✦ History

Part of World War II, Battle of France

Battle of Dunkirk

May 26 – June 4, 1940 · Dunkirk, France

26 May to 4 June 1940: the defence and evacuation of British and other Allied forces from the French port of Dunkirk to Britain, as the Allies were losing the Battle of France. German forces bypassed the Maginot Line, and Army Group B advanced westward while British and French troops entered Belgium.

On the map Contemporaries

Axis

Allies

Germany
United Kingdom
France
Belgium
Netherlands
Hermann Göring military commander Gerd von Rundstedt Fedor von Bock military commander Günther von Kluge military commander Walther von Brauchitsch military commander Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist military commander
Winston Churchill Prime Minister Jean-Marie Charles Abrial Maxime Weygand military commander John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort military commander Georges Blanchard military commander René Prioux military commander Bertram Home Ramsay military commander

Strength and losses

France Killed 321,889 · Captured 40,000 · Ships lost c. 3

United Kingdom Killed c. 68,111 · Captured c. 41,000 · Guns lost 2,472

Units

Army Group A Panzergruppe Kleist Army Group B
1st Army (France) British Expeditionary Force I Corps (United Kingdom) II Corps (United Kingdom) 12th Infantry Division (France) 2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom) 44th (Home Counties) Division