Is this a valid interpretation of the events in Dunkirk in June 1940?

‘Despite the undoubted setback represented by the

Allied evacuations from Dunkirk, Hitler had scored a crushing victory.’

It is very difficult to give a direct answer about whether Dunkirk was or was not a crushing victory for the German army. Some sources agree with this interpretation and suggest that it was a great victory for Hitler. These sources mention the great number of equipment captured as well as the vast amount of soldiers imprisoned by the German army during the ‘Blitzkrieg’. An example of this is in source D7 describing exactly the full extent of British loses, and German success. There are other sources however that mention how much of a success it was for Britain and how a nation stood together. Not only this, but there is also evidence that Hitler made several mistakes during this period of time as showed in source C8. This was said to cause the British army to re-group and turn Dunkirk into the biggest and most successful evacuations of all time.

From a certain aspect I agree with this interpretation and believe that Dunkirk was a crushing victory for Hitler. Even before Dunkirk he had moved through Europe at an alarming rate conquering most countries around him. His ‘Blitzkrieg’ tactic proved very successful as he dominated the war between September and May 1939/1940. Not only this, but Hitler also dominated the war after Dunkirk up until the end of 1941 when the USA joined. The way Hitler sliced through France created great confidence and great force behind the German army. This was especially true considering that France was one of the major European powers as suggested in source D4; “it was a distortion of history, all the more shattering because its completeness led nearly everybody to suppose that it was final and irreversible”. This great confidence was shown by Hitler as he thought that the British were cornered and had no way to escape. In many ways the British had no way to escape as Hitler had now instructed his Luftwaffe to start severe bombing on the beaches at Dunkirk. We have evidence of this chaos and bombing in source B5. This source has limitations however because as it is a painting it doesn’t give us an exact replica of what actually happened there. There is however also evidence in source B4 as it says that many of the British soldiers were ‘suffering extreme physical and nervous exhaustion’ and many of the ships that got off were sunk. A source on the BBC website supports this and mentions specific incidents; ‘On 17 June, 1940 the British troopship Lancastria was sunk off the Brittany port of Saint-Nazaire. More than 3,000 people lost their lives”. Not only was there death in the sky and in the sea but also on the beaches itself with man-to-man combat. The information in source D9 describes how the British and French troops were ‘weeping and screaming drunk’. This desperation had spread from not only the soldiers but also to the officers and local people back in England, especially those who lived on the channel. This was because they started to hear the heavy artillery of the German army. Source D6 describes how due to all the propaganda many people didn’t know the full extent of the war. We know this is reliable because it was described in the same modern documentary as that of source D5 as well as it being part of an interview. All this meant that people started believing that Hitler was going to win the war due to the great success at Dunkirk and the vast amounts of equipment, guns and vehicles taken by the Germans. Source D7 shows that the German army had ‘captured from the British 1200 field guns, 1250 anti-aircraft guns, 11 000 machine guns and 75 000 vehicles’. This was however only short term and none of the sources show any German success over the next few years. Overall, from a certain aspect Germany had scored a short term crushing victory thanks to ‘Blitzkrieg’, the massive amount of equipment and prisoners captured, the way they caused chaos on the beaches and finally the way they bombed many of the rescue ships before they could successfully deliver the British soldiers back to English soil. Even so many soldiers did escape, leaving a small gap for the British to strike back.

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From a different aspect however I disagree with this interpretation. Even though Dunkirk seemed like a victory to Germany in the short term, many sources suggest that in the long term it was a great victory for Britain. There are many reasons for this including the battles that followed Dunkirk. A prime example of this is the fact that Britain won the Battle for Britain in September 1940. Not only this, but Britain also won the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle in North Africa in October/November 1942. This shows how Britain recovered and how the rescue meant that they could come back and win the war. This picture taken from the BBC website shows the headlines at the time of the rescue. Even though the picture is reliable the headlines might not be as they were used for propaganda but it does give us an idea of how many men were saved. Along with this source, another source from shows how, because of this rescue, Britain was able to regroup and come back stronger than before. This rescue could not have been possible however without the massive support from the British public. According to source C6 ‘there was not a man or boy who knew how to handle a boat who was not prepared to give his own life to save some unknown son of his country’. It also mentions that ‘the land of Britain was rich in heroes’ and that because of this ‘a miracle was born’ at Dunkirk. This source is reliable as it was written for a text book but it has the limitation that it might have been simplified. Not only did the British public give massive support but so did the RAF. Source D8 shows this by mentioning the ‘brave and fierce resistance by the RAF’. This source is backed up by another source form the BBC website that says ‘by June 4, over 338,000 men had been evacuated to England in one of the greatest rescues of all time’. Both these sources are reliable because they were written by historians for educational purposes. Source D8 also gives a relatively balanced view yet suggests that overall victory was possible due to the strong RAF. This strength demonstrated might though have been because the Germans over estimated their own Luftwaffe. Not only this, but many sources suggest that Hitler made many other mistakes that led Britain into the long term victory. One of these sources is C8. This source is very useful because it shows us most aspects of the war including the great rescue and the fact that Germany made several mistakes. Firstly it shows that British defences ‘halted the German armour’ and left the ‘Germans bewildered’. This gives the British praise but it also mentions that the Germans overestimated the abilities of the Luftwaffe’ and left the German generals ‘not knowing what to do next’. Not only this but it mentions ‘one of the most controversial decisions of the war’, that ‘Runstadt ordered his armour to halt’. This was considered the main reason why the British managed to escape. This source is very reliable as it comes from a massive series of documentaries in the 1970’s about the war. This series was very well researched suggesting that all points of view were taken into consideration before making judgements. This source is so useful because it puts Dunkirk in the wider context by looking at both the good points and bad points about the German and British army before, during and after Dunkirk.

As you can see in the short term the interpretation is correct due to the great number of equipment, soldiers and land captured by the Nazi’s. They kept the pressure on all the way until the German armour was told to halt. This was a major mistake because it meant that the British army could regroup and evacuate enough soldiers to keep fighting. After Dunkirk it was due to the courage of the British soldiers and the strong RAF that turned the war around, meaning that the interpretation wasn’t correct as in the longer terms Dunkirk was a victory for Britain.

Is this a valid interpretation of the events in Dunkirk in June 1940?

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