DUNKIRK

[myhatsonfire]

Gotta love British propaganda.

"DURRR LOOK AT HOW WELL WE RETREATED"

[centurion180ad]

What is in history books about Dunkirk evacuation is entirely IMPOSSIBLE.

Wehrmacht artillery could have finished the job on the beaches in short order, and Luftwaffe could have reaped a bloody slaughter on any packed mass of troops that would dare to expose itself, or any ship fool enough to come to a halt long enough to load up.

There is overwhelming Wehrmacht photographic evidence all over the place that leads to an inescapable conclusion of treason & conspiracy.

[Schmeeification]

the guy who disliked this is blatantly german

[Burnsy5119]

@Schmeeification hahah that really made me laugh x

[mehul45able]

cheers man

[jseagull5761]

mehul45able - Yes it is the 1940s footage news reels by Pathe News.

[mehul45able]

hey dude im in yr 10 but wanna ask is this the 1940's video

[martynrobin121]

DUNKIRK WAS HELL! The british/French armies were totally unprepared for modern war the nazis had mordern weopans tanks etc and where prepared for modern war they stood no chance of victory it was a total nightmare british troops were told to stand to the last man and last round! The nazis modern tactics at that time and stage of the war was perfect! These british and french soldiers had balls and because its known as a great defeat and cockup people think they wernt good soldiers and heroes!

[UKRod]

You cunt, Elberiver11. The Germans ran away from Stalingrad...what was left of the fuckers.

[Elberiver11]

hahaha, the British RAN AWAY at Dunkirk!!! AHAHAHAHAHA !!!!

[CpFc9000]

@Elberiver11 yer but who won again in the end.

[R0CKnR0LLRALPH]

@Elberiver11 you can laugh, but that was a pivotal moment in WWII, and whether or not ur smart enough to understand that just becus the british didnt annihalate the german soldiers, they showed great passion and determination and tactics to get away and eventually win the war. the really pity, is that ur probably too stupid to have understood any of what i just said, so my time was wasted......... allow me translate...... u cunt.

[Professor6871]

More like a propaganda film than piece of reportage. Dunkirk was miracle and not a victory but you wouldn't think that if just relied on this Pa-the Newsreel to inform you. Then anybody in Britain at the time buy into this this spin? If TV had been in existence in 1940 it would of been more difficult to sensor this than it was.

[e2tr3]

the nazis comete a great military mistake, then tries several fatality consecuences

if alieds no win wwII ,now maybe we'll speking german.

[the82spartans]

328,000 fighting troops removed to fight again against Germany.

I'm with Perversus666. Hitler gave the prize to Goring and together they messed up certain victory.

Thanks for the post.

[Professor6871]

@the82spartans Luckly for us they did mess it up or we'd be speaking German today and doing Hitler slautes. The entire miracle of Dunkirk was serious of mistakes by the German's in favour of the British.

[ThePhoenix919]

Amazing how almost half a million soldiers managed to be rescued at dunkirk... weird thing is that Hitler ordered tanks to stop attacking, and if he didnt the tanks could of destroyed all of those men in the beach cuz they had no anti-tank equipment.. question is why...

[Perversus666]

the idea that hitler let the BEF escape in order to deal peace with churchill is quite ridiculous.

1) the luftwaffe never stopped bombing dunkirk and the beaches, sinking boats and firing on the soldiers. that doesn't looks like they let the allies "escape".

2) if the germans had annihilated the BEF Great Britan would have been in a very very deep shit and would probably have negociate peace.

3) the french hold the germans panzers during 4 days in order to save the BEF from defeat.

[Professor6871]

@Perversus666 Yes the French did hold up the German panzers for 4 days to save the BEF was annilihation, but so did the Belgian army next door in Belgium, which was equally as crucial as the French action was. If Belgium had capitulated earler to the Wehmarcht in 1940, than they did do then the penzers would of driven up the coast and captured Dunkirk much earler than they did.

