In Source C it shows three British troops firing on what appears to be germen planes. Obviously if that is what they are doing, they aren’t going to have much luck. It is virtually impossible to shoot aircraft down with just a rifle and staying still they would be sitting ducks for enemies. It is a photograph so it isn’t that easy to manipulate but it still manages to put across a sense of optimism. The background is the sea leaving all the destruction and carnage going on on the beach out of view. It also gives the British soldiers, despite the fact that only three out of thousands are shown in the picture, a very heroic image as they are fighting on against all the odds, drastically endangering their lives on the off chance they can take out a germen bomber. The photograph is also taken from very low down giving the impression that they are big and powerful, a technique used by Hitler on many occasions.
Source D is a speech by the Minister of war soon after the Battle of Dunkirk. As it was spoken by the Minister of war he is certain to have known exactly what was going on at the time. However this speech is almost certainly biased as it was said at the time of the war. He and the government would have wanted to fill the British people with what is known as the Dunkirk Spirit. This is the huge optimism that came of the Battle of Dunkirk. He doesn’t actually lie at all unlike a lot of the propaganda as shown in Source E, although he does bend the truth almost to breaking point.
Source E gives an idea of how biased the British media were during the First World War and why the British people thought Dunkirk was such a huge triumph. It starts off by referring to the rescue mission as an armada, giving the impression that it was a fierce attacking force when in fact it was simply a retreat. The biggest commendations of the army are in capital letters where he refers to them as ‘UNBEATABLE’ and ‘SHIPS OF ALL SIZES DARE THE GERMEN GUNS.’ The writer also refers to the weather as helping the troops out as if God is on their side. By listing the small amount of craft used in the operation he highlights the fact that the operation was achieved by the skill and bravery of the troops rather than any use of high tech machinery. It also gives the impression it was the germens who were defeated rather than the British. The last paragraph simply shows that the British forces will never give up or be dispirited no matter how many setbacks they may face and they’ll do it all with an expression of satisfaction.
Source F is written by AJP Taylor himself and on the whole gives a much fairer account of what happened in Dunkirk. It obviously agrees with the opening quote because that quote was taken from the source. It gives actual facts rather than just bias opinion. Even though it omits the actual battle which was, for Britain, a complete disaster, instead concentrating on the evacuation which was a huge success it still proves to be the most accurate of the sources. The only other criticism about it is that it is not contempory meaning the writer could have been quite young at the time and so may have to rely on his long term memory as well as the knowledge of others.
Back in Britain Dunkirk was celebrated as a great achievement rather than the complete failure it really was. This was thanks largely to government controlled newsreels as well as optimistic paintings like this one. However some parts of what was said in the government controlled news wasn’t far from the truth. The evacuation was handled superbly and the RAF outfought the Luftwaffe with ease. The most important thing to come out of the Dunkirk battle though was the Dunkirk spirit. This injected a huge dose of optimism into the British people who came together in an extremely effective war effort until 1945. This was done solely by government propaganda which somehow managed to cover up the fact that they had been driven out of Europe after only ten days of fighting and had left behind around 300000 troops to become prisoners.
None of these sources, with the exception of Source F, agree with the opening statement, mainly because at the time they weren’t allowed to. This makes it hard for historians to judge what happened at Dunkirk due to the fact that all contempory sources are biased.
