"What would have been the effect if there was no Dunkirk?" Topic

@ toofatlardies: I think you took my question out of context. I was referring to the early war years '39 to maybe the start of the Blitz. By any account, the time was grim for the Allies. For the record, (i) I'm pro-Brit/Allies (ii) I live on planet Earth! :) By the way, how can you quote someone and then delete key words? :)

@ ScottWashburn and Bulldog69: This was kind of what I was wondering about. I don't believe the Germans had any real hope of invading England. A failed Dunkirk rescue would not change the balance of sea or air power. Not much any way.

But, Dunkirk, from what I've read was pretty much celebrated almost as much as an engagement type of victory. It was a