[vincrest07]

my grandpa was in dunkirk...he always told me that they let the english armee escape...

[WatchRyder]

I heard that, Hitler wanted peace with Britain. He didn't get it though...

[BassDudeBear]

damn straight!

[Professor6871]

@WatchRyder Yes for while after the fall of France in 1940 but of course on his terms not Britain's. He did admire the British empire seeing it as some sort of blue print for Germany's own one, and he knew that certain sections of the aristocracy favoured Nazism, including the Duke of Windsor the former Edward the VIII. In his view if Britain allowed the Nazis hegemony on the continent of Europe then the UK would be left alone so that he could then invade the Soviet Union.

[tmolet]

Not so much of a defeat. Remember it was these troops, like my old dad, who were to go on and defeat Rommel in Africa.

This was a BIG mistake by the Germans.

[stu57stu]

BRILLIANT MY DAD WAS THERE THANK YOU.

[SoIamGothica]

Great video, we watched it in history today, I just thought you'd like to know how very educational it is. Although we laster found out that it was more a defeat than it was a victory, but Churchill was the best politician you could have asked for in this time :)

[dharmaseed]

A defeat in body, however, but not in spirit.

[EulHollandais]

"Grateful to the french navy"...that sounds well from a british...

I'm from Dunkirk and i must say that from this side of the channel we haven't forget this dark time.

[ratmaaan]

to attack Russia without worrying about fighting a war on two fronts. The Americans weren't keen to enter the war and only did so after Pearl Harbour. If the Nazis had told the Japanese they were on their own there might still be a Third Reich

[ratmaaan]

"There was no way Germany could win as they were against Britain who had the largest empire with billions of people willing to fight, the America the economic empire at the time and then the Soviet union which towards the middle of the war became the largest and most efficiant industrial machine "

They might have if the had taken their time.

The Germans problem was that they decided to take on the world. A deal could have been struck with the UK which would have given Hitler a chance

[andrith]

Well Hitler tried to struck a deal with the UK, but they were defiant and didn't want to make any deals with Nazi Germany even in the face of a likely German invasion.

[Professor6871]

@ratmaaan You have been watching too many of these Pathe propaganda newsreels from the time? Britian was militarily broken in 1940 and its the empire was thousands of miles away. America considered Britain during Dunkirk to be finished. It was miracle that Hitler didn't just decided to cross the channel there and then, because there was nothing too stop him in May- June 1940.

[DakotaStyle86]

since when did the Americans and the British argue about who defeated the germans more? and as for two battles in the entirety of war where "Monty was our savior" i'm sure there wasn't a single time where the Yanks bailed out the british. i guarantee my grandfather would have been boughten a pint or whatever you brits call it for cutting off the german reinforcements behind Monte Cassino and Anzio

[grassroots59]

zupf, at Kasserine Pass you Yanks are still running! If it wasn't for Monty you shambles would have ended in the Med before you even fired a shot. Ditto the Bulge in December 1944. Monty again was your saviour.

[sunsaint707]

Like you guys ran at DUNKIRK. Who ran at the Bulge? And you're right, Monty did a real good job with all those American tanks he had, as well as all that American gas, I'm sorry PETROL, and food he had. Not to mention all those R.A.F. pilots trained in the U.S. Take care!!

[edzwebz]

France and poland were useless but as for Britain, germany was more than double it's size at the time and Britain still held out. As for America, you can fit Germany into it 15 times so no wonder they defeated them (and even then they struggled).

[givinthedogabone1]

There was no way Germany could win as they were against Britain who had the largest empire with billions of people willing to fight, the America the economic empire at the time and then the Soviet union which towards the middle of the war became the largest and most efficiant industrial machine

[SmoothCriminalAaron]

yes, and if england retrated it would be Germany vs canada which is kinda retarted. and Today england would be part of Geran Empire Or A Communist country, Depending on how the Eastern front works out.

