Source 4 also shows the great miracle and success which Dunkirk was to the British as a whole, Source 4 is a map showing the area around Dunkirk it was created by an unknown source/ illustrator. The source was created to show us where the allies’ troops were and how and where the German army attacked them from and also to show the plan for the troops to have an escape route. This source is valid as it is a primary source and it shows the position allies were in to make it a miracle as they were rite on the coast. However it is not very accurate to be very valid as it is not a map done from a geographical scale as it has jus been drawn or estimated the whereabouts of them.
Source 5 also backs the miracle of Dunkirk it was created by Anthony Eden who was a senior army officer and later turned Prime Minister of Britain it was taken from his book memoirs called the reckoning in 1965. This is a primary source as Anthony was at Dunkirk during the time if the event. This source tells us about what it was like in Britain on the return of all of the soldiers and the feeling of the troops as they returned. This is a very valid source as he was present and he is telling us his analysis of what happened after the mission; however it loses some validity as it was written 25 years after the event undertook.
Source 6 is a cartoon created by a ‘British’ artist called David Low it was published in a British newspaper ‘The Evening standard’ on the 8th of June 1940. This image shows us the miracle which occurred because you can clearly see the weather is distraught and little crafts are even making it across packed with many troops successfully. This source’s validity is questionable because the illustrator was British so It could b biased however it was released near to the war raising its validity and also it was [published in a broadsheet newspaper which is well respected at the time. This is also a primary source as it’s the illustrators own opinion of how they crossed the sea.
However as well as being seen as an miracle to the British army and country the Dunkirk mission of world war two was also classed as a disaster. Source 8 is taken from writing in a school history text-book called; Global war created in 1999 written by ‘Josh Brooman’ this source was created to use statistics to explore Dunkirk, it is also a secondary source as its info taken from another source. This source shows Dunkirk to be a great disaster as it shows the British lost from it for instance ‘ how the evacuation was a great defeat, nearly 70,000 men were killed, wounded or taken prisoner’ showing a great loss to the Germans. This source is very valid as it uses facts and even has a direct quote from the Prime Minister showing the disaster as, Winston Churchill says ‘the greatest military defeat for many centuries’.
Also to ass to facts source 9 is also writing taken from another history text book about Dunkirk, written by ‘John Harris’ called the storms of war in 1988, this source is created from one of the naval officers who was at Dunkirk during the war, to tell us about the environment what the soldiers went through and the state of the soldiers during the war. This source would be classed as a secondary source however the evidence used in the source is primary as he was a soldier at the war. This source also shows a big defeat for the British soldier’s as the naval officer clearly shows ‘… were shell-shocked, dazed soldiers/ some of the men were even bomb-happy and on the edge of hysteria’. Showing soldiers are beginning to go crazy in the fear of death. This source gives very accurate information on the situation of Dunkirk showing it is a very valid source.
Source 14 is a written format of an interview which underwent with a soldier who was rescued from Dunkirk via ‘Operation Dynamo’, for the BBC website in year 2004 the soldier was Ivan Daunt. This source tells us how according to Ivan ‘ they were prepared for war and we weren’t’ meaning the Germans were more organized for this war and the British though it was going to be so much of a walk over they were un organised and did not train properly. Another opinion taking directly from the source which makes this source’s validity high is how Ivan states ‘We were just so demoralised and humiliated’ this shows a big defeat for the British country as a whole.
Source 15 a written version of a radio broadcast called ‘Germany Calling’ created by a William Joyce, also known as ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ this was made on the 17th June 1940 which increases its validity as it’s not long after the war. This source was created to give us information from the German’s point of view of what occurred at Dunkirk, it also tells us on how the British hid certain information which could demoralise the country during the war. This source is about how William Joyce created a propaganda story to give an image in Germany on how the British going to the war in Dunkirk was a disaster it especially points out on how the events have turned over because Britain had the stronger army and was victorious however now Germany have forced the army to evacuate out of Dunkirk the Prime Minister Churchill is now hiding events which has occurred in Dunkirk and he is also changing the story which he had before the event of Dunkirk happened.
I believe that the disaster interpretation of Dunkirk towards Britain is more valid then the miracle section this is because in the disaster we can see that most of the sources have all direct quotes and you actually have a balanced opinion included their which was one from a German’s point of view. Also the reason this is more valid was that in the miracle section most of the evidence there is a secondary source although some from highly authorised people most of the information is censored out making it not very accurate. I believe that the Dunkirk mission was a Disaster to Britain although it did raise the morale of the country it was a war not a morale booster Britain overall as a country had the most losses out of that then Germany which I believe makes it a disaster overall. Also showing how easy they thought the war would be they were unprepared for anything going to it with a victorious mind shamefully the world turned on them.
Jay Shukla 11K4
Kingsford Community School