Defeat, Deliverance or Victory? Which of these best describes Dunkirk?

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Assignment 1: Defeat, Deliverance or Victory? Which of these best describes Dunkirk?

On the 20th May 1940 the allied troops were trapped by the Germans on the Northern coast of France. The allies consisted of the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F), the Belgian Army and the ten best divisions of the French Army. It was on this day that Churchill gave the command for the evacuation to take place, to Britain by ship, following advice from Lord Gort (leader of the B.E.F). Rommel was advancing from the north and Degaudier from the south trapping the troops. The evacuation was organised by Admiral Ramsey and codenamed Operation Dynamo with the main objective to rescue as much of the B.E.F as possible. This evacuation began on May 27th from the beaches of Dunkirk. It is a matter of great debate whether this evacuation was a victory or a defeat for the Allies.

Using any relevant evidence, and your own knowledge of the topic, make a case for Dunkirk being a military defeat and catastrophe for the British?

Dunkirk could be viewed as a defeat for the British. It could be argued that the evacuation was disorderly and panicked and Britain suffered many men killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Although soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk many were demoralised, suffering from fatigue and not wanting to play any further part in the war. Virtually all of the B.E.F’s equipment was littering the beaches of Dunkirk or the surrounding area of Northern France. For the British people their army (the B.E.F) suffering such a defeat would have caused severe demoralisation of the civilians which had very negative affects during wartime.

Military defeat could be argued to be the most important aspect of a defeat as loss by the B.E.F of equipment and troops would have deeply affected their ability as a fighting force in the war and their capability in protecting their home nation. An important factor in arguing Dunkirk as a defeat is that 68,111 men from the B.E.F were killed, wounded or taken prisoner during the evacuation. The cost of replacing the B.E.F’s equipment would be astronomical for the government and for their part in the evacuation the Navy suffered 243 ships sunken (including 6 important British destroyers with 19 left damaged) and the RAF lost 474 aircraft.

Source 3 supports the view of Dunkirk as a British military defeat. It is a photographic source showing Dunkirk after the evacuation displaying a deserted beach littered with equipment, corpses and debris. Off the shore are broken half sunken ships with those that have become beached, one possibly a military boat and also many smaller vessels. The photograph of the dead soldiers shows military defeat as the objective was to rescue the B.E.F and would be very demoralising for the British public. The large boat could belong to the navy and would be very valuable, loss of this would be very expensive, along with the rest of the abandoned equipment.

The source seems reliable as it is first hand primary evidence. It is useful for showing defeat as it displays what it looked like at Dunkirk after the evacuation. Its also backs up my own knowledge as the B.E.F lost 68,111 men and you would expect bodies on the beaches where the Luftwaffe had attacked. Guns, rifles and vehicles are shown abandoned and I know that 2,472 guns, 90,000 rifles, 63,879 vehicles, 20,548 motorcycles and well over 500,000 tons of ammunition were left by the B.E.F at Dunkirk. I know that 243 ships were lost and the source shows ships driven aground and damaged boats further out which would be near impossible for the Germans to fake. The author is unknown but the Germans would have been the first to arrive at Dunkirk after the evacuation so they probably took the photographs and as the purpose is unknown it could be for German propaganda. This photograph could be of just one small area of messy and disorderly beach whilst the rest of the long beach could be nearly spotless.

Source 4 by Basil Collier also shows Dunkirk as a military defeat by saying that whilst many men returned from Dunkirk practically all of their equipment was left behind, ‘including some 600 tanks, more than a 1000 field guns or guns of larger calibre (to say nothing of about 500 anti aircraft guns)’ shows the huge losses. At this period it was generally believed that the Germans would try to invade Britain next after the success of the French invasion which displays the disastrous consequences as the military had lost the equipment. As the source is from a History book you would think its information would be accurate as people wouldn’t want to buy the book if it wasn’t an accurate account of what happened. The source is detailed, sufficient and well rounded and does not seem to be a one sided view which makes me regard it as more reliable. The source however could be unreliable as the book was published only 12 years after the war so the author might have had to be careful about what he said, an unfavourable report could have been censored.

The author also wouldn’t have had much benefit of hindsight so soon after the war. As the author is British the source could be unreliable due to bias. From the title ‘History of the Second World War: The Defence of the United Kingdom’ you can tell the author will only be looking at Dunkirk from one angle. As the book is not specifically on Dunkirk the author would not have spent as much time researching Dunkirk so the facts may be less reliable. The author omits the human losses at Dunkirk and could have dramatised his account for increased sales. British casualties amounted to over 68,000 during the battle of Dunkirk and French losses were around 290,000. The Germans however lost only 27,074 men and sent the surviving British home dishevelled and weapon less. Other sources showing Dunkirk as a military defeat are sources 1,2,3,4,5,7,13,15,18,19 and 20.

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Another important aspect of defeat for the British at Dunkirk was the demoralisation it caused. A demoralised country with a defeatist attitude had very negative effects during war time and also many soldiers now wanted nothing else to do with the war.

Source 14(ii) by Atkins supports Dunkirk as demoralising for the British by saying ‘many (of those rescued) did not want to know about further involvement’ , it shows the negative impact it had on the British troops. These demoralised soldiers were useless in war time as the source suggests when out of the over a thousand of ...

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