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too well the sight of dispirited men hurling their rifles from the trains carrying them from Dover."
- Richard Collier, The Sands of Dunkirk, London, Collins, 1961
The Sunday Dispatch put the success of the evacuation down to divine intervention following a
nation-wide service of prayer following which the notoriously rough channel 'became as smooth as a
pond' and 'a fog descended to shield our troops from devastating attack by the enemy's air strength.'
- The First Casualty, Phillip Knightley, Andre Deutsch. London. 1975
"In 1962, General Sir Harold E. Franklyn, who had been a divisional commander at Dunkirk,
complained that the evacuation had been 'over-glamorized'. He said reports of 'merciless bombing'
and 'the hell of Dunkirk' were quite ridiculous. 'I walked along the beach on several occasions and
never saw a corpse... there was very little shelling."
- The First Casualty, Phillip Knightley, Andre Deutsch. London. 1975
"Never was a great disaster more easily preventable," said Captain Sir Basil Liddell Hart. Military
historian who pointed out that the German breakthrough reported as being due to overwhelming
superiority, was actually achieved with armies inferior in numbers to those opposing them.
In fact, the 'miracle of Dunkirk' owes more to Hitler's conciliatory stance than to the Almighty
calming the waters and placing a fog between the retreating British Expeditionary Force and its
German pursuers.
FRIENDSHIP WITH BRITAIN
338,000 BRITISH AND FRENCH TROOPS - SAVED BY HITLER
In explaining why Hitler intervened in the military operations to allow the escape of 188,000 British
and 150,200 French troops at Dunkirk, General Blumentritt said:
"He then astonished us by speaking with admiration of the British Empire, of the necessity for its
existence and of the civilization that Britain had brought to the world.
He compared the British Empire with the Catholic Church - saying they were both essential elements
of stability in the world. He said that all he wanted from Britain was that she should acknowledge
Germany's position on the continent. The return of Germany's lost colonies would be desirable but
not essential, and he would even offer to support British troops, if she should be involved in any
difficulties anywhere. He concluded by saying that his aim was to make peace with Britain, on a
basis that she would regard as compatible with her honour to accept."
Blumentritt said: "The German generals in charge were dumbfounded and outraged at Hitler's attitude
in thus preventing them from pressing an advantage which they believed would result in the capture
of the entire British Expeditionary Force. But Hitler was adamant in his refusal and issued the most
peremptory orders for the German armored forces to stay at a distance while the British embarkation
went on."
Thus, the success of the British retreat at Dunkirk being described as 'the miracle of Dunkirk' owes its
miraculous nature more to the French Army fighting a rearguard retreat and Hitler again behaving in a
conciliatory way. As William Joyce cynically put it: " England is fighting to the last Frenchman."
Very often, the Wehrmacht (and Waffen SS) found their military advantage removed by the more
conciliatory Hitler, and it was not unknown for the armed forces to disregard such orders:
"During the pursuit of the British forces towards Dunkirk the Leibstandarte (regiment) was ordered to
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