Significance of The Battle of Dunkirk

The Battle of Dunkirk memorial

June 1, 1940

Recovered Journal Entry #4:

Aftermath of the Battle of Dunkirk. 11,000 French troops and citizens dead and wounded. The French met defeat and the British felt the impact. The loss of material on the beaches was huge. Left behind in France were, among huge supplies of ammunition, 880 field guns, 310 guns of large calibre, some 500 anti-aircraft guns, about 850 anti-tanks guns, 11,000 machine guns, nearly 700 tanks, 20,00 motorcycles, and 45,000 motor cars and lorries. The British Army needed months to re-supply properly and some planned introductions of new equipment were halted while industrial resources concentrated on making good the losses. The shortage of army vehicles after Dunkirk was so severe that the Royal Army Service Corps was reduced to retrieving and refurbishing numbers of obsolete bus and coach models from British scrapyards to press them into use as troop transports.

Nine days after Operation Dynamo (evacuation of Dunkirk Harbor) began, a total of 338,226 people - including about 95,00 French troops - had been rescued. Churchill called it a "miracle of deliverance," and the "Dunkirk Spirit," the battle quickly became the stuff of legend. In retrospect, the eventual allied victory might well have been thwarted had Britain lost hundreds of thousands of troops at Dunkirk. Nevertheless, the massive rescue could hardly be considered a victory. There was more to the story than the heartwarming tale of heroism.

But our cultural differences were made clear through attitude and uniform. No one was forgiving or accepting. And no one from either side would ever admit help was needed from the other. Nor was a thanks given.

Fortunately our morale had changed over time.

The French thought of us as cowards for running from the Germans when we rescued them, leaving some of our own men on Dunkirk to die by the hands of Nazi's. But eventually the French had a different opinion of us. However, it wasn't until 1944 that Britain redeemed itself when British and American forces worked together with the added French troops in the D-Day operation, leading to France's liberation.

Since then The Battle of Dunkirk has resulted in a politics and media spin. Even so, the story of the Battle of Dunkirk inspires em for one simple reason: it shows ordinary people lifting the veil of war - the impersonal propaganda of numbers - and seeing each other as human beings. Our British fishermen, soldiers, and citizens didn't row across the English channel to transport "troops," they risked their lives to rescue people with names and faces. That the public could, however briefly, set aside their habit of detached reliance on the machinery of government and take personal responsibility for other lives - especially in a time of war - is to me an immensely hopeful sign. It's a step toward understanding that the soldiers wearing different uniforms are human beings too.

Joseph Kissell
British Secretary for the Royal Army Service Corporations