Page "Dunkirk" Paragraph 11
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Wikipedia
In May 1940, during the Battle of France, the British Expeditionary Force in France aiding the French, was cut off from the rest of the French Army by the German advance.
The German land forces could have easily destroyed the British Expeditionary Force, especially when many of the British troops, in their haste to withdraw, had left behind their heavy equipment.
For years, it was assumed that Adolf Hitler ordered the German Army to stop the attack, favouring bombardment by the Luftwaffe.
However, according to the Official War Diary of Army Group A, its commander, Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt, ordered the halt.
Winston Churchill ordered any ship or boat available, large or small, to pick up the stranded soldiers, and 338, 226 men ( including 123, 000 French soldiers ) were evacuated – the miracle of Dunkirk, as Churchill called it.
More than 40, 000 vehicles as well as massive amounts of other military equipment and supplies were left behind ; their value being less than that of trained fighting men.
Forty thousand Allied soldiers ( some who carried on fighting after the official evacuation ) were captured or forced to make their own way home through a variety of routes including via neutral Spain.
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