The imminent release of the film Dunkirk starring Christopher Nolan highlights the continuing public interest in nine iconic days of British history, from 26 May to 4 June 1940.
Yet the events that enabled 338,226 Allied personnel to be evacuated, despite overwhelming dangers, remain difficult to understand, comments the University’s Dr Edward Smalley, a leading authority on the epic evacuation.
To coincide with the release of the film Dunkirk, Dr Smalley, will give a talk and hold a Q&A event at the Curzon Cinema in Canterbury on Saturday 22 July at 6pm.
He comments: ‘Contrary to popular belief, the campaign’s outcome was determined by organisation more than technological superiority.
‘German logistics still relied largely on horses, whereas the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was fully motorized. The Germans achieved victory through a more aggressive strategy, a higher tempo of operations and by concentrating firepower.
‘Defeated on the battlefield and surrounded, the bulk of the BEF and a significant number of Allied troops withdrew, under constant attack, to the channel port of Dunkirk; the evacuation (codenamed Operation Dynamo) began on 26 May.
‘To this day, Dunkirk can be a source of tension between France and Britain due to fault-finding and accusations of possible betrayal. These divisions are understandable considering the scale and shock of defeat, but they do not accurately represent events.
‘BEF commander Lord Gort only ordered an evacuation after exhausting all realistic alternatives, and, when French evacuations commenced on 28 May, all embarkation facilities were shared equally in accordance with British government orders.
‘The evacuation is most famous for the ‘Little Ships’, the plethora of civilian craft that lifted men direct from the beaches. Yet approximately 2/3 of troops were embarked on board large ships via the harbour sea defence known as the Mole. Small boats were important, but for ferrying personnel to larger ships offshore rather than cross-Channel exploits.
‘Contemporary criticism of RAF efforts to protect the evacuation acknowledges how embarkations were restricted to the hours of darkness by 1 June. However, it overlooks how many RAF patrols engaged the enemy before they reached Dunkirk. Conspiracy theories about the Germans allowing the BEF to escape are simply wrong. The decision to prematurely halt their exhausted panzers was logical given they still had much of France to conquer.
‘Furthermore, Dunkirk was surrounded by canals and marshland, terrain with clear defensive advantages and unhelpful to armour. Finally, there is a mistaken belief that Dunkirk was the culmination of the campaign when the battle for France continued for another three weeks.
‘Significant Allied forces, including 150,000 BEF personnel in western France, kept fighting, but exhausted and outnumbered, organised resistance was rapidly crushed. Another bout of less familiar evacuations were conducted up to and even beyond the Franco-German armistice of 22 June 1940.
‘Dunkirk was a traumatic defeat for the British army, but the unexpected rescue of so many was a tremendous wartime morale booster and the Dunkirk spirit is still emulated today in times of adversity. Dunkirk will continue to inspire for years to come.’
Dr Smalley is a military historian within the University’s School of History and the author of The British Expeditionary Force 1939-40 (Palgrave Macmillan), which has just been published as a paperback .