[givinthedogabone1]

Well i have read that if the Germans had won, because of the state of the government and how unorganised it was Historians think that the government would have collapsed a short while after, but if Britain had surrendered i have no idea of what would happen it would be so hard to tell if Russia or Germany would win

[Professor6871]

@SmoothCriminalAaron For goodness sack learn some basic grammar and also a bit of proof reading wouldn't hurt either.

[SmoothCriminalAaron]

@Professor6871

" For goodness sack learn"

Ok buddy, learn some yourself

and i made my last comment...hmmm...must of been 2-3 years ago.

And Thiiiis is what you want to talk to me about?

fucking grammer?

[Professor6871]

@SmoothCriminalAaron What's the difference that it was a year ago since you posted this particular comment, if you'd done it 10 years it would still be wrong grammatically. Can't you take criticism or is it too much for your ego to bear.?

[SmoothCriminalAaron]

If they lost dunkik we'ed all be speaking German

[sunsaint707]

SmoothCriminalAaron,

They did lose Dunkirk! They retreated from there! They aren't speaking German because of about a thousand liberty ships loaded with arms,food, and fuel, and hundreds of air craft and destroyers protecting them.

[SmoothCriminalAaron]

Alright, But If Hitler Army Attached Before They Could Retreate The Remaining French Army Would Be Destroyed and alot of the English.

Just what they teach me in History class

[givinthedogabone1]

Well Hitler ordered his army to stop which was a stroke of luck for the British as we had time to get out, if he had attacked yes our main force would have been destroyed and then we would have been near a state of surrender!

[rhswlsc]

RIP FALLEN BRITISH.

[maceynailz]

my grandfather was there aged 19. he reached colonel. I am so very proud of his bravery and humbleness about the whole war. what a brave generation.

[zupf]

"and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World (America would bail our arse out) , with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old." Churchill following the goatrope of Dunkirk because you don't brits and french to do a man's job.

[edzwebz]

Notice how he says "then our empire beyond the seas, ARMED AND GUARDED BY THE BRITISH FLEET"! Also, the guy your quoting. . . HE'S BRITISH!!! if your going to slag off the country that made you, do it right.

[zupf]

It was tongue in cheek. I guess we Yanks thought Neville Chamberlain had it under control with his knee pad diplomacy. The second Yank mistake was thinking Britain, France and Poland could defeat ONE COUNTRY.

[thegeneralmitch]

Easy for a redneck to Criticise when you've got two of the largest bodies of water between you and the enemy. Personally I have more respect for the french, poles, commonwealth countries etc, than I do for a country that invented the term 'friendly fire' and sold war materials to BOTH sides before you entered the conflict.

[sunsaint707]

thegeneralmitch,

"sold war materials to both sides." WHAT? And this is another 19 year old Brit kid that'll claim he never had, never even saw, a Muslim teacher at his U.K. school!! Yeah, RIGHT kid!!

[thegeneralmitch]

1) America did sell materials to both sides before they entered the war.

2) No, I didn't have a muslim teacher.

3) what does it matter if someones a muslim?

4) I'm 19, I can vote, have a family and go to war for my country, why the fuck do you believe I dont deserve to share my opinion?

5) People like you are the reason why America is becoming very lonely in the world, dont chuck mud around at the only country that can stand to support you fucktard.

[MattSharpe95th]

Sunsaint707, I dont know about war materials but the US was willing to carry on trade when the nazi's arrived, ie. coca cola was pressured to stop trading completly in Germany, instead they came up with i think it was fanta which was only to be sold in Germany, instead of coke in an attempt to still get money, but worse of all, the US sold a system made by IBM that was used to record and track all Jews before extermination, and some US groups in the 30's funded nazi eugenics projects

[Fridomfry]

MattSharpe, the US never sold IBM systems to the Nazis "to record and track all Jews before extermination". I've read the book which made up this legend ("IBM & the Holocaust"), it just distorts history. Germany had its own punch-card machine company, a former IBM licensee which had been nationalized. And you can trust German engineers for being able to develop the suitable systems

[Professor6871]

@Fridomfry The Nazis didn't have computers then thank God. If so they could of wipped off all the Jews from Europe. Where did people get this information in the first place? Let me guess Wekipedia?

