Editing Battle of Dunkirk (section)

==Battle==

==="Fight back to the west"===
[[File:21May-4June1940-Fall Gelb.svg|thumb|Map of the battle]]
On 26 May, [[Anthony Eden]] told Gort that he might need to "fight back to the west", and ordered him to prepare plans for the evacuation, but without telling the French or the Belgians. Gort had foreseen the order and preliminary plans were already in hand. The first such plan, for a defence along the Lys Canal, could not be carried out because of German advances on 26 May, with the [[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|2nd]] and [[50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division|50th Division]]s pinned down, and the [[History of the British 1st Division during the World Wars|1st]], [[5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|5th]] and [[48th (South Midland) Division|48th Division]]s under heavy attack. The 2nd Division took heavy casualties trying to keep a corridor open, being reduced to brigade strength, but they succeeded; the 1st, [[3rd Division (United Kingdom)|3rd]], [[4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|4th]] and [[42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division|42nd Division]]s escaped along the corridor that day, as did about one-third of the French First Army. As the Allies fell back, they disabled their artillery and vehicles and destroyed their stores.{{sfn|Liddell Hart|1970|p=40}}{{sfn|MacDonald|1986|p=12}}{{sfn|Sebag-Montefiore|2006|p=250}}

On 27 May, the British fought back to the Dunkirk perimeter line. The [[Le Paradis massacre]] took place that day, when the [[3rd SS Division Totenkopf|3rd SS Division ''Totenkopf'']] machine-gunned 97 British and French prisoners near the La Bassée Canal. The British prisoners were from the 2nd Battalion, [[Royal Norfolk Regiment]], part of the [[4th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|4th Brigade]] of the 2nd Division. The SS men lined them up against the wall of a barn and shot them all; only two survived. Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe dropped bombs and leaflets on the Allied armies. The leaflets showed a map of the situation. They read, in English and French: "British soldiers! Look at the map: it gives your true situation! Your troops are entirely surrounded—stop fighting! Put down your arms!" To the land- and air-minded Germans, the sea seemed an impassable barrier, so they believed the Allies were surrounded; but the British saw the sea as a route to safety.{{sfn|Lord|1982|pp=74–76}}{{sfn|Shirer|1959|p=882}}

Besides the Luftwaffe{{'}}s bombs, German heavy artillery (which had just come within range) also fired high-explosive shells into Dunkirk. By this time, over 1,000 civilians in the town had been killed. This bombardment continued until the evacuation was over.{{sfn|MacDonald|1986|p=12}}

===Battle of Wytschaete===
{{main|Battle of the Ypres–Comines Canal}}
Gort had sent [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]] [[Ronald Forbes Adam|Ronald Adam]], commanding [[III Corps (United Kingdom)|III Corps]], ahead to build the defensive perimeter around Dunkirk; his corps command passed to Lieutenant General [[Sydney Rigby Wason]] from the GHQ staff.{{sfn|Grehan|2018|loc=Chapter 4}} Lieutenant General [[Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke|Alan Brooke]], commanding [[II Corps (United Kingdom)|II Corps]], was to conduct a holding action with the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 50th Divisions along the Ypres-Comines canal as far as [[Yser]], while the rest of the BEF fell back. The battle of [[Wytschaete]], over the border in Belgium, was the toughest action Brooke faced in this role.{{sfn|Thompson|2009|pp=174–178}}

On 26 May, the Germans made a [[reconnaissance in force]] against the British position. At mid-day on 27 May, they launched a full-scale attack with three divisions south of [[Ypres]]. A confused battle followed, where visibility was low because of forested or urban terrain and communications were poor because the British at that time used no radios below battalion level and the telephone wires had been cut. The Germans used infiltration tactics to get among the British, who were beaten back.{{sfn|Thompson|2009|p=179}}

The heaviest fighting was in the 5th Division's sector. Still on 27 May, Brooke ordered the 3rd Division commander, [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] [[Bernard Montgomery]], to extend his division's line to the left, thereby freeing the [[10th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|10th]] and [[11th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters South East|11th Brigade]]s, both of the 4th Division, to join the 5th Division at Messines Ridge. The 10th Brigade arrived first, to find the enemy had advanced so far they were closing on the British field artillery. Between them, the 10th and 11th Brigades cleared the ridge of Germans, and by 28 May they were securely dug in east of Wytschaete.{{sfn|Thompson|2009|pp=182–183}}

