Editing Battle of Dunkirk (section)

===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}}