[Fridomfry]

@Professor6871, you mean Worstkipedia?

On the contrary, I do believe that, had the Nazis had computers, their war machine would have got bugged to collapse much sooner...

Seriously, the IBM systems then were not computers, but punch-card machines. My source is not Weepeekidia, but just a dozen books.

[dharmaseed]

Pacificguitarist, you have to wonder about why people would find humor in something as extraordinary as Dunkirk. George Bush being in office for almost ten years, now THAT'S funny.

[zupf]

We get to elect our President and our Armed Forces swear allegiance to the Office of the President, yours swears allegiance to an unelected monarch. Now royal ascent and your Prime Minister asking an unelected monarch permission to hold an election is positively gut-busting.

[thebritish25]

my grate grandad was a solder at dunkirk one day a stuka did a low strafing run and my grandad lost his head a bit and threw a grende at the plane and it hit the wing but he didant pull the pin out

[dharmaseed]

Understandable...anybody probably would have lost their head in that situation.

[thebritish25]

thank you i was thinking some one whould come up with a negative comment

[dharmaseed]

Most people would have probably just hit the deck, or dived off the deck...your grandad obviously kept his head pretty well, especially with how suicidal the stukas were:)

[thebritish25]

acually he was on the beach at the time but thank you for a good coment

[dharmaseed]

No problem, mate..we can only imagine what they went through over there. :)

[dharmaseed]

There were French and British ships, but the Bathtub Navy truly ruled the day. Shame they didn't get more of a mention.

[leomileman]

My great uncle, my Nana's brother was there. When I was about 10 we were both in a library and I showed him a book about WW2 and asked him what it was like. He told me that he "couldn't speak about it". I recently found out that he was at dunkirk. I wish I could've been there with him. What a brave man, my uncle Bob, my friend.

[DaveTAM]

The British are a seafaring nation, the Merchant Navy fought long and hard too but rarely got any credit. Without such seamen England would have died very quickly. Never Forget what they did....

[pacificguitarist]

Why/how is this funny?

[shimmy68]

I am a 40 year old man born 22 years after the end of the war, but will spend the rest of my life grateful to ALL the allied troops who made sure that i can live the life I live. Without the effort of so many people who gave so much I would not enjoy the freedom that they gave so much for. To every single one of you, no matter what you did, THANK YOU x

[Professor6871]

@shimmy68 As you should do because today we could of been ruled instead ruled by the Nazis, if the BEF hadn't been evacurated from the port and those beaches of Dunkirk. It wasn't victory evacurations are not that but gave us time to regroup our army for the long fight to eventual victory in 1945. Had our army been destroyed in 1940 then this wouldn't of happened.

[Spitfire2230]

What happened at Dunkirk makes me proud to be British. Our spirt, courage and bravery, we withdrew here, but won at thee Battle of Brtiain by our selves.

We are the land of the BRAVE we are the land of the FREE.

Long live the Queen.

Long live BRITAIN.

[merseyside]

im not going to apologise for defending british honour and bravery,people here have practically accused the BEF of cowardice,and that coming from an american to. i read that "the little ships" that went to dunkirk to help evacuate,a writer said the british use of the small ships were exaggerated,well theres a website about the little ships which tells who and what took part.listing all ships ferrys and little ships,FAR from exaggeration at all

[leomileman]

Mersey, me and you mate, we'd have sailed a thousand miles to have gotten our lads off that shore. My great uncle was there, and he lived through it, he was the greatest inspiration to me ever. Thank you Uncle Robert.

