10 Biggest Mistakes Germany Made In World War 2

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have heard about or seen the film of the same name that was based on these incredible events between 26 May and 4 June 1940. No piece of cinema, however great, is ever likely to capture the feeling about the success of the operation, codename ‘Operation Dynamo’, that saw over 800 vessels evacuate British troops that had been forced back all the way to the north of France.

What wasn’t broadcast at the time was just how much of a military catastrophe the run-up to and the situation itself had been. Germany forces steadily pushed back French, Belgian and British troops until there was almost nowhere left to retreat except into the English Channel. Various battalions fought, manoeuvred and surrendered in chaotic scenes where the Allied forces attempted to construct and maintain some sort of defence that ran seven miles from the coast. All the while, units were scrambled to “plug” gaps left by defeated or surrendering units, the Luftwaffe strafed and bombed the town and the general feeling was that all action being taken was slowing down the inevitable.

The mistake, as has been judged by people far more qualified and knowledgeable than I am, is also somewhat of a mystery. Why did the Germans not press their advantage and decimate what was left of the Allied force when they had them quite literally with their backs to the sea?

Aside from the terrain beyond the perimeter being marshy and unsuitable for tanks, it has been suggested that the extent to which the Allies were routed, the appearance of chaos at Dunkirk and the sheer unlikeliness of such a disastrous scenario unfolding left the German high command suspicious that it was some form of trap.

That is not to say that this was an encounter that the Allies could say they had “won”, but the rag-tag fleet of vessels that ferried tens of thousands back to safety when they were certain they were going to die must have seemed as though it were what many called it – The Miracle of Dunkirk.