On May 24 1940, German divisions would squeeze both the surrounded British and French forces at Dunkirk. There is no doupt that they could have either destroyed, or haven taken, the whole of the British Expeditionary Force and three French field armies prisoner. Almost 400,000 British, Belgian, and French troops lined up in the water and on the beaches of Dunkirk. Their fate seemed to be sealed, but something extraordinary happened, what is known as the Miracle of Dunkirk. It was for friend or foe, an unexpected and fateful turn of events, as Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler himself giving the British the chance to escape. All that was wished for from Britain, was that they recognized Germany's place on the Continent. The target of coming up to peace with Britain, in all honor, had motivated Hitler to spare the British. The English military historian Liddell Hart wrote after 1945, that the German Reich had absolutely no plans for war against Britain. Germany had imagined itself as a very important partner for Britain. Together they could oppose the Kremlin's global machinations. The halt order has been the subject of much discussion by historians. Left image: an interesting picture of the excellent divisional commander Paul Hausser writing orders with staff from SS-Standarte Germania. The presence of captured British soldiers suggests that this photograph was taken as the Waffen-SS pushed northward.
Commons: Bundesarchiv. Right image: armed with a 9mm MP38, often called
Schmeisser, plus stick-grenadiers in his belt, this SS-Oberscharführer of SS-Standarte Germania leads his men along a roadside during the Western Campaign. This photo appears on the cover of the book
Voices of the Waffen SS by Gerry Villani. Both photos by SS-Kriegsberichter Friedrich Zschäckel in 1940. Commons: Bundesarchiv.
The veteran of World War I, Paul Hausser was promoted to SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer and Generaloberst of the Waffen-SS in August 1944. Hausser became, along with Sepp Dietrich, the highest-ranking officer in the Waffen-SS.
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ReplyDeleteHitler was mistaken to let the British go at Dunkirk. By not destroying the British army, Hitler boosted Churchill who turned the evacuation into British heroics that sustained the willingness to fight on.
ReplyDeleteSure, Hitler was all about expansion towards the east, but the war in the west was forced on him by the allys, he was a real England-fanboy after all his attempt at a peace treaty was rejected by the Brits on October 10, 1939. Author Stephen Davis claims he may have tried again during the Battle of Dunkirk. What is known is that on the day Hitler mysteriously stopped his troops at Dunkirk his generals reported in their diaries that he was in very good humour and told them the war would be over within days or weeks. General Jodl wrote that Hitler was “working on the peace treaty” and that he told them he would make a “just peace” settlement with Britain.
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