Battle of Dunkirk
| Battle of Dunkirk | |||||||||
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| Part of the Battle of France in the Second World War | |||||||||
 A British soldier on Dunkirk's beaches fires at strafing German aircraft |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 United Kingdom Canada France Poland Belgium Netherlands
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 Germany
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Lord Gort Maxime Weygand Georges Blanchard René Prioux J. M. Abrial
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Gerd von Rundstedt Ewald von Kleist (Panzergruppe von Kleist) |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| approx. 400,000 338,226 evacuated |
approx. 800,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Other figures Total: up to 350,000 |
Other figures Total: up to 140,000 |
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| Civilian casualties: 1,000 civilians killed during air raids | |||||||||
The Battle of Dunkirk took place in Dunkirk/Dunkerque, France, during the Second World War between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and Allied forces in Europe from 26 May – 4 June 1940.
After the Phoney War, the Battle of France began in earnest on 10 May 1940. To the east, the German Army Group B invaded the Netherlands and advanced westward. In response, the Supreme Allied Commander—French General Maurice Gamelin—initiated "Plan D" and entered Belgium to engage the Germans in the Netherlands. The plan relied heavily on the Maginot Line fortifications along the German-French border, but German forces had already crossed through most of the Netherlands before the French forces arrived. Gamelin instead committed the forces under his command, three mechanised armies, the French First and Seventh and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to the River Dyle. On 14 May, German Army Group A burst through the Ardennes and advanced rapidly to the west toward Sedan, then turned northward to the English Channel, in what Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein called the "Sickle Cut" (known as "Plan Yellow" or the Manstein Plan), effectively flanking the Allied forces.
A series of Allied counter-attacks—including the Battle of Arras—failed to sever the German spearhead, which reached the coast on 20 May, separating the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) near Armentières, the French 1st Army, and the Belgian Army further to the north from the majority of French troops south of the German penetration. After reaching the Channel, the German forces swung north along the coast, threatening to capture the ports and trap the British and French forces before they could evacuate to Britain.
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