Dunkirk Blitzkrieg
| 40 Bridge Street Row | Dunkirk Blitzkrieg |
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| Chester CH1 1NN | ||
| Tel:01244 340777 | ||
| Fax:01244 319555 | ||
| Email: | Official Tour Operators to the Normandy Veterans' Association |
The Dunkirk Blitzkrieg |
Introduction |
| The Dyle Plan envisaged a defence of the Maginot Line
by French troops and the launching of an offensive to
the north through Belgium with their mobile forces
including the British Expeditionary Force. The Ardennes
area was ignored although it was effectively the hinge
between the advancing forces and the Maginot
Line. The German 'Blitzkrieg' swept all before it with stunning speed and ferocity smashing the Ardennes hinge irreparably. The numerically superior but widely-spread armoured units of the Allies proved no match for the mobility and concentration of the Panzer and motorized infantry divisions combined with close air support from Stuka divebombers. The British Government ordered 'Operation Dynamo' to withdraw the remnants of Britain's forces and the French Army to safety across the Channel. Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsey conducted the evacuation effort from his Headquarters in Dover. |
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Dunkirk Battlefield Tour |
Creton Farm |
| The British 2nd Division's action in the area of La
Bassee and Bethune prevented the Germans from
overwhelming the British rear and enabled Gort to
conduct a fighting retreat against German Army Group B
to the east. A number of British units fought until surrounded and overwhelmed. The fate of the Norfolk Regiment was particularly grim. Troops of the SS Totenkopf Division massacred 99 surviving officers and men at Creton Farm near the village of Le Paradis after they had been forced to surrender. They are buried in the Norfolk Cemetery at Le Paradis. |
Mount Cassel |
| The dominating feature of French Flanders, Mount Cassel's significance has been appreciated from the time of Julius Caesar to 'the Grand Old Duke of York' and beyond as a strategically important defensive position. The 145th Brigade held this dominating feature until 29th May and allowed five more British Divisions to avoid being trapped. With the fall of nearby Wormhout, a breakout at bayonet-point was attempted but the 4th Ox & Bucks were surrounded at Watou and forced to surrender. The 2nd Gloucesters suffered a similar fate. |
Esquelbeq |
| Following the destruction of the 2nd Division, the 44th
Division and the 48th Division found
themselves directly in the line of the German advance.
To delay them, the village of Wormhout had to be held.
For more than a day, the 2nd Royal Warwicks and 8th
Worcesters defended the village until late in the
afternoon of the 28th May. Major Hicks of the Warwicks then led a breakout but a hundred Warwicks, some Cheshires and Royal Artillery were unable to escape. They were now to become victims of another massacre, this time at the hands of the SS Adolf Hitler Regiment. SS units often sustained heavy casualties and were therefore loathe to take prisoners. |
Bergues-Furnes Canal |
| The 1st East Lancashire Regiment filled a 3,000 yard
gap in the British lines. Captain Ervine-Andrews of B
Company was awarded the VC for his stubborn resistance
near the village of Galghoeck and the subsequent
successful evacuation of the remnants of his company.
An excellent marksman he brought down thirteen German
soldiers advancing across open land who were in pursuit
of the retreating British force. At the town of Furnes (Veurne) itself, the Grenadier Guards fought a rearguard action for two days between 30th and 31st May. To their left, the Coldstreams held the canal bridge with the order that any man retreating was to be shot. The handful of battalions around Bergues were the last British troops to be evacuated. They faced four German Divisions. The New Zealand Memorial Park contains remains of the German positions and overlooks the battlefield. The Memorial to the Missing in the form of a Cross of Sacrifice bears the names of New Zealanders from every unit in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. |
The Royal Navy at the East Mole |
| 'Operation Dynamo' was sanctioned on 27th May. By the
28th, a perimeter was forming as British and French
troops streamed into Dunkirk. Initially it was thought
that the harbour was too badly damaged to be of much
use in an evacuation and the outlook was
bleak. Captain Bill Tennant RN arrived with a naval control party and seeing the state of the harbour decided to test the practicality of using the breakwater as a substitute. His decision to use the East Mole to evacuate troops transformed the situation. A constant shuttle of shipping was to use the mile-long breakwater over the coming days and the numbers evacuated rose dramatically. |
Memorials |
| The Allied Memorial is located on the beach a short distance from the East Mole. The major cemetery of the evacuation is Dunkirk Town Cemetery. The Memorial to the Missing of the campaign is located here. |
The 2nd Division |
| The 2nd Division, without its artillery and anti-tank weapons, faced four Panzer Divisions and two SS Divisions supported by Stukas. The Division ceased to exist but its determined defence enabled five other divisions to evade the Germans and reach Dunkirk. The Royal Scots fought on until out of ammunition. They almost suffered the same fate at the hands of the 'Totenkopf' as the Norfolks until a senior Wehrmacht officer intervened. |
The 5th Gloucesters |
| The retreat is full of examples of epic defence against great odds. The 5th Gloucesters garrisoned the village of Ledringham and held it for two days fighting from house to house. Eventually, ordered to withdraw, the Gloucesters, just 200-strong, broke through the German lines and reached Bambecque after mounting a sequence of four bayonet charges. They also managed to bring their wounded with them in carts and wheelbarrows. |
La Panne |
| The evacuation front
extended from this small Belgian
town right along to Dunkirk. It is
from this long stretch of beach
that nearly a third of a million
men were rescued. The Hotel de
Ville at La Panne (now De Panne)
was Gort's final HQ. II Corps defended this sector of the Perimeter until relieved by de Laurencies' French III Corps. By nightfall on 31st May, German artillery was able to fire on the ships evacuating troops from the beaches at La Panne as the perimeter shrank. Lord Gort was evacuated from here by Churchill's direct order. |
The 'Little Ships' |
| The 'little ships' began to arrive on 28th May. Whalers, lifeboats, coasters, yachts, barges, paddle steamers, ferry boats, motor launches and pleasure craft of all sizes arrived in increasing numbers. They were supposed to be crewed by professional sailors but numerous enthusiastic amateurs and weekend sailors also found their way across the Channel. They mainly operated in the Bray and La Panne area ferrying troops from the beaches to the waiting destroyers and merchantmen in deeper water. |
The Royal Navy |
| By 29th May, two
Luftwaffe airfleets were
concentrating their efforts on
sinking British shipping around the
East Mole and Dunkirk. A change in
wind direction which swept away
the protective blanket of thick
smoke from burning oil tanks that
had protected the Mole gave the
Germans a clear sight of the
target. Of eleven ships at the
Mole, five were sunk and the other
six damaged. On 30th May, amidst reports that the Mole was out of action, Rear Admiral Wake-Walker made his presence felt by ordering all shipping to the breakwater including his own flagship. He transferred his flag six times during the day as he did the rounds stirring his crews to greater efforts. The old First World War destroyers, that had to this point borne the brunt of the operation, were now reinforced by the fleet destroyers taken off escort duty by Ramsey. Under repeated attack from the Luftwaffe, losses mounted but the Navy carried on until the last British troops were evacuated by the 3rd July. On the 4th, a final effort was made to evacuate the courageous French rearguard and 27,000 troops were taken off on the last day. In all 338,000 troops were evacuated of which approximately 100,000 were French. Of this total almost 240,000 were taken off at the East Mole. |
Two & Three Day Tours | |
| Tours include local pick-up, coaching throughout, return ferry crossings via Dover, B&B hotel accommodation, tour notes. Guide optional. | |
Suggested Itinerary |
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| Further visits may be possible depending on the duration of your tour & proximity to Dover. Please telephone, email or use our contact page to outline your requirements. |
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