Just watched Dunkirk, a total fiasco of incompetence of the Brits and French. Lack of equipment, ships, planes. Who in their right minds stands 400,000 ‘boys’ barely men on a open beach for German fighter planes to strafe and bomb at will, with very little air or Ship protection? The overcrowded evac and ‘hospital’ ships where just sunk with all aboard.
Brits wouldn’t let French on ‘their’ ships, didn’t see any French ships to evac their men stranded on that beach. Men who went overboard into the oil slick waters, many either drown or died in fires when the oil slick caught fire.
Small fishing vessels and yachts rescued many.
40,000 Brits and same for French captured.
The lines were organized to keep the evacuation from turning into a riot.
The sand helped mitigate somewhat the bombing and straffing.
There was a debate involving the RAF...use them at Dunkirk or save them for the next phase...the feared German invasion of Great Britain.
The evacuation at Dunkirk was a fairly well executed operation considering all factors.
Dunkirk occurred because of the complete surprise success of the German attack and the nearly complete incompetence of the French command.
The British did not “decide” to strand 400,000 men on the beaches. It was forced on them as a war decision. It was that or surrender.
They didn’t stand 400,000 men on an open beach. The whole thing lasted over a week, mostly they were hiding in buildings and stuff, the lines were just as many folks as they figured they could get loaded in a couple of hours. As for air and ship protection that was England playing the long game and not wanting to lose ships and planes they would need later. As for overcrowded ships being sunk, yeah that’s what happened in the early parts of the war when the Wolf Pack owned the seas.
For a better, and IMO, more accurate telling of that evacuation, check out Dunkirk (1958) with a great cast of British actors. This one has two stories, one of a squad making its way to the beach and the other some civilians in the UK who own small craft going over to pick them up.
One scene got to me. A little cabin cruiser is approaching the beach and the skipper says "Head over to that pier." only to discover the "pier" is a column of soldiers standing chest deep in the water.
The Sgt at the head of the line asks how many can they take and the skipper says "Twenty". The Sgt counts off 20 and says "Off you go.", then gets back to the head of the line. They wait for another boat, which never comes.