When British forces tried to leave through the bay, they left behind most of their equipment in France. The task of getting to Calais seemed impossible as it had already been taken over, and Belgian forces had surrendered to the German Army. Operation Dynamo started on the 27 May, that day, only 7000 soldiers were evacuated. It was more of a success that the British could have hoped for. The majority of soldiers were taken home via Destroyers, but many privately owned boats helped to get the soldiers across the channel. Around 860 boats took part, 338,000 men being brought home in the space of a week. Of these, 159,000 were French. The ‘miracle’ of Dunkirk was helped by the good weather and Hitler’s decision to halt his forces, though the reasons for this remain unclear. Though afterwards, Goering, the commander of the German Army, boasted that the British Army could have been defeated solely by the German Air Force.
Why was the evacuation hailed as a great success by the British?
The BEF causalities totalled 68,000 so most of them would have been saved and these men would form the core of the new army. Yet the men had to abandon most of their equipment on the beaches. Hitler claimed that his armies had claimed 1,200 British field guns, 1,250 anti-aircraft guns, 11,000 machine guns and 75,000 vehicles. Nearly all the guns and tanks had been abandoned by the BEF and many of the men had lost their rifles. In addition, the RAF lost 474 airplanes defending the beaches.
But against all odds, the British got over quarter of a million men home safely, with minimal injuries. Churchill used the evacuation of Dunkirk for propaganda purposes, often referring to Dunkirk Spirit and the rescued soldiers in his speeches after May 1940.
What evidence is there for total military defeat?
In many ways, Dunkirk was a defeat for the Allies. The British Army had been forced out of continental Europe and lost so many and equipment that it was impossible for Britain to defend France. Within a month of Dunkirk evacuation, Paris had been captured and France had surrendered to Germany. The Germans occupied Northern France and gained control of Submarine bases on the Atlantic Coast, which would be a great help to them in their U-boat campaign against Britain.
