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By the end of the Dunkirk evacuation, 17 British light cruisers had been sunk (the larger ones were bombed first), almost all those participating in the war had been sunk, and 19 destroyers had also been sunk.
16 ships were also bombed and sunk. The total number of people killed and missing in the Royal Navy exceeded 10,000. In addition, more than 100,000 British and French troops sank into the sea with the ships.
In addition, as in history, during the Dunkirk evacuation, all the heavy equipment of the 400,000 British and French coalition forces was discarded. After withdrawing to the UK, the remaining 250,000 British and French coalition forces only had rifles and hundreds of machine guns and other light weapons. They will have at least 1
200 cannons, 750 anti-aircraft guns, 500 anti-tank guns, 10,000 cars, 10,000 motorcycles, 700 tanks, 10,000 machine guns, 6,400 anti-tank guns and 500,000 tons of military supplies were lost to the Germans
In a sense, the Dunkirk evacuation in this time and space was equivalent to the Allies exchanging huge losses of navy and air force for 250,000 land troops. Although the casualties were relatively small, the overall combat power was greatly reduced.
Of course, Britain does not lack industrial power and money, but it lacks manpower even more. Therefore, this operation cannot be said to be
It was a complete failure. But in any case, the losses of the Dunkirk evacuation were still too great. Compared with the battle of the same name in history, it was obviously far behind, and the total casualties of the navy and air force of both sides set a new record in human wars.
Such a new record in history that the officers and soldiers of the navy and air force on both sides secretly called it the "Dunkirk Meat Grinder."
At the same time as the Dunkirk retreat, the new French commander Maxime Weygand pieced together 51 divisions plus 3 British divisions to form 3 armies (the 6th, 7th, and 10th armies).
The Somme and Aisne rivers formed the Weygand Defense Line, which was about 500 kilometers long from east to west. 19 divisions defended the Maginot Line. The two defense lines were connected together in an attempt to prevent the main force of the German army from moving south.[
After the German army occupied the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and northern France, the German high command quickly formulated the second phase of the French campaign code-named the Red Plan. This plan required the German army to move south and completely defeat France. The German army had a strength of 1
There were 53 divisions, among which the two armies B were quickly reorganized. Bock's B Army (with 18 armored divisions) was the right wing. It implemented a breakthrough towards the Somme River; Rundstedt Group Army (with 9 armored divisions)
) is the left wing, making a frontal assault towards the Aisne River.
On August 3, 1941, the German Air Force launched a fierce bombardment on the French airport and rear. At dawn on August 5, 1941, Bock's Army Group B took the lead in launching a full-line attack on the right wing. Since France's only armored group army had been completely wiped out, the British
The army's fully armored forces only have a division-level organization at best, and the performance of the tanks cannot be compared with the German Panthers. Air supremacy is in the hands of Germany, and the results can be imagined.
On that day, Rommel's 7th Armored Division, which had all been equipped with new tanks and armored vehicles such as Panthers, crossed the Somme River first. On August 7, 1941, Rommel's division would defend the French 7th Armored Division on the Abbeville-Amiens line.
The 10th Army was cut off in the middle, and other German divisions were able to rush forward through this gap. On August 8, 1941, Long
Meyer's division arrived at the Seine River. On August 10, 1941, Rommel turned north again and rushed 80 kilometers away in one breath, targeting the coastline. He reached his destination that night and cut off the 9th French Army that was retreating towards the coast.
Army and the British 51st Division's retreat. These troops were forced to surrender to Rommel on August 12, 1941.
After Army Group B launched its attack, Army Group Rundstedt on the left also launched a cross-river offensive on the Aisne River on August 9, 1941. That night, the 1st Armored Division of the Guderian Armored Corps forcibly crossed the Aisne River. 1941
August 10, ancient
The Derrian Corps defeated the French armored forces and broke through the right wing of the French 6th Corps. After that, Guderian sent his troops southward, heading straight into a human-like situation. Groups of French prisoners threw away their guns in despair.
Give it to the Germans and crush it under tanks.
On August 17, 1941, the Guderian Armored Corps arrived at the Swiss border town of Pantalil. It cut off the French army's retreat route within the Maginot Line to escape to Switzerland. Since the forced crossing of the Aisne River, the Guderian Armored Corps has
They marched more than 400 kilometers from Tianzhong and captured as many as 300,000 French troops, creating a spectacle in the history of war.
On August 10, 1941, the French government withdrew from Paris and moved to Tours. On the same day, Italy took advantage of the situation and declared war on France. Although it was easily repelled by the French local troops, it had an enemy who was an industrial country and was facing the French.
The will to resist was still a huge blow. On the 13th, Paris was declared an undefended city. On the 14th, when the French government moved to Bordeaux, the German army occupied Paris without firing a shot.
After the German army entered Paris, the French government immediately collapsed and split. The pacifist government formed by Marshal Philippe Pétain in Vichy advocated compromise and surrender, while Charles de Gaulle, who persisted in resisting to the end, took the risk of boarding a plane at night with the help of the British ambassador.
Escorted by a squadron of "Mosquitoes", he fled to London, and then established the "Free French" government-in-exile with the support of Churchill. However, at this time, almost no other country except the United Kingdom supported De Gaulle.
On the day the German army occupied Paris, the left wing of the German Army Group had reached the side of the Maginot Line. "Because of this useless line of defense, after all, there are still hundreds of thousands of French troops who have not surrendered or been eliminated." Hitler
Rundstedt was asked to cooperate with the Army Group to completely eliminate the French troops there. According to
Hitler issued combat order No. 15. The Army Group, which had been performing the task of attracting the attention of the French army in front of the Maginot Line, immediately selected the weak point of the Maginot Line defenders, that is, the junction of the two fortified areas of Alsace and Lorraine.
The troops launched an attack. The two armies attacked front and back, and the Maginot Line was quickly broken through.
On August 17, 1941, the Army Group advanced to the Marne-Rhine Canal and occupied Verdun. 500,000 French troops were surrounded in Alsace and southern Lorraine. Except for a few who fled to Switzerland, the rest were wiped out.
On the 18th, the French Vichy government announced the cessation of resistance.194
On August 21, 1991, Pétain's Vichy French government proposed a truce to Germany and announced its surrender. The Battle of France ended at this point. During this period, the Allied forces suffered a total of approximately 400,000 casualties and more than 2.1 million people were captured. The German and Italian Allied forces suffered total casualties.
More than 200,000 people, including more than 60,000 killed and more than 150,000 injured
After learning the news of France's surrender, Mustache was ecstatic. On the one hand, he generously rewarded the German officers and soldiers who had made meritorious services. On the other hand, in order to avenge the humiliation suffered during the defeat in World War I, Mustache decided to "take advantage of his own people."
He personally arranged the French surrender ceremony. On August 22, 1941, in the French town of Compiègne,
France and Germany signed an armistice agreement. The ceremony was held in a specially selected train carriage because after Germany's defeat in World War I, it was in this carriage that Germany surrendered to the Allied Powers (to be continued.
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