Dunkirque
🛑 ALL INFORMATION CLICK HERE 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻
Dunkirque
Browse
Search
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Geography & Travel
Health & Medicine
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Literature
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
Science
Sports & Recreation
Technology
Visual Arts
World History
On This Day in History
Quizzes
Podcasts
Games
Dictionary
Biographies
Summaries
Top Questions
Week In Review
Infographics
Demystified
Lists
#WTFact
Companions
Image Galleries
Spotlight
The Forum
One Good Fact
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Geography & Travel
Health & Medicine
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Literature
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
Science
Sports & Recreation
Technology
Visual Arts
World History
Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.
Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.
#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.
This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.
Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.
Buying Guide Expert buying advice. From tech to household and wellness products.
Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.
COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.
100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning. Go ahead. Ask. We won’t mind.
Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century. Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them!
SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Feedback Type
Select a type (Required)
Factual Correction
Spelling/Grammar Correction
Link Correction
Additional Information
Other
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Feedback Type
Select a type (Required)
Factual Correction
Spelling/Grammar Correction
Link Correction
Additional Information
Other
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
By
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
•
Edit History
The belfry, originally the western tower of the Church of Saint-Eloi, at Dunkirk, France.
Learn how Nazi panzers wedged between French and British troops and trapped the latter at Dunkirk
The British Expeditionary Force being surrounded by invading Germans at Dunkirk and evacuated from France by a motley rescue fleet of military ships and private boats; from The Second World War: Triumph of the Axis (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
British and other Allied troops waiting to be evacuated from the beach at Dunkirk, France, 1940.
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
Dunkirk , French Dunkerque , town and seaport, Nord département , Hauts-de-France région , northern France . It lies along the Strait of Dover between Calais and the Belgian frontier, 49 miles (79 km) northwest of Lille by road.
First mentioned in 1067 as Dunkerk (Flemish: “Church of the Dunes”), the town was besieged and sacked six times during the Middle Ages and was in the centre of conflicts between France, Spain, England , and Holland in the 16th and 17th centuries before it was finally recovered by France in 1662. Louis XIV had important fortifications built there to make it a safe base for Jean Bart and other famous French corsairs who pillaged foreign ships. Forced by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 to demolish the fortifications, France was not allowed to rebuild them until the late 18th century.
During World War II , in May–June 1940, the British Expeditionary Force and other Allied troops, cut off by the Germans, were evacuated from Dunkirk to England by naval vessels and hundreds of civilian boats . The town was liberated by the U.S. Army in May 1945, but more than three-quarters of its houses were destroyed in the fighting.
The town was subsequently rebuilt on a new plan, with the spacious Place Jean Bart in the centre. Near that square is a belfry, 131 feet (40 metres) high, that was built in the 15th century and restored after severe damage by fire in 1940. It was originally the western tower of the Gothic church of Saint Éloi (damaged in World Wars I and II) but was separated from it by a street in the 18th century. The town museum, also partly destroyed in 1940, has preserved a collection of 17th-century paintings by minor Dutch masters.
Dunkirk’s great artificial port was largely rebuilt after 1945 and subsequently expanded to form a deepwater port and industrial zone to the west of the town. The port itself is capable of accepting 300,000-ton vessels and is the third largest complex in France (after Marseille and Le Havre ) in terms of the amount of traffic handled. Imports dominate and include iron ore, coking coal, and crude and refined oil. The principal exports are refined oil products and cereals. The industrial zone has become the site of a series of heavy industries, including steel , oil-refining, petrochemical, and aluminum production. More-recent diversification has led to the development of pharmaceuticals and the production of cans for the beverage industry . The old port zone near the centre of the town, following the closure of the shipyards, has been redeveloped, with retailing, a maritime museum, and a marina. Dunkirk’s service sector is still underdeveloped, although the port has stimulated the growth of transport-related activities, and the town is home to a branch of the Opal Coast University, located in the former docklands. Pop. (1999) 97,957; (2014 est.) 89,160.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1940 battle between the Allies and Germany in France
This article is about the Second World War battle in 1940. For details about the major evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, see Dunkirk evacuation . For the other battles of the name, see Battle of Dunkirk (disambiguation) .
— Halder, in a letter of July 1957. [9]
^ Major General Harold Alexander, commanding I Corps , was one of the last to leave. Just before midnight on 2 June, Ramsay received the signal: "BEF evacuated". [38]
^ Shirer 1959 , p. 736 Footnote
^ Ellis, Major L F. "The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940 (Chapter XII: Dunkirk Bethune and Ypres)" . History of the Second World War. Archived from the original on 30 May 2007 – via Hyperwar Foundation.
^ Jump up to: a b Hooton 2010 , p. 71.
^ Jump up to: a b Murray 2002 , p. 42 (1985 ed.)
^ Franks 2008 , pp. 33–39.
^ Franks 2008 , p. 160.
^ Jump up to: a b MacDonald 1986 , p. 8.
^ Frieser 2005 , pp. 291–292.
^ Shirer 1959 , p. 879.
^ Butler 2004 , p. 151.
