancing behind the allied forces in Belgium threatening to cut them off. On 20 May 1940 the Germans reached the sea at Abbeville. On 24 May they reached Boulogne and on 26 May Calais. The allied forces in Belgium would now have to be evacuated by sea.

The German tanks could have reached Dunkirk before the British however on 26 May Hitler ordered the advance to halt for two days. It is not clear why he did that. Perhaps he was afraid the advance was going too far too fast and might be cut off. He also seems to have thought the Luftwaffe could finish off the British.

He was wrong. From 28 May to 4 June 1940 some allied troops were evacuated by sea in 'Operation Dynamo'. Yet the soldiers had to leave most of their equipment behind and not all of them got away. Some 40,000 French soldiers were captured.

Although the evacuation through Dunkirk was a great achievement it was also a great military defeat. Winston Churchill had become prime minister of Britain on 10 May 1940 and he wisely warned that 'wars are not won by evacuations'.

Meanwhile the Germans began the conquest of France. They began a new offensive on 5 June 1940. They captured Paris on 14 June 1940 and France capitulated on 21 June.