Source:
https://codoh.com/library/document/the-miracle-of-dunkirk/
by
John Wear
August 21, 2026
The
Battle of Dunkirk occurred from May 26, 1940 to June 4, 1940. Approximately
338,000 British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and other Allied troops were evacuated
from Dunkirk, France to England as German forces closed in on them. This massive
military operation, which involved hundreds of naval and civilian vessels,
became known as the “Miracle of Dunkirk.” This largely successful evacuation of
most of Britain’s trained troops proved to be a key moment in the victorious
Allied war effort.[1]
Germany’s offensive against Dunkirk was halted by Adolf Hitler’s order on May
24, 1940. A controversy has developed as to why Hitler issued this order which
enabled so many British troops to escape to England. Many historians claim that
Hitler issued this order solely because of his military incompetence. Other
historians state that Hitler halted his troops as a peace offering to prevent an
irreparable breach between Britain and Germany.
This
article discusses the evidence as to why Hitler ordered the German offensive at
Dunkirk stopped, thereby allowing hundreds of thousands of British troops to be
evacuated from Dunkirk.
Hitler’s Alleged Military Incompetence
Most
mainstream historians state that military incompetence was the reason Hitler
ordered his troops to halt before reaching Dunkirk. For example, German
historian Volker Ullrich writes about Hitler’s decision:[2]
“What
is certain is that his order to halt the advance was not his decision alone, but
rather came after an intensive discussion with Colonel-General von Rundstedt.
During the morning of 24 May, the dictator met with the commander of Army Group
A in his headquarters in Charleville to discuss how to proceed. There, he
learned that Rundstedt had already ordered German troops to halt so that
motorized units and infantry divisions could catch up with the battle-worn tank
groups.
Hitler agreed with Rundstedt about the situation. The dictator was already
looking ahead to the next phase of the campaign and wanted to conserve his tank
force for coming operations. To this end, he explicitly left it up to Rundstedt
when the advance would continue. Thus, Hitler’s actions were guided by military
considerations. A few days later, however, when it became clear that he had made
a serious error, he cited an ex post facto political reason, claiming that he
had purposely let the British expeditionary corps escape so as to preserve the
possibility of a peace settlement with Britain.”
Ullrich
writes that there is no truth in the idea that Hitler wanted to take it easy on
the British. On the contrary, Ullrich writes that Hitler trusted Göring’s
assurances that the Luftwaffe would easily be able to stop an evacuation of the
BEF by sea.[3]
British
historian Ian Kershaw writes:[4]
“Post-war suggestions that Hitler was deliberately allowing the British troops
to get away as an act of generosity to encourage Britain to come to the peace
table with its armies intact are far-fetched. Hitler himself was alleged to have
told his entourage a fortnight or so later that ‘the army is the backbone of
England and the Empire. If we smash the invasion corps, the Empire is doomed.
Since we neither want to nor can inherit it, we must leave it the chance. My
generals haven’t grasped that.’ Such sentiments, if they were indeed expressed
in those terms, were no more than a self-justification for a military mistake.
For the decision not to move on Dunkirk was taken for military reasons, and on
military advice.”
German
Gen. Heinz Guderian wrote about Dunkirk:[5]
“Winston Churchill, in his memoirs of the Second World War, says that some of
the German generals suggested that by holding up his tanks outside Dunkirk
Hitler was hoping either to give the English an opportunity to sue for peace or
to increase Germany’s chances of negotiating a settlement. Neither then nor at
any later period did I ever hear anything to substantiate this suggestion.
Churchill’s guess that Rundstedt may have himself decided to hold up the armor
is also wide of the mark. As the commander on the spot, I am able, moreover,
definitely to state that the heroic defense of Calais, although worthy of the
highest praise, yet had no influence on the development of events outside
Dunkirk. Churchill assumes, quite correctly, that Hitler and above all Goering
believed German air supremacy to be strong enough to prevent the evacuation of
the British forces by sea. This belief was a mistake pregnant with consequence,
for only the capture of the British Expeditionary Force could have influenced
the English towards making peace with Hitler or could have created the
conditions necessary for a successful German invasion of Great Britain.”
Hitler
explained his Dunkirk decision at Brussels, where Gen. Fedor von Bock had
assembled his senior generals:[6]
“Gentlemen, you will have wondered why I stopped the armored divisions outside
Dunkirk. The fact was I could not afford to waste military effort. I was anxious
lest the enemy launch an offensive from the Somme and wipe out the Fourth Army’s
weak armored force, perhaps even going so far as Dunkirk. Such a military rebuff
might have had intolerable effects in foreign policy.”
