"My dad was one of the 3,000 heroes sacrificed by Winston Churchill to save Dunkirk"
Author reveals bravery of his soldier father whose garrison 'fought to the last man' to hold back the Nazis
"My dad was one of the 3,000 heroes sacrificed by Winston Churchill to save Dunkirk"
Author reveals bravery of his soldier father whose garrison 'fought to the last man' to hold back the Nazis
As much as I feel for the author, I do not believe Churchill “sacrificed” the lost brigade. They had a job to do, and because of their heroic stand, over 100,000 soldiers and sailors got to England to keep the battle going.
I do not think the author’s father ever thought that his unit was being “sacrificed” either. I believe he would have argued that they knew exactly what they were doing and why.
They sacrificed their lives, they were not a “sacrifice”. There is a huge difference.
And what a great picture.
I watched Dunkirk last weekend and thought it was excellent. Will probably see the Churchill movie soon.
These are the best history lessons. Most books have maps and arrows depicting movements and units. You could read his story and it could be from medieval times, or Afghanistan. What we do to our young is simply horrible.
And it never ends.
One of the great men of the 20th century was Airey Neave, author of “Flames of Calais: A Soldier’s Battle 1940”. Essential reading for anyone interested in the campaign of 1940.
As a young officer, wounded and captured at Calais, he endured years of incarceration at the hands of the Nazis but was never cowed by them. He went on to become Margaret Thatcher’s right hand man and a force behind her path to Prime Ministership. In 1979 he was murdered by another gang of neo-fascists, the so-called Provisional Irish Republican Army. A great loss.
Through out history it has been proven over and over that freedom from tyranny can only be purchased with blood because tyrants are more than eager to shed the blood of innocents to gain power.
Wow, very impressive. It’s probably best that he died in 1993, rather than live on to see what the UK has become, or what has happened to the ‘men’ in the UK.
***They were the lost brigade, just a few thousand British soldiers, doomed by a mortified Winston Churchill to fight to the last man to hold up the Germans at the French port of Calais. ****
This reminds me of the book about the PT Boat war, THEY WERE EXPENDABLE in which the opening paragraph tells how you are to man a machine gun, and fight to the death, while others are rescued. You realize YOU are expendable.
Thanks for posting this article. I read it through tears.
I think the bravery and ferocity at Calais forced the German generals to approach Dunkirk with more caution than was needed. In truth, they could have easily overrun Dunkirk and won the war in Europe. Those British and French soldiers in Calais did not die in vain.
Words fail to describe this kind of heroism.
There are only tears.
It’s a good thing Hitler held back the Panzers so they could rest and re-fit.