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The French expected the Germans to invade France the same way as they had done in 1914 via Belgium with the Schlieffen Plan. Between 1929 and 1938, they had built a line of forts along their eastern frontier.
These defences were known as the Maginot Line. They placed all their confidences in these forts even though they did not extend to cover the frontier with Belgium. The French army was considered to be one of the strongest and largest in the world, (conscription,) but in reality morale in the army was not good.
Weather was beautiful at the beginning of May 1940 and British and French soldiers stationed on the front waited in a state of boredom. In April, the Germans had invaded Denmark and Norway, but now the Phoney war seemed to have returned. In Germany, on the other side of thr River Rhine, however, armoured divisions were assembling and dozens of warplanes were preparing to take off. The German staff was waiting for the return of good weather before advancing further into Western Europe.
On May 10 at 4:30am, French soldiers were woken by successive waves of low flying planes. The German war machine was on the move. Surprised, but confident in their defences, the French generals and government announced that everything was ready to confront Hitler's army. Within a few days, German troops occupied the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, (Benelux,) The Germans prepared to invade France using the same strategy that had proved so successful with the Polish - the Blitzkrieg, (lightning war.) The German planes the Stukas were designed for dive-bombing, spreading terror and death. They were followed by armoured divisions which each attacked precise points on the front, breaking up the lines of defence.
Three days after the general offensive had begun, the Germans broke through the French lines of defence at Sedan. The German Invasion via the forests of the Ardennes was a total shock to the French who had been preparing far further North. As the German panzer divisions surged forward and met with little resistance. French civilians in the east decided to leave their homes to avoid the advancing Germans.
It was a disastrous decision as the refugees blocked the roads. German aircraft came over and bombed and machine-gunned them, causing indescribable chaos. Military transport found itself unable to move guns to where they were desperately needed.
Communications broke down, as phone lines were broken. Co-operation between the French and the British had not been good before the attack but now the speed of the German advance produced total confusion. The BEF had been greeted with flowers and cheers when they had advanced into Belgium on May 10. But now only 6 days later, they were forced to retreat as the Germans advanced rapidly into France. Demoralised and poorly prepared for this new type of war, French and British troops retreated to the French coast and converged on Dunkirk. Here again there was a difference in opinion. The French wanted to hold Dunkirk to use it as a base to counter attack the Germans, while the British wanted to use it to evacuate the BEF. This difference in aims was to cause a great deal of bitterness and has left a legacy of distrust.
The decision to evacuate the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) had been made by the British Commander General John Gort when it became obvious that the allies had no chance of opposing the German advance and the BEF were being cut off. Convincing the British Government was far harder. Churchill flew out to meet the French leaders several times to discuss the situation and the possibility of a counter-attack to the south. General Weygand replaced the French Commander General Gamelin but this did not seem to make much difference.
The situation seemed overwhelming. The roads north were becoming blocked as thousands of soldiers and refugees, hounded by the German planes tried to get to the coast. By May 19, the government in Britain was forced to accept that evacuation might be necessary to save the BEF and Vice Admiral B.H Ramsay was put in charge of the organisation. It was only after the fall of Calais on May 26 that the government gave the orders for operation Dynamo to start.
The government did not expect to have more than 48 hours before the Germans captured the town of Dunkirk or to be able to save more than 45,000 soldiers. In fact they were able to evacuate men from Dunkirk for the next 10 days and were able to save 338,526 Allied soldiers!
Over the following days, men were taken off the beaches, from the harbours, while all the time the Luftwaffe bombed and machine-gunned the whole area. Ships of all sizes crossed the channels; many were sunk and the soldiers drowned or bombed. There has been created a whole world of stories and myths about Dunkirk's famous evacuation setting.
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