3 - The Barnes Review

PAGE 42 the barnes review MAY/JUNE
British and French tormentors. The result
was that 188,000 British and 150,200
French troops found themselves trapped on
the beaches of Dunkirk. One of the greatest
ironies of history is that the man who came
first to the defeated armies’ aid, even
before the English flotilla of small ships set
sail, was none other than Adolf Hitler.
The German leader talked in private to
Field Marshal von Rundstedt, who was
accompanied by his two key men, Soden -
stern and Blumentritt. Hitler was in a very
good humor. He remarked that the course
of the campaign had been “an admitted
miracle” and gave Sodenstern and Blum -
entritt the opinion that the war would be
over in six weeks. After that, he wanted to
conclude a reasonable peace with France;
and then the way would be free for an
agreement with Britain.
When asked why he had stopped short
of forcing the complete surrender or otherwise
directing the annihilation of the
stricken and defeated enemy armies, the
Führer astonished Sodenstern and Blu -
men tritt 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 Ger -
many’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
Britain 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 honor to accept.
Von Rundstedt, always in favor of
agree ment with England and France
and assuming that Germany’s magnanimous
gesture would be reciprocated,
agreed: “Well, if he wants nothing else, we
shall [have] peace at last.”
Other German generals, less inclined to
trust Churchill’s dictatorship, protested
when hearing their prize was to be denied.
Blumentritt said:
The German generals in charge were
dumfounded 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.
Most of the French troops saved in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation effort at
Dunkirk, were put ashore at Ramsgate. Others arrived at the quays of Dover.
They are variously numbered at 107,000 to 110,000, out of 150,200 French troops
who found themselves trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk. In addition, 220,000
British soldiers and a few others were saved in Operation Dynamo. The rescued
French soldiers were disarmed by British military police, then transferred across
England to Plymouth, Southampton and Weymouth and returned almost at once
to the “continent,” supposedly for further active duty. But all of them were
ordered by their government to surrender on July 16, without a chance to fight
the Germans again.
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.
Often the victorious German armed
forces found their advantage denied by the
more conciliatory Hitler but it was not
unknown for them to disregard such or ders.
During the pursuit of the British forces
toward Dunkirk, the Leibstandarte Regi -
ment was ordered to cross the heavily de -
fended Aa Canal and seize the town of
Watten. On the afternoon of May 24, 1940,
however, the Führer’s Headquarters countermanded
the crossing. Gen. Sepp Die trich
simply disregarded Hitler’s order, and a few
hours later his troops were over the canal.
Meanwhile, back in Old Blighty, the
ambiguous duke of Windsor was appointed
governor of the Bahamas, the gold reserves
of the Bank of England were shipped off to
Ottawa, and the Minister of Information
Alfred Duff Cooper sent his son Julius to
Canada—but failed to inform anyone.
Parents who could afford to do so shipped
their families out to America or the Com -
monwealth. Royal Navy ships were placed
on standby to evacuate members of the
royal family and key members of the government
to the United States. In June, July
and August of 1940, over 6,000 children
took part in the exodus of the rich. The
working class began to feel, with some justification,
that the rich had plans to get out
while the getting was good.
Dunkirk was a calamity of unprecedented
proportions. Winston Chur -
chill de scribed it as “a colossal military disaster.”
Gen. Ironside, chief of the Imperial
General Staff, went further when he said to
Anthony Eden, “This is the end of the
British empire.”
At home the press was now rolling out
what the noted war writer Philip Knight ley
described as “the first great myth of the
second world war.” Fleet Street was busy
turning ignominious de feat into a great
British triumph. “Bloody Marvelous,”
screamed The Daily Mirror’s headlines.
The Sunday Dispatch suggested that
divine intervention had been responsible
for the evacuation pointing out that after
the English had gone to prayer the notoriously
rough stretch of water had “become
calm and smooth as a pond. A fog had
descended to shield our troops from the
enemy’s air strength.” Hallelujah! The
more fanciful New York Times described
Dunkirk as “[such] a hell as never blazed
on earth before.”
Tales of derring-do were largely imagi-