[merseyside]

another evacuation ,from france ,or a cowardly retreat to you ungrateful french, was the troopship lancastria ,leaveing st naziare. estimates between 4000 to 6000 british troops and civilians were killed as the ship was sunk by the germans ,it was kept secret at the time.

[merseyside]

us brits dont claim nothing ,its all their in the history books what happend,we coulnt win the war in europe without the americans,and vice versa,the british played a very signifcant roll in the defeat of the axis forces ,made mistakes to as in singapore to,but to poo poo our sacrifices is a slap in the face of every briton and commonweath man who lost their lives in ww2

[merseyside]

also a selfish anti brit ,admiral king was it,could not stand us,the man sould of been sacked as he was responsible for many a dead american merchantman,he took no notice of british advice to use the convoy system,he sent single ships out,the u boats had a field day,also the whole eastern seaboard was lit up,king was forced to see the error of his ways,to late for dead american sailors

[merseyside]

one last thing ,talking about being selfish, 2 american instances ,one in sicily, were the british got bogged down in heavy fighting while the americans raced for the capital of sicily,more concerned of headlining the papers,and in italy with mark clark,montgomery got slated by some americans for not closeing the failiase gap fast enough,yet in italy mark clark could of cut off the german retreat from monte cassino,he didnt and raced for glory capturing empty Rome

[merseyside]

ok the sicily campain may have been ott but the mark clark in italy cock up ,and the admiral king letting his anti british views affect his judgement was nothing more than gross incompetance

[merseyside]

im not dismissing what the belgians or french did ,just answering the diabolical fantasies of british letting the french and belgians do all the fighting and that british shot french evacuees ,france was well beaten ,dunkirk was a minor miricle for the british .simple as

[merseyside]

out of 338,226 evacuated ,120,000 were french and belgian. 30,000 british dead ,10,252 germans dead, 1,212,000 dutch ,belgian,french and british prisoners taken including The british 51st (highland)division including the black watch,argll and sutherland highlanders,gordon highlanders,seathforth highlanders,and the queens own cameron highlanders,many were either killed or captured

[merseyside]

british units fought alongside the french while the evacuation took place,2nd battilion of the royal norfolk regiment were captured by the totenkopf ss division 100 at le paridis,men put in a barn then machined gunned ,another atrocity a simmilar number of cheshire regiment were murdered,

[merseyside]

the FACT IS you wallys who gave me negative marks,the british DID evacuate up to a third of the total evacuated at dunkirk,FACT,under the orders of the british government ,and FACT a large number of them went back home,the french that is,and FACT the british and commonweath stood ALONE against nazi germany for well over a year,

[WW2tactics]

Another fact is that we in the US have the advantage of seeing things from an outside perspective, and one thing I've learned from you Brits is that you RARELY give credit unto others, and usually are quite vainglorious to the point of historival revisionism. Dunkirk became an overblown myth at the expense of others. FACT-without the English Channel, you would have been occupied as well, and had the French not caught on, you would have abandoned ALL of them without a thought.

[merseyside]

the fact is ,what happend ib history, we did have the channel,just like the russians had their winter,what do you mean had the french not caught on, hey i dont dis the americans at all,im pro american usually,without their aid we would of lost,aid of which was paid for in full and then some

[merseyside]

france was as good as lost,what did you expect the brits to do, their prioroity was to defend the homeland,france theirs, the french were in charge, they sat behind the maginot line in the phoney war,the german high command even said if france had attacked germany while poland was being attacked,germany may have had to have given up,germany itself wasnt fully ready by 1939

[merseyside]

as with the channel ,if the channel wasnt there, im sure we would of had a far larger army than we had,and would of rearmed a lot earlier,we wouldnt have been the pushover we were in 1940,but the channel is there and,we had a powerful navy,so we neglected our army as we always do

[merseyside]

dont know whats your problem with dunkirk is,the facts are all there,we were surrounded just like the germans at stalingrad,did france want all 300,000 british to sacrifice themselves for a lost cause,the british did counter attack at Arras but were beaten back,we made the decision to evacuate,that what happend.outnumbered and with inferior armour the decision was simple,im not slagging the french army off ,they didnt exactly try and break into the encirclement ,they like us were outclassed .

