The Rise Of Australasia

At this time, Germany could be described as triumphant, having already seized the initiative in this grand war.

After taking control of the entire Belgian Region, on one hand, Germany divided its forces to attack the Netherlands and Luxembourg, while on the other hand, they attempted a deep solo incursion into Amiens to encircle the British, French, and Belgian forces west of Lille and Kortrijk.

According to the data, the combined military forces of these three countries stationed in the area totaled at least 400,000, including 150,000 from the British Army and 200,000 from the French Army.

If they could fully encircle and capture these forces, Germany's attack on France would become much easier, and the British and French military strength would suffer a considerable loss.

However, the British and French naturally understood the disaster that would follow encirclement. As early as when Kortrijk was under siege, the joint British and French forces Headquarters had already held an emergency meeting and decided on a withdrawal location for the 400,000 troops at the Franco-Belgian borders: the northernmost French Harbor of Dunkirk.

Speaking of Dunkirk, this port Urban City's geographical position is quite important on the Franco-Belgian borders.

As the northernmost city of France, Dunkirk is actually situated deep in the rear of Belgium, making it the optimal retreat location for the British and French forces within Belgian territory.

What's more important is that it faces the British city of Dover across the sea, with a straight-line distance of only about 70 kilometers between the two cities.

On June 29, the German Army launched a comprehensive attack from Dunkirk to Lille.

As long as any city was captured, the British and French forces' retreat plan would fail, and the 400,000 troops would officially fall into the encirclement of the German Army.

The attack began with the German Army making smooth progress.

The elite German armored forces overwhelmed the British and French, rendering the French Army's carefully arranged defensive line at Lille useless.

Although extremely difficult, the British and French understood the importance of holding Lille.

Once Lille fell, not only would Dunkirk be in danger, but cities like Calais and Amiens would also face German attacks, and even Paris could be threatened.

While mounting a staunch resistance in Lille, the British and French organized a large-scale retreat in Dunkirk.

To distract the Germans and not arouse their suspicion, about 50,000 French troops would remain as bait to protect a greater number of British and French forces retreating from Dunkirk back to the United Kingdom.

It was a necessary evil. Expecting the Belgian Army to cover the rear was akin to entrusting the success of Dunkirk's evacuation to Belgium.

Given the combat capabilities and attitudes of most Belgian forces, the retreat was likely to fail.

In order to save more than 300,000 from the British and French forces, the sacrifice of more than 50,000 French troops was deemed essential.

As for why it wasn't the British Army covering the rear—after all, this was the border of France and Belgium. If the majority were British troops, it would inevitably arouse the suspicion of the Germans.

Amidst all the strategizing, Germany's attack on France officially began, and the British and French evacuation plan of Dunkirk was officially underway.

The so-called evacuation plan was named "Operation Dynamo," mainly to mislead and deceive.

After all, if the plan were named "Dunkirk Evacuation Plan," wouldn't it amount to telling the Germans the main content of the plan?

Regarding this large evacuation, the British domestic preparations were already made early on.

If Germany's consecutive defeats of Poland and the Austrian Empire had only shown the British the strength of the German Army, then Germany's encirclement and annihilation of about ten thousand French troops in the early frontlines of the war demonstrated to the British the difficulty and challenge they were facing.

With such a premise, Britain was naturally pessimistic about the situation on the Belgian battlefield.

Although per France and Belgium's request, they transported over 250,000 troops to the Belgian region.

But the British wartime Cabinet, on the day the Belgian Capital City of Brussels fell, had already urgently convened and formulated a plan to quickly withdraw British forces within Belgian territory.

According to this plan, the British Government was to mobilize over 800 transport ships within one week.

Of course, although it boasted more than 800 vessels, only half of them were regular transport ships and warships; the rest were civilian cargo and tankers, and there were even small wooden sailboats, among others.

For every additional vessel, there was a greater chance for the survival of the British Army within Belgian territory.

On the frontlines, the French troops in Lille could no longer resist the advance of the German Army. How to evacuate the more than 300,000 British and French troops from Dunkirk in a short time had become the greatest problem for both the United Kingdom and France.

On June 30, the Dunkirk mass evacuation, codenamed "Operation Dynamo," officially began.

In order to create sufficient opportunity and time for Dunkirk, the French forces at the Lille front launched a counterattack against the German Army, entangling themselves with the Germans by all means necessary.

The first night of the operation saw about 1,100 British men successfully evacuated from Dunkirk.

Although this was a very small number compared to the British and French forces stranded at the Franco-Belgian borders, the successful execution of the plan on the first day brought hope to both the United Kingdom and France.

On the second day, the Lille garrison launched an even more ferocious attack on the German Army.

What was anticipated to be a hard fight turned unexpected as problems arose within the German Army itself.

The German Army Group that occupied Belgium and continued attacking France was the German B Army Group. This group had a large number of armored troops and infantry as well as a sufficient quantity of firearms.