Editing Dunkirk (section)

====Liberation====
{{Main|Siege of Dunkirk (1944–45)}}
[[File:Dunkirk.png|thumb|Map of Dunkirk surroundings during the Allied attempt to retake Dunkirk in 1944]]

The city of Dunkirk was again contested in 1944, with the [[2nd Canadian Infantry Division]] attempting to liberate the city in September, as Allied forces surged northeast after their victory in the [[Operation Overlord|Battle of Normandy]]. However, German forces refused to relinquish their control of the city, which had been converted into a fortress. To seize the now strategically insignificant town would consume too many Allied resources which were needed elsewhere. The town was by-passed masking the German garrison with Allied troops, notably the [[1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade]]. During the [[German occupation]], Dunkirk was largely destroyed by Allied bombing. The artillery siege of Dunkirk was directed on the final day of the war by pilots from [[No. 652 Squadron RAF]], and [[No. 665 Squadron RCAF]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2007}} The fortress, under the command of German Admiral [[Friedrich Frisius]], eventually unconditionally surrendered to the commander of the Czechoslovak forces, [[Brigade General]] [[Alois Liška]], on 9 May 1945.<ref>{{Cite periodical |url=http://www.army.cz/avis/areport2005/ar11str.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202110544/http://www.army.cz/avis/areport2005/ar11str.pdf|title=Vzpomínky na obléhání pevnosti |periodical=Reportáž |archive-date=2 December 2007}}</ref>