The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

the Canal Line, so instead Gort decided to man the main villages, towns and
high points and turn them into strongpoint redoubts.
Although Gort was careful not to mention anything about evacuation to
Blanchard at this stage, he and Pownall were meanwhile making
preparations for the defence of Dunkirk. Fortunately, a canal ran south from
the port to Bergues, some five miles away. Running across Bergues,
roughly east–west, was another canal, the Bergues–Furnes Canal, which
went all the way to Nieuport, some twelve miles to the east. From Nieuport,
a river ran two miles to the sea. These canals and rivers were to mark the
boundary of the Dunkirk bridgehead. It was a strong defensive position. In
front and behind lay a myriad of other dykes and irrigation channels that
were difficult for vehicles to cross and easily flooded – which lessened the
effect of shelling and made life even harder for motor transport. The
Flanders countryside all around was flat as a board; only lines of poplars,
small villages and red-tiled farmhouses interrupted the view. As a holding
position, it wasn’t at all bad.
Gort put General Ronald Adam in charge of preparing the port and the
perimeter, relieving him of command of III Corps and sending with him the
BEF’s Quartermaster-General plus a bevy of other staff officers to help.
How many troops – if any – would get away was still anyone’s guess,
however, and already Dunkirk was being heavily bombed. ‘It is all a firstclass
mess-up,’ noted Henry Pownall, ‘and events go slowly from bad to
worse, like a Greek tragedy the end seems inevitably to come closer and
closer with each succeeding day and event.’
In Britain, it was the National Day of Prayer, as called for by the King,
although for Britain’s leaders there were more practical matters to attend to
before they got down on their knees and appealed to the Almighty. The first
War Cabinet of the day was held at 9 a.m., in the Cabinet Room at 10
Downing Street, although Churchill was still living further down Whitehall
at the Admiralty. Also present were the Chiefs of Staff. Churchill began by
telling them that the previous evening he had received a letter from his
personal representative in Paris, General Sir Edward Spears, which he then
read out. The French were deeply pessimistic; the Weygand Plan had been
cancelled. Blanchard’s Army Group had lost all its heavy guns and had no
armoured vehicles. Refugees hampered any movement. The Belgians, he
warned them, were about to capitulate. That was not unexpected in the