Had it not been for the evacuation of the B.E.F and allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk and La Panne. The core of the British army would have been lost. The previous two weeks to the evacuation had seen vicious fighting and total confusion mainly due to the fact that the allies had expected to fight a war pretty much like they had in 1914 -1918. Blitzkreig had come as a devestating shock to them all. The B.E.F was made up of three Corps of mainly regular soldiers supported by some Territorial regiments and Yeomanry. They had taken huge ammounts of the armys latest equipment with them, only to destroy it all rather than risk its capture by the Germans. If it hadnt been for the actions of Churchill and the Royal navy under Admiral Bert Ramsay and the (little ships) then Britain would certainly have fallen.
Welcome to the forum Shinky, Who else would have been able to retrieve over 500,000 people in that short space of time. (I include the other areas as well as Dunkirk).
What would have been the psychological effect upon British society as whole if what was basically our entire army had been captured or killed at Dunkirk? We would have fallen within weeks as not even the RAF could have held off a German invasion. That rescue of troops through Operations Dynamo, Aerial and was it Cycle? (forgive me if i have got operation names mixed up, it is monday morning) gave Britain hope, we had managed to rescue hundreds of thousands of trroops from under the nose of the German Army. We had done it! We had survived, bloody and bruised sure, but to fight another day. That rescue, which was typically British with the Little Ships, gave us hope.