[splat4]

The Brits ran just as fast as anyone else did in 1940, and almost succeeded in abandoning their allies on the beaches of Dunkirk. Casualty records for the battle of 1940 prove this: The French and Belgians fought the rearguard and the defense of Dunirk while the Brits were busy trying to escape. Also, it is a known fact that many French soldiers, after protecting the Brits rears, were prevented from boarding ships and some were even shot by the Brits.

[merseyside]

listen yank,read the history books again daft lad, france had 6million men at arms,we had just 250,000 to 300,000 expeditonary force,the french had the maginot line,which was bypassed,just read some more of your comments ,what a load of bollocks,one third of the troops evacuated were french,british troops were captured fighting in the rearguard,and some murdered by the SS,we lost all our equipment and many RAF planes were destroyed defending france,

[merseyside]

talking about the 100,000 or so french we evacuated ,a very large number of them went back to france after the french capitulated,you must of been off your rocker if you think we ran,we had no other option but to withdraw,the french army were destroyed in just 5weeks,the only counter attack of note was done by the british, tell me were were you yanks in 1939, 90% of americans wanted to stay out of it,the british in 1940,withdrew ,to stay, would be like the americans at battaan,trapped !!

[merseyside]

because the regular british army was evacuated ,britain was saved,the free french under de gaulle were in exile in britain,,britain,supplied the french resistance.with arms and agents to train them,vichey french were traitors who collabarated with germany,hey vichey french troops in ,tunisia opened fire on american troops and killed them, in operation torch,so i wouldnt be such a francophile if i were you,we owe france nothing

[WW2tactics]

Unlike you guys in the UK, when we "yanks" make a goof, we at least admit it. Operation Torch was a result of us wanting to deal with Vichy officers, when we should have followed de Gaulle all along. Allowing myself to be objective doesn't make me a francophile, but perhaps if you weren't such the French-basher, you could give credit where credit is due.

[WW2tactics]

I've compared your comments with those of Splat4, then crossed referenced with my sources of which I have plenty. Splat obviously knows what he (or she) is talking about. Read Julian Jackson "Fall of France", those French troops that were sent back to France went BEFORE the armistice, and they were disarmed by the Brits before leaving the UK, thus they arrived in France without a weapon among them. Arras was a joke too, don't delude yourself.

[merseyside]

how can the british disarm the french ,when all their weaponary was left at dunkirk ,the fact is if we had stayed ,at sacrificed all our expeditionary force,it would not of affected the fact that the germans still would of won in france within a couple of months ,

[WW2tactics]

Whats your point here, that the French were at fault for your guys being murdered by the SS? The only "bollocks" is coming from you. The Maginot Line isn't even near Dunkirk but you bring it up, why? there were TWO different front being fought at once.

[merseyside]

ww2tactics. the point is,according to people here ,there were no british in the rearguard, the fact is there were plenty,otherwise how could the germans massacre captured british troops,nothing to do with the french,i brought the maginot line up, because that was the main defence of france,they relied on it to much,they neglected modernising their army,in tactics and equipment,the maginot line only went from swiss border to belgian border,yet thr german ww1 plan was to sweep through belgium,

[merseyside]

the arguement was that the french and belgians did all the fighting in the rearguard,FALSE,british murdered french evacuees FALSE,the british deserted the french,FALSE,100,000 french evacuated to,it was purely a tactical withdrawel,france was as good as lost when the germans broke through,the french still had over a hundred divisions,the french command fell apart,the BEF if they hadnt withdrawn,would of totally been destroyed,it was the only logical decision and the right one

[merseyside]

30,000 british dead,all our equipment,hundreds of planes and many ships sunk,the french souldnt blame us for the fall of france,you get no thanks from them,they had 90% of the forces in france it was their country,apart from the resistance and free french ,for the majority of france their war was over,

