The Luftwaffe’s relentless bombing attacks on the harbor slowed the evacuation process, even as Royal Air Force ( RAF) planes tried to delay or stop the German planes from reaching the beaches, losing many aircraft in the process. Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay directed the efforts, leading a team working out of a room deep inside the Dover cliffs that had once contained a generator known as a dynamo (giving the operation its name). On the evening of May 26, the British began the evacuation from Dunkirk, using the codename Operation Dynamo. Hitler gave the tanks the go-ahead again on May 26, but by that time the Allies had gained crucial time to put their preparations in place. Hitler’s decision has been attributed to his generals’ worries over a possible Allied counterattack (like the failed one on May 21 south of Arras) as well as Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering’s insistence that his air forces could prevent any evacuation attempt at Dunkirk. In planning this risky operation, the Allies got a helping hand from a surprising source: Adolf Hitler, who on May 24 gave the order to halt the advance of German panzer divisions bearing down on Dunkirk. At first, British command opposed evacuation, and French forces wanted to hold out as well.īut with the BEF and its allies forced back on the French port of Dunkirk, located on the shores of the North Sea just 10 km (6.2 miles) from the Belgian border, Churchill soon became convinced evacuation was the only option. Meanwhile, in London, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had resigned under pressure on May 13, making way for a new wartime coalition government headed by Winston Churchill. Soon after the blitzkrieg began, German forces invaded France-not along the Maginot Line, which the Allies had expected, but through the Ardennes Forest, moving steadily along the Somme Valley toward the English Channel.Īs they advanced, German forces cut off all communication and transport between the northern and southern branches of Allied forces, pushing several hundred thousand Allied troops in the north into an increasingly small sliver of the French coast.īy May 19, General John Gort, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had begun to weigh the possibility of evacuating his entire force by sea in order to save them from certain annihilation by the approaching Nazi troops. In the face of such a coordinated strategy, superior air power and highly mobile ground forces supported by panzer tanks, all three countries would succumb quickly: The Germans occupied Luxembourg on May 10, the Netherlands on May 14 and Belgium by the end of the month. On May 10, 1940, the so-called “phony war” ended decisively when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium in a blitzkrieg (German for “lightning war”) attack. The Strait of Dover, where the distance between England and France is just 21 miles across the English Channel, is located to the southwest.īecause of its seaside location near the borders of three European powers, Dunkirk (known as Dunkerque in French) and the surrounding area have been the site of centuries of commerce and travel, as well as numerous bloody battles. The oil embargo placed on Japan by the US threatened Japan's expansion plan for its empire, so while they made diplomatic efforts to get the embargo lifted (on terms to still be allowed to take over desired territories), they prepared for war.Dunkirk is located in the north of France, on the shores of the North Sea near the Belgian-French border. They viewed Europe's power through their massive empires, and they emulated by invading and conquering other Asian countries. Because of its very limited resources, Japan realized it needed natural resources to industrialize and compete with the West. With the arrival of Perry, Japan realized they were behind the Western world (Europe and America), and from the start of the Meiji (Enlightenment) Era in 1868, Japan began sending people to Europe and America to learn everything they could in order to catch up with the West. Perry demanded Japan to open to trade with the West. Perry arrived on Japan's shore in 1853, Japan had been a mostly closed country for the previous 250 years, strictly regulating interactions and trade with foreigners. Japan was fully aware of America's power.
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