After
Hitler ordered his tank forces to hold back on May 24, 1940, Hermann Göring
announced that his Luftwaffe would take care of the British: “Our air force is
to mop up the British. I’ve persuaded the Führer to hold the army back.” Göring
stated to German Gen. Erhard Milch, “The Führer wants us to give them a lesson
they’ll never forget.”[7]
Historian Hans-Adolf Jacobsen writes about Dunkirk:[8]
“Frequently in the earlier literature one finds the idea put forward that Hitler
issued the ‘Halt-Order’ intentionally to give Britain ‘a golden bridge’ so that
parts of the British army could escape. A ‘chivalrous’ gesture of that kind
would contribute to a quicker peaceable understanding with Churchill. This
contention belongs in the realm of numerous untrue postwar legends.”
Hitler’s Alleged Desire for Peace
Hitler
had never wanted war with Great Britain. To Hitler, Great Britain was the
natural ally of Germany and the nation he admired most. Hitler had no ambitions
against Britain or her Empire, and all of the captured records solidly bear this
out.[9]
After
Germany’s conquest of Poland, Hitler made a peace offer to Britain and France
that was quickly rejected. Included in Hitler’s peace offer was the evacuation
of Poland by the Wehrmacht, except for Danzig and the “Corridor.”[10]
Hitler’s
desire to make peace with Great Britain continued throughout the war. Numerous
sources state that Hitler’s desire to make peace with Great Britain was the
reason Hitler ordered his troops to halt before reaching Dunkirk.
For
example, Gerard Menuhin in his book Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil
states that he asked Dr. Gerhard Frey why Hitler had allowed the evacuation of
the British army at Dunkirk, when Hitler had the opportunity of capturing the
entire British army. Dr. Frey replied:[11]
“It
had been a last gambit to gain some understanding with Britain…In fact, Hitler
had been duped since the Munich Agreement in September 1938 into believing that
there existed in Britain a strong movement for appeasement and against war with
Germany, a movement led by Chamberlain, which would outweigh in importance and
effect Churchill’s warmongering faction. This illusion had been fostered by
banker Kurt von Schroder, who backed the ‘Anglo-American Fellowship’ (an
organization to which many leading British industrialists and companies
belonged). Hence, Hitler’s reluctance to attack the British Expeditionary Force
in its hopeless position on the beaches.”
German
Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt insisted that his hands were tied by Hitler’s
instructions to halt the offensive against Dunkirk. Hitler talked to Rundstedt
and two key men of his staff, Gen. Georg von Sodenstern and Gen. Günther
Blumentritt. As Gen. Blumentritt tells the story:[12]
“He
[Hitler] then astonished us by speaking with admiration of the British
Empire, of the necessity for its existence, and of the civilization that Britain
had brought into the world. […] He said that all he wanted from Britain
was that she should acknowledge Germany’s position on the Continent. The return
of Germany’s lost colonies would be desirable but not essential, and he would
even offer to support Britain with troops if she should be involved in any
difficulties anywhere. He [Hitler] concluded by saying that his aim was
to make peace with Britain on a basis that she would regard as compatible with
her honor to accept.”
Blumentritt often thought about this conversation in his subsequent reflections
on the course of events at Dunkirk. Blumentritt felt that Hitler had ordered the
halt for more than military reasons, and that it was part of his political plan
to make peace easier to reach. If the BEF had been captured at Dunkirk, Hitler
thought the British might have felt that their honor had suffered a stain that
must be eliminated. Hitler had hoped to conciliate the British by letting the
BEF escape.[13]
There is
also evidence that the Luftwaffe was not used as fully or as vigorously as it
could have been. Some of the German air chiefs say that Hitler put the brake on
here as well.[14]
British
historian F.J.P. Veale wrote about the evacuation of British troops at Dunkirk:[15]
“That
the bulk of the troops succeeded in escaping at all was due entirely to Hitler’s
delusion that the dark menace of Asia overshadowing Europe would induce Great
Britain to come to an understanding with Germany in self-protection.”
Hitler
told his friend Frau Troost:[16]
“The
blood of every single Englishman is too valuable to be shed. Our two people
belong together, racially, and traditionally – this is and always has been my
aim even if our generals can’t grasp it.”
Hitler
stated in his Testament on February 26, 1945:[17]
“Churchill was quite unable to appreciate the sporting spirit of which I had
given proof by refraining from creating an irreparable breach between the
British and ourselves. We did, indeed, refrain from annihilating them at
Dunkirk. We ought to have been able to make them realize that the acceptance by
them of the German hegemony established in Europe, a state of affairs to the
implementation of which they had always been opposed, but which I had
implemented without any trouble, would bring them inestimable advantages.”
Having
been given the gift of Dunkirk by Hitler, Churchill refused to acknowledge it.
Churchill instead described the evacuation of British troops off the beaches of
Dunkirk as a heroic miracle accomplished by the British navy. Churchill became
even more bellicose in his determination to continue the war.[18]
What
is the Truth?
