Source B shows the British troops waiting orderly to be rescued from Dunkirk. This is accurate. However the photo only shows a snapshot of the beaches. For most of the time the beaches were in chaos as men hid in the sand while Stukas flew over head. The men had no weaponry or artillery as these had been destroyed. The need to retreat shows Dunkirk was a disaster as the battle for France could not be won.
Source C shows the British troops bravely shooting at German planes despite being on the retreat. And the ship in the background shows deliverance for the troops. Yet there was no heavy weaponry or AA guns as they had been destroyed.
Source D states that “Our men have gained immeasurably in experience” which shows Dunkirk as a deliverance as the men who returned were now battle hardened. The source also says though “We have had great losses in equipment” which shows the disaster of Dunkirk as an army cannot fight without weaponry. Source D is likely to be biased to positive aspects of Dunkirk as it is a speech given by the Minister of War in June 1940 and may be propaganda to keep morale high.
Source E mostly shows Dunkirk as deliverance by saying “Tired, Dirty, Hungry they came back-unbeatable” this implies that despite retreating from Dunkirk the British were the victors not the Germans. The source also comments on the discipline of the British troops, showing that they were still capable of fighting. However the Source is newspaper article from 1940 and is likely to have been censored to keep morale high “Through an inferno of bombs and shells the B.E.F. is crossing the channel in history’s strongest armada”.
Source F is a collation of evidence from other sources, from a neutral party. It says “operation dynamo exceeded beyond all expectation” which was accurate as it was estimated only around 30,000 men could be rescued but actually 338,226 came back. It also says that “It had lost virtually all its guns, tanks and other heavy equipment” which shows the scale of the disaster as although Britain had rescued her army she had lost all of her weaponry.
Source G shows Dunkirk to be primarily a disaster due to 1000s of men routing to the beaches destroying weaponry as they went; there was also the Vermoot atrocity; and the men had often not eaten for 2-3 days. There was also the sinking of the Queen of the Channel with the loss of 1000 men, but this showed that the eastern mole could be used to allow men to be evacuated at a much higher rate. Acts of heroism were also shown such as Casel where British troops held out for three days against the Germans.
In conclusion although the majority of the sources show Dunkirk to be a deliverance many of them were only snapshots of the beaches and do not give the full picture. Many were pieces of censored propaganda designed to keep up British morale during the War and they overlook the huge loss of equipment. It is because of this that I believe that Dunkirk was more of a disaster than a deliverance as despite rescuing 338,226 men, Britain had lost all of their weaponry and they were now ill equipped and not suited to fighting.
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