^ Shirer 1959 , p. 883.
^ Jump up to: a b Taylor & Mayer 1974 , p. 60.
^ Shirer 1959 , p. 877.
^ Jump up to: a b c Atkin 1990 , p. 120.
^ Kershaw 2008 , p. 27.
^ Bond 1990 , pp. 104–105.
^ Lord 1982 , p. 148.
^ Liddell Hart 1970 , p. 40.
^ Jump up to: a b MacDonald 1986 , p. 12.
^ Sebag-Montefiore 2006 , p. 250.
^ Lord 1982 , pp. 74–76.
^ Shirer 1959 , p. 882.
^ Grehan 2018 , Chapter 4.
^ Thompson 2009 , pp. 174–178.
^ Thompson 2009 , p. 179.
^ Thompson 2009 , pp. 182–183.
^ Thompson 2009 , pp. 183–184.
^ Thompson 2009 , pp. 186–192, 215.
^ Thompson 2009 , p. 219.
^ Anderson, Professor Duncan. "Day of National Prayer." Archived 19 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine BBC . Retrieved: 30 July 2009.
^ Sebag-Montefiore 2006 , p. 303.
^ Jump up to: a b c Liddell Hart 1970 , p. 41.
^ Fermer 2013 , p. 208.
^ Lord 1982 , p. 199.
^ Lord 1982 , p. 200.
^ Lord 1982 , p. 210.
^ "Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews VC | Lancashire Infantry Museum" . www.lancashireinfantrymuseum.org.uk . Retrieved 21 August 2020 .
^ MacDonald 1986 , p. 18.
^ Jump up to: a b MacDonald 1986 , p. 16.
^ Lord 1982 , p. 246.
^ Jump up to: a b Liddell Hart 1970 , p. 46.
^ Carse 1970 .
^ Shirer 1959 , p. 884.
^ MacDonald 1986 , pp. 12, 16.
^ Lord 1982 , pp. 267–269.
^ Butler 2004 , pp. 296–305.
^ "France - German aggressions | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . Retrieved 30 March 2022 .
^ Postan 1952 , Chapter IV.
^ Anderson, Professor Duncan (17 February 2011), Spinning Dunkirk , BBC, archived from the original on 31 October 2016 , retrieved 30 July 2009
^ Thompson 2009 , pp. 314–315.
^ Thompson 2009 , pp. 337–338.
^ Rodgers, Lucy. "The men who defined the 'Dunkirk spirit'." Archived 24 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine BBC , 14 May 2010. Retrieved: 30 July 2010.
^ "Medals: campaigns, descriptions and eligibility" . www.gov.uk . Archived from the original on 23 June 2017 . Retrieved 2 June 2017 .
^ "Dunkirk Medal (1940)" . Archived from the original on 9 August 2017 . Retrieved 11 July 2017 .
Atkin, Ronald (1990). Pillar of Fire: Dunkirk 1940 . Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited. ISBN 978-1-84158-078-4 .
Bond, Brian (1990). Britain, France and Belgium 1939–1940 . London: Brasseys. ISBN 978-0-08-037700-1 .
Butler, J. R. M. (2004). The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940: Official Campaign History . Uckfield, UK: Naval & Military Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84574-056-6 .
Carse, Robert (1970). Dunkirk, 1940: A History . Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-221077-5 .
Fermer, Douglas (2013). Three German Invasions of France: The Summer Campaigns of 1870, 1914, and 1940 . Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 978-1-78159-354-7 .
Franks, Norman (2008). Royal Air Force Fighter Command Losses of the Second World War, Volume 1. Operational Losses: Aircraft and crews, 1939–1941 . London: Midland Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-85780-286-3 .
Frieser, Karl-Heinz (2005). The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West . Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-294-2 .
Grehan, John (2018). Dunkirk Nine Days That Saved an Army: A Day by Day Account of the Greatest Evacuation . Yorkshire: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-5267-2484-7 .
Hooton, E.R. (2010). The Luftwaffe: A Study in Air Power, 1933–1945 . London: Classic Publications. ISBN 978-1-906537-18-0 .
Kershaw, Ian (2008). Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940–1941 . London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-101418-0 .
Liddell Hart, Basil Henry (1970). History of the Second World War . New York: G.P. Putnam. ISBN 978-0-306-80912-5 .
Lord, Walter (1982). The Miracle of Dunkirk . London: Allen Lane, 1983. Citations from the Wordsworth Military Library reprint of 1998. New York: The Viking Press. ISBN 978-1-85326-685-0 .
MacDonald, John (1986). Great Battles of World War II . Toronto, Canada: Strathearn Books Limited. ISBN 978-0-86288-116-0 .
Murray, Willamson (2002). Strategy for Defeat: The Luftwaffe 1935–1945 . Princeton, New Jersey: University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 978-0-89875-797-2 .
Postan, Michael M. (1952). History of the Second World War . British War Production. London: H.M. Stationery Office. OCLC 2175640 .
Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh (2006). Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man . London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-141-02437-0 .
Shirer, William L. (1959). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany . New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-330-70001-6 .