There is
little question that Hitler’s order to halt the offensive against Dunkirk
allowed the British troops to escape. In an interview after the war, German Gen.
Ewald von Kleist stated:[19]
“We
could have wiped out the British army completely or taken the whole army as
captive if it weren’t for the stupid order of Hitler.”
It is
also generally recognized that Hitler’s order to halt his troops before reaching
Dunkirk hurt the German war effort. German Gen. Erich von Manstein wrote:[20]
“Dunkirk was one of Hitler’s most devastating mistakes. It hampered him in
attempting the invasion of Britain and subsequently enabled the British to fight
in Africa and Italy.”
So, why
did Hitler order his troops to halt before reaching Dunkirk?
In this
author’s opinion, Hitler had hoped to make peace with the British and preserve
the British Empire. Hitler’s desire to preserve the British Empire was expressed
on another occasion when the military fortunes of the Allies were at their
lowest ebb. When France appealed for an armistice, German Foreign Minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop gave the following summary of Hitler’s attitude toward
Great Britain in a strictly private talk with the Italian Foreign Minister Count
Galeazzo Ciano:[21]
“He
[Ribbentrop] said that in the Führer’s opinion the existence of the British
Empire as an element of stability and social order in the world is very useful.
In the present state of affairs, it would be impossible to replace it with
another, similar organization. Therefore, the Führer – as he has also recently
stated in public – does not desire the destruction of the British Empire. He
asks that England renounce some of its possessions and recognize the fait
accompli. On these conditions Hitler would be prepared to come to an
agreement.”
After
Dunkirk, Ribbentrop wrote that Hitler was enthused with making a quick peace
with England. Hitler outlined the peace terms he was prepared to offer the
British:[22]
“It
will only be a few points, and the first point is that nothing must be done
between England and Germany which would in any way violate the prestige of Great
Britain. Secondly, Great Britain must give us back one or two of our old
colonies. That is the only thing we want.”
Ribbentrop told Rep. Hamilton Fish that cooperation between England and Germany
was essential for the maintenance of peace. Hitler had even “offered to place 15
German army divisions and the entire fleet at the disposal of the British
government to support her empire in case of war anywhere in the world.” Fish did
not believe this statement from Ribbentrop at the time, but it was substantiated
years later.[23]
On June
25, 1940, Hitler telephoned Joseph Goebbels to lay out the terms of an agreement
with Great Britain. Goebbels wrote in his diary:[24]
“The
Führer […] believes that the [British Empire] must be
preserved if at all possible. For if it collapses, then we shall not inherit it,
but foreign and even hostile powers take it over. But if England will have it no
other way, then she must be beaten to her knees. The Führer, however, would be
agreeable to peace on the following basis: England out of Europe, colonies and
mandates returned. Reparations for what was stolen from us after [World War
I].”
Hitler
took the initiative to end the war after the fall of France in June 1940. In a
victory speech on July 19, 1940, Hitler declared that it had never been his
intention to destroy or even harm the British Empire. Hitler made a general
peace offer in the following words:[25]
“In
this hour I feel it to be my duty before my conscience to appeal once more to
reason and commonsense in Great Britain as much as elsewhere. I consider myself
in a position to make this appeal, since I am not the vanquished, begging
favors, but the victor, speaking in the name of reason. I can see no reason why
this war must go on.”
This
speech was followed by private diplomatic overtures to Great Britain through
Sweden, the United States, and the Vatican. There is no question that Hitler was
eager to end the war. But Churchill was in the war with the objective of
destroying Germany. Churchill was not concerned with saving the British Empire
from destruction. British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax also wanted the war to
continue, and brushed aside what he called Hitler’s “summons to capitulate at
his will.”[26] Hitler’s peace offer was officially
rejected on July 22, 1940.[27]
Hitler’s
desire to preserve the British Empire was expressed on numerous other occasions.
For example, on August 14, 1940, during the Battle of Britain, Hitler called his
field marshals into the Reich Chancellery to impress upon them that victory over
Britain must not lead to the collapse of the British Empire:[28]
“Germany is not striving to smash Britain because the beneficiaries will not be
Germany, but Japan in the east, Russia in India, Italy in the Mediterranean, and
America in world trade. This is why peace is possible with Britain – but not so
long as Churchill is prime minister. Thus, we must see what the Luftwaffe can
do, and wait a possible general election.”
