Editing Battle of Dunkirk (section)

==="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}}