THE BATTLE OF DUNKIRK

WHERE, WHEN, AND WHO

• May 26 - June 4, 1940
• Dunkirk, France
• Great Britain, France, and Belgium agains Germany

WHAT LED TO THIS BATTLE

• Germany wanted to invade Belgium
• Great Britain couldn't intervene until Germany was already in Holland

3 DETAILS

• The allied powers led a series of counter-attacks but did nothing to Germany
• Germany waited at the channel, giving France and GB time to build a defensive line
• British and French troops evacuated to the UK

Primary source
"Early the next morning, May 27, emergency measures were taken to find additional small crafts. The various boatyards, from Teddington to Brightlingsea, were searched by Admiralty officers, and yielded upward of forty serviceable motor-boats or launches, which were assembled at sheerness on the following day." -Winston Churchill in The Second World War

OUTCOME OF BATTLE

• 330,000 British and French troops evacuated to Great Britain
• Germany won

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BATTLE

• 95,000 French troops made it to Great Britain, but the rest were captured by the Germans