Conclusion
For the
Allies, Hitler’s order to halt his troops before reaching Dunkirk was an
astonishingly well-timed mercy. German generals such as Heinz Guderian, Franz
Halder and many others were furious with Hitler for preventing them from
capturing the British soldiers at Dunkirk.[29]
However,
Hitler’s order to halt his troops before reaching Dunkirk was not made primarily
for military reasons. Hitler’s mistake was to assume that Churchill would ever
enter into a peace agreement with Germany. On January 20, 1943, Joseph E. Davies
disclosed that Hitler offered to retire from office if by doing so Great Britain
would make peace with Germany. Churchill and other British leaders refused
Hitler’s offer.[30]
Churchill never once attempted to make peace with Germany. In a January 1, 1944,
letter to Stalin, Churchill said:[31]
“We
never thought of peace, not even in that year when we were completely isolated
and could have made peace without serious detriment to the British Empire, and
extensively at your cost. Why should we think of it now, when victory approaches
for the three of us?”
Endnotes
A version of this article was originally published in the
July/August 2026 issue of The Barnes Review.
[1] Miracle of Dunkirk
History.com
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/dunkirk.
[2] Ullrich, Volker,
Hitler: Downfall 1939-1945, New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 2020, pp. 103f.
[3] Ibid., p. 104.
[4] Kershaw, Ian, Hitler
1936-1945: Nemesis, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, p. 295.
[5] Guderian, Heinz, Panzer
Leader, London: Michael Joseph Ltd., 1952, p. 120.
[6] Irving, David, Hitler’s
War, New York: The Viking Press, 1977, p. 125.
[7] Irving, David, Göring:
A Biography, Hammersmith, London: Grafton Books, 1991, p. 290.
[8] Jacobsen, Hans-Adolf,
Dunkirk: German Operations in France 1940, Havertown, Penn.: Casemate
Publishers, 2019, p. 194.
[9] Irving, David, Hitler’s
War, op. cit., p. 3.
[10] Schultze-Rhonhof, Gerd,
1939 – The War that Had Many Fathers: The Long Run-Up to the Second World
War, 6th edition, München, Germany: Olzog Verlag GmbH, 2011, p.
667.
[11] Menuhin, Gerard, Tell
the Truth and Shame the Devil, Washington, D.C.: The Barnes Review, 2015,
p. 296.
[12] Hart, B. H. Liddell,
The Other Side of the Hill, London: Papermac, 1970, pp. 200f.; Hart, B. H.
Liddell, History of the Second World War, New York: G. P. Putnam’s
Sons, 1970, p. 83; see also Chamberlain, William Henry, America’s Second
Crusade, Chicago: Regnery, 1950, p. 76.
[13] Hart, B. H. Liddell,
History of the Second World War, op. cit., p. 83.
[14] Ibid., p. 82.
[15] Veale, Frederick J. P.,
Advance to Barbarism, Newport Beach, Cal.: Institute for Historical
Review, 1993, p. 332.
[16] Hart, B. H. Liddell,
The Other Side of the Hill, op. cit., pp. 200f.
[17] Fraser, L. Craig, The
Testament of Adolf Hitler: The Hitler-Bormann Documents, pp. 72f.
[18] Bradberry, Benton L.,
The Myth of German Villainy, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, 2012, p. 369.
[19] Goldensohn, Leon, (Robert
Gellately editor), The Nuremberg Interviews, New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
2004, p. 342.
[20] Von Manstein, Erich,
Lost Victories, Novato, Cal.: Presidio Press, 1994, p. 124.
[21] Ciano, Count Galeazzo,
Ciano’s Diplomatic Papers, London: Odhams Press, 1948, p. 373.
[22] Hinsley, F. H.,
Hitler’s Strategy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951, p. 81.
[23] Fish, Hamilton, FDR
The Other Side of the Coin: How We Were Tricked into World War II, New
York: Vantage Press, 1976, p. 87.
[24] Ferguson, Niall,
Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Power Order and the Lessons of
Global Power, New York: Basic, 2003, pp. 330f.
[25] Hitler, Adolf, My New
Order, Edited with commentary by Raoul de Roussy de Sales, New York: Reynal
and Hitchcock, 1941, p. 837.
[26] Chamberlain, William
Henry, America’s Second Crusade, Chicago: Regnery, 1950, p. 84.
[27] Hinsley, F. H.,
Hitler’s Strategy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951, p. 82.
[28] Denman, Roy, Missed
Chances: Britain and Europe in the Twentieth Century, London: Indigo, 1997,
p. 130.
[29] Gelb, Norman, Dunkirk:
The Complete Story of the First Step in the Defeat of Hitler, New York:
William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1989, pp. 129, 131.
[30] Walsh, Michael, The
Battle for Europe: Hidden Truths About the Second World War,
United Kingdom: The Historical Review Press, 2012, p. 15.
[31]
Walendy, Udo, The Methods of Reeducation, Vlotho/Weser, Germany: Verlag
für Volkstum und Zeitgeschichtsforschung, 1979, p. 3.