Without doubt, the fall of France was an unmitigated disaster for the Allied cause. However, for all its failures in command, strategy, and tactics, it could have been much worse.
During the first week of June 1940, a total of 335,000 British and French soldiers were evacuated to safety in England from the embattled French beaches near the town of Dunkirk. Under continuous air attack, a hodgepodge of civilian and naval watercraft performed what came to be termed a “miracle.”
It must be acknowledged that the feat was accomplished with German help. Rather than allow his victorious land forces to push the enemy into the sea, Adolf Hitler halted his panzers so that the Luftwaffe could administer the coup de grâce. The air bombardment failed, and the thousands of troops who escaped the closing noose on the French coast fought against the Nazis another day.