That day, Brooke ordered a counterattack. This was to be spearheaded by two battalions, the 3rd [[Grenadier Guards]] and 2nd [[North Staffordshire Regiment]], both of Major-General [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Harold Alexander]]'s 1st Division. The North Staffords advanced as far as the [[Kortekeer|Kortekeer River]], while the Grenadiers reached the canal itself, but could not hold it. The counterattack disrupted the Germans, holding them back a little longer while the BEF retreated.{{sfn|Thompson|2009|pp=183–184}}

===Action at Poperinge===
The route back from Brooke's position to Dunkirk passed through the town of [[Poperinge]] (known to most British sources as "Poperinghe"), where there was a bottleneck at a bridge over the Yser canal. Most of the main roads in the area converged on that bridge. On 27 May, the ''Luftwaffe'' bombed the resulting traffic jam thoroughly for two hours, destroying or immobilising about 80 percent of the vehicles. Another ''Luftwaffe'' raid, on the night of 28–29 May, was illuminated by flares as well as the light from burning vehicles. The British [[44th (Home Counties) Division|44th Division]] in particular had to abandon many guns and lorries, losing almost all of them between Poperinge and the Mont.{{sfn|Thompson|2009|pp=186–192, 215}}

The German [[6th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|6th Panzer Division]] could probably have destroyed the 44th Division at Poperinge on 29 May, thereby cutting off the 3rd and 50th Divisions as well. The historian and author [[Julian Thompson (Royal Marines officer)|Julian Thompson]] calls it "astonishing" that they did not, but they were distracted, [[Investment (military)|invest]]ing the nearby town of [[Cassel, Nord|Cassel]].{{sfn|Thompson|2009|p=219}}

===Belgian surrender===
Gort had ordered Lieutenant General Adam, commanding III Corps, and French [[Bertrand Fagalde|General Fagalde]] to prepare a perimeter defence of Dunkirk. The perimeter was semicircular, with French troops manning the western sector and British troops the eastern. It ran along the Belgian coastline from [[Nieuwpoort, Belgium|Nieuwpoort]] in the east via [[Veurne]], [[Bulskamp]] and [[Bergues]] to [[Gravelines]] in the west. The line was made as strong as possible under the circumstances. On 28 May the Belgian army [[Battle of the Lys (1940)|fighting on the Lys river]] under the command of [[Leopold III of Belgium|King Leopold III]] surrendered. This left a {{convert|20|mi|km|abbr=on}} gap in Gort's eastern flank between the British and the sea. The British were surprised by the Belgian capitulation, despite King Leopold warning them in advance.<ref name="BBC p.6">Anderson, Professor Duncan. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/dunkirk_spinning_06.shtml "Day of National Prayer."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619141546/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/dunkirk_spinning_06.shtml |date=19 June 2009 }} ''BBC''. Retrieved: 30 July 2009.</ref>{{sfn|Sebag-Montefiore|2006|p=303}} As a [[Constitutional monarchy|constitutional monarch]], Leopold's decision to surrender without consulting the [[Belgian government in exile|Belgian government]] led to his condemnation by the Belgian and French Prime Ministers, [[Hubert Pierlot]] and [[Paul Reynaud]]. Gort sent the battle-worn 3rd, 4th and 50th Divisions into the line to fill the space the Belgians had held.{{sfn|Liddell Hart|1970|p=41}}

===Defence of the perimeter===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B14898, Calais, britische Kriegsgefangene.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Black and white photo of soldiers with a small tank|British prisoners of war with a [[Panzer I]] German tank]]
While they were still moving into position, they ran headlong into the [[256th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|German 256th Division]], who were trying to outflank Gort. Armoured cars of the [[12th Royal Lancers]] stopped the Germans at Nieuwpoort itself. A confused battle raged all along the perimeter throughout 28 May. Command and control on the British side disintegrated, and the perimeter was driven slowly inwards toward Dunkirk.{{sfn|Liddell Hart|1970|p=41}}

Meanwhile, [[Erwin Rommel]] had surrounded five divisions of the French First Army near [[Siege of Lille (1940)|Lille]]. Although completely cut off and heavily outnumbered, the French fought on for four days under General Molinié in the [[Siege of Lille (1940)|Siege of Lille]], thereby keeping seven German divisions from the assault on Dunkirk and saving an estimated 100,000 Allied troops.{{sfn|Liddell Hart|1970|p=41}} In recognition of the garrison's stubborn defence, German general Kurt Waeger granted them the [[honours of war]], saluting the French troops as they marched past in parade formation with rifles shouldered.{{sfn|Fermer|2013|p=208}}

