Quote:
Originally Posted by elysiantraveller
That was the gripe my friends had with it. They didn't understand the setting and how dire the situation was. The Battle of France shows what happens when a force loses its cohesiveness and it's opponent catches a streak of rolling sixes.
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Indeed.
The war for England was all but over because almost their entire army was on that beach, helpless.
One must remember (which I did not when I saw
Dunkirk) that the U.S. was prepared to allow England and Europe to sink rather than to engage.
This was May, 1940. We did not enter the war effort until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December, 1941, almost 18 months later. At that time, both houses of Congress voted
unanimously for war.
Even Russia did not enter the conflict until a year after Dunkirk, when Germany attack their western border.
I do not yet understand how or why Hitler did not simply move forward to England while the army was on the beach at Dunkirk.
BTW, it was not "all is well" after getting the men off the beach. Over 40,000 men were captured from the beach at Dunkirk and another 40,000 in that same area. They were treated horribly in concentration camps, and transported all over Europe to work on farms and in factories.