Taylor, A.J.P.; Mayer, S.L. (1974). A History of World War Two . London: Octopus Books. ISBN 978-0-7064-0399-2 .
Thompson, Julian (2009). Dunkirk: Retreat to Victory . London: Pan Books. ISBN 978-0-330-43796-7 .
Franks, Norman. The Air Battle of Dunkirk (2008 [1983], William Kimber, London) ISBN 0-7183-0349-0
Holland, James. The Rise of Germany . New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2015. ISBN 978-0-8021-2397-8
Holmes, Richard, ed. "France: Fall of". The Oxford Companion to Military History . New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-866209-2 .
Hooton, E.R. Luftwaffe at War; Blitzkrieg in the West . London: Chevron/Ian Allan, 2007. ISBN 978-1-85780-272-6 .
Keegan, John. The Second World War . New York: Viking Penguin, 1989. ISBN 0-670-82359-7 .
Kilzer, Louis. Hitler's Traitor: Martin Bormann and the Defeat of the Reich . New York: Presidio Press, 2000. ISBN 0-89141-710-9 .
McEwan, Ian. Atonement . London: Jonathan Cape, 2001. ISBN 0-224-06252-2 .
McGlashan, Kenneth B. with Owen P. Zupp. Down to Earth: A Fighter Pilot Recounts His Experiences of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Dieppe, D-Day and Beyond . London: Grub Street Publishing, 2007. ISBN 1-904943-84-5 .
Murray, Williamson and Allan R. Millett. A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War . Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 2000. ISBN 0-674-00163-X .
Salmaggi, Cesare and Alfredo Pallavisini. 2194 Days of War: An Illustrated Chronology of the Second World War . New York: Gallery Books, 1993. ISBN 0-8317-8885-2 .
Smith, Peter C (2011). The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka: A Complete History . London: Crecy Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-0-85979-156-4 .
Thomas, Nick. RAF Top Gun: Teddy Donaldson CB, DSO, AFC and Bar, Battle of Britain Ace and World Air Speed Record Holder . London: Pen and Sword, 2008. ISBN 1-84415-685-0 .
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World at Arms . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-521-44317-2 .
Wilmot, Chester. The Struggle for Europe . Old Saybrook, Connecticut: Konecky & Konecky, 1952. ISBN 1-56852-525-7
Estimated total casualties 20,000 killed or wounded
The Battle of Dunkirk (French: Bataille de Dunkerque ) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War , between the Allies and Nazi Germany . As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on the Western Front , the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and other Allied forces to Britain from 26 May to 4 June 1940.
After the Phoney War , the Battle of France began in earnest on 10 May 1940. To the east, the German Army Group B invaded the Netherlands and advanced westward. In response, the Supreme Allied Commander, French General Maurice Gamelin , initiated "Plan D" and British and French troops entered Belgium to engage the Germans in the Netherlands . French planning for war relied on the Maginot Line fortifications along the German–French border protecting the region of Lorraine but the line did not cover the Belgian border. German forces had already crossed most of the Netherlands before the French forces had arrived. Gamelin instead committed the forces under his command, three mechanised forces, the French First and Seventh Armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), to the River Dyle . On 14 May, German Army Group A burst through the Ardennes and advanced rapidly westward toward Sedan , turning northward to the English Channel , using Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein 's plan Sichelschnitt (under the German strategy Fall Gelb ), effectively flanking the Allied forces. [7]
A series of Allied counter-attacks, including the Battle of Arras , failed to sever the German spearhead, which reached the coast on 20 May, separating the BEF near Armentières , the French First Army , and the Belgian Army further to the north from the majority of French troops south of the German penetration. After reaching the Channel, the German forces swung north along the coast, threatening to capture the ports and trap the British and French forces.
In one of the most debated decisions of the war, the Germans halted their advance on Dunkirk. What became known as the "Halt Order" did not originate with Adolf Hitler . Generaloberste (Colonel-Generals) Gerd von Rundstedt and Günther von Kluge suggested that the German forces around the Dunkirk pocket should cease their advance on the port and consolidate to avoid an Allied breakout. Hitler sanctioned the order on 24 May with the support of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German high command). The army was to halt for three days, which gave the Allies sufficient time to organise the Dunkirk evacuation and build a defensive line. While more than 330,000 Allied troops were rescued, [8] British and French military forces nonetheless sustained heavy casualties and were forced to abandon nearly all their equipment; around 16,000 French soldiers and 1,000 British soldiers died during the evacuation. The British Expeditionary Force alone lost some 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign.
On 10 May 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . By 26 May, the BEF and the French 1st Army were bottled up in a corridor to the sea, about 60 miles (97 km) deep and 15 miles (24 km) wide. Most of the British forces were still around Lille , over 40 miles (64 km) from Dunkirk, with the French farther south. Two massive German armies flanked them. General Fedor von Bock 's Army Group B was to the east, and General Gerd von Rundstedt 's Army Group A to the west. Both officers were later promoted to field marshal.
Transexual Las Vegas
Escort Service Colorado
Tiffanybae23