The defence of the Dunkirk perimeter held throughout 29–30 May, with the Allies falling back by degrees. On 31 May, the Germans nearly broke through at Nieuwpoort. The situation grew so desperate that two British battalion commanders manned a [[Bren light machine gun|Bren gun]], with one colonel firing and the other loading. A few hours later, the 2nd Battalion, [[Coldstream Guards]] of the 3rd Division, rushed to reinforce the line near Furnes, where the British troops had been routed. The Guards restored order by shooting some of the fleeing troops and turning others around at bayonet point. The British troops returned to the line and the German assault was beaten back.{{sfn|Lord|1982|p=199}}

In the afternoon, the Germans breached the perimeter near the canal at [[Bulskamp]], but the boggy ground on the far side of the canal and sporadic fire from the [[Durham Light Infantry]] halted them. As night fell, the Germans massed for another attack at Nieuwpoort. Eighteen RAF bombers found the Germans while they were still assembling and scattered them with an accurate bombing run.{{sfn|Lord|1982|p=200}}

===Retreat to Dunkirk===
[[File:The British Evacuation From Dunkirk in 1940 HU2286.jpg|thumb|British anti-aircraft guns lie abandoned at Dunkirk in May 1940]]
Also on 31 May, General [[Georg von Küchler|von Küchler]] assumed command of all the German forces at Dunkirk. His plan was simple: launch an all-out attack across the whole front at 11:00 on 1 June. Strangely, von Küchler ignored a radio intercept telling him the British were abandoning the eastern end of the line to fall back to Dunkirk itself.{{sfn|Lord|1982|p=210}} During the night of 31 May to 1 June, [[Marcus Ervine-Andrews]] won the [[Victoria Cross]] in the battle when he defended {{convert|1,000|yd|m}} of territory.<ref name=LIMus>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lancashireinfantrymuseum.org.uk/captain-later-lieutenant-colonel-harold-marcus-ervine-andrews-vc/|title=Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews|publisher=Lancashire Infantry Museum|access-date=21 August 2020|archive-date=1 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801083550/https://www.lancashireinfantrymuseum.org.uk/captain-later-lieutenant-colonel-harold-marcus-ervine-andrews-vc/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The morning of 1 June was clear—good flying weather, in contrast to the bad weather that had hindered air operations on 30 and 31 May (there were only two-and-a-half good flying days in the whole operation) Although Churchill had promised the French that the British would cover their escape, on the ground it was the British and mostly the French who held the line whilst the last remaining British and then French soldiers were evacuated. Enduring concentrated German artillery fire and {{lang|de|Luftwaffe}} strafing and bombs, the outnumbered French and British  stood their ground. On 2 June (the day the last of the British units embarked onto the ships),{{refn|Major General Harold Alexander, commanding [[I Corps (United Kingdom)|I Corps]], was one of the last to leave. Just before midnight on 2 June, Ramsay received the signal: "BEF evacuated".{{sfn|MacDonald|1986|p=18}}|group="Notes"}} the French began to fall back slowly, and by 3 June the Germans were about {{Convert|2|mi|km|abbr=|spell=}} from Dunkirk. The night of 3 June was the last night of evacuations. At 10:20 on 4 June, the Germans hoisted the swastika over the docks from which so many British and French troops had escaped.{{sfn|MacDonald|1986|p=16}}{{sfn|Lord|1982|p=246}}{{sfn|Liddell Hart|1970|p=46}}

The resistance of Allied forces, especially the French forces, including the  [[12th Infantry Division (France)|French 12th Motorised Infantry Division]] from the [[Fort des Dunes]], had bought time for the evacuation of the bulk of the troops. The Wehrmacht captured some 35,000 soldiers, almost all of them French. These men had protected the evacuation until the last moment and were unable to embark. The same fate was reserved for the survivors of the French 12th Motorised Infantry Division (composed in particular of the French [[150th Infantry Regiment (France)|150th Infantry Regiment]]); they were taken prisoner on the morning of 4 June on the beach of Malo-les-Bains. The flag of this regiment was burnt so as not to fall into enemy hands.{{sfn|Carse|1970}}{{pn|date=December 2021}}