[Joe22300]

Main cause of this was france surrending so britain must fall back and show the frogs how a country is defended

[CASApiaCAFEcafe]

As as Soviet I respect and honour the troops that fought and died in the first 2 years of the war. Both french and british. You were the first ones to feel the Hell that would be sent against my country in 1941. Americans don't understand WAR IN EUROPE. They came to late. BUT THEY HAD THEY'RE OWN WAR IN THE PACIFIC. We all lost too many lives in this shit. Honor the allied heroes.

[thedogsgonads1]

One of the problems was Britain were still very much of the mindset of world war 1 still, while Germany had come on leaps and bounds with their soldiering,equipment and of course their mindset. I agree with other comments about Britain been a major player during the war, it was a beacon of hope for the free world.

[merseyside]

thedogsgonads,the french were of the mindset of world war one, the british were the first to use tanks,and after the war came up with the use of tanks as a crack force to move fast,the germans came over,took up the idea ,while the british government put so many cut backbacks on the miltitary we fell years behind,same with the use of carriers,andd the jet engine,all abandoned or very little spent on these projects

[Professor6871]

@thedogsgonads1 Yes I agree that was the main problem with the British then and the French of being still wedded too the tactics of the WWI than the German's who had obviously moved from that.

Crucial to the defeat in France was the French army and government itself, who just gave up. The British army on its own had no hope in France in 1940, beating back the Germans and that's a fact.

[fuhmeregan]

I read somewhere that Hitler's Panzer groups were conveient to anhilate the Brits, before their escaping and getting back across the channel. But Hitler said 'no', in a perverse nod to the Queen, some have said. There was no reason, apparently, for him NOT to have permitted the BEF's snuffing-out then. Someone reply, if you've heard about this!!!

[easystreets70]

(1) I am not sure if I get your comment right. Hitler's plan was not to steep through France in the first place; the general Guderian decided on his own to do so. As Hitler got annoyed of his gerneral who had acted on his own authority, he gave the order to stop the panzer-troops, just to win an inside battle against his gernerals.

[thedogsgonads1]

Your right "Heinz Guderian" was on the verge of driving the brits into the sea, but hitler stopped him due to his obsession with losing to many tanks.

[easystreets70]

No, Hitler stopped Guderian to make clear who is the boss. Hitler was a military stupid, the Generals were'nt. But they were not brave enough to make clear that it is them who wage the war. And so the tragedy went on with the Nazi-"thing". Army and Nazis are two different departments, if though with colaborations.

[Mafiawl]

Many french soldiers fought bravely to the end but once the Maginot Line was bypassed it was all over. At Dunkirk the french rearguard put up a good fight. It is too easy to lay the blame for defeat but it is certainly true to say that the french high command were inept at best. An overwhelming number of germans were not cold blooded killers either. Don't forget that some british officers shot their own men when they retreated against orders. War is awful.

[merseyside]

mafiawl yes its true that the french reargaurd put up a fight,but remember british troops were left behind to to fight in the rearguard, in fact almost a third of the men taken off the beach were french,many of which went home when france fell

[merseyside]

the british had the BEF in france ,of course it was the french show,it was their land pus had an army of over a million and a half men,the british wanted to move into belguim to meet the german threat but the belgiens woulnt let us in for fear of provoking the germans,france could of attacked germany in 1939 while the germans were in poland,but decided to sit behind the maginot line

[behahve1]

OK, France DID send troops into Germany in 1939, look it up.

But they left three days later XD...

[rumpleman99]

It's Land of Hope and Glory

[dibzzz]

Thank you.

[jagcf]

What's the name of the hymnd in the end?

[splat4]

Wow, a lot of dissing the French here, but I guess thats to be expected from Americans and Brits. That doesn't escape the fact that without the French rearguard, things would have turned out much differently. If some of you would care to open a book from time to time, you'd see that French soldiers fought like lions in many areas.

[LeamingtonSteve]

........in the Vichy cause! lol

[merseyside]

splat4 learn history ,yes the french fought a rear gaurd as i said before,but so did the british,who were left behind so thousands of french were evacuated only,the french were in their own country,had an army larger than germanys,but with obsolete equipment,the french could of attacked germany in 1939 when germany wasnt fully ready,french high command were a joke

[ruicunha103]

Never should germany allowed the dunkirk withdraw,hitler should have hanged generals that didn´t crush the british army there.

[jatrius]

It was on HIS orders that they hung back! Hitler believed that a surrender would be easier to obtain without a complete humiliation and geopolitically thought that the continuance of a maritime British Empire would keep communism in check, provided that he was given a free hand on the European mainland. Check out Shirer, Fest, Kershaw et al..

[behahve1]

Hear hear.

[merseyside]

once france capitulated, i did read that a lot of the french went home,sould of left them there and brought our lads back,some of the british were captured by SS , and on 2 occasions over a hundred each time,were put into barns and were gunned down,just a few escaped,noone was ever charged for that crime

[merseyside]

we were surrounded,,although we did counter attack,had to withdraw to the sea,,i cant beleive that the french accused britain of being selfish and running,what a joke,we were defending france and were dieing,some thanks,over 300,000 were avacuated, a third of them french,while british held the rear guard, the french only lasted 5 weeks ,if the british had been captured,the war would of been lost

[merseyside]

the french had over a million and a half men in france,we had approx 250,000,if french would of attacked while the german army was in poland,germany may have been forced to call off the war,but they sat,waiting,during the phoney war,the french army was bigger ,but not as modern and mobile as the german army,they sat behind the maginot line, but that only went to the belguim border,belguim fell,and british and french forces were cut off from the main french army

[merseyside]

dont know why i got a negative reply above ,its true

[Mafiawl]

It is sometimes hard to swallow the truth. If the allies had attacked Germany when they attacked Poland we would have won the war in 1939. Germany had few units on the french border but gambled that nothing would happen and they were right. It is a sad fact but there it is.

[merseyside]

mafiawl i agreed with you there that the germans could of been halted in 1939,britain was partially to blame by letting germany all thru the 30s re-arm ,if britain had done the same and ploughed resourses into the military ,britain would have had a jet fighter operational by 1939,resources as usual were witheld until to late

[CASApiaCAFEcafe]

The problem was not about the rearmement. You (the Brits and French) said that you would protect CHEKOSLOVAKYA from invasion and you did'nt. HITLER felt free to do whatever he desired after that.

[easystreets70]

There is no if/coulds/woulds in history. "Nip things in the bud" - one would say. The war from the German side developed itself. Still, Hitlers plans were unimaginary, maybe because of their irrationality and naiveness, in my opinion.

[samgreen47]

good old brits! er didnt we sink the french navy a bit later on in the war?

[merseyside]

yes samgreen we did sink the french fleet ,in the med, they were based in algeria,under the vichey french forces.with the italian fleet we couldnt let the germans get control of the med,if the seized the french fleet,so we sent men ashore to get the french to either sail to a neutral port,sail to gibralter and join the british or scuttle,the french refused so we sank them,

[scottbos68]

if hitler didnt hesitate all of these people would be dead before having a chance to be evacuated, his first mistake

[behahve1]

God, trying to flout such an embarassing retreat as a victory...

[merseyside]

hardly embarrassing ,concidering we were totally outnumbered ,in a way it was a victory,most of the BEF got away,minus equipment but formed the new core of the british army ,that at that time of the war were the only country left that opposed hitler until almost a year later

[davidm123]

that was so dramatic

[danishcrusader]

The narrator really tries to put a positive spin on this one... tough job after Dunkirk

[LeamingtonSteve]

he was Alistair Campbell's dad!

[billthekid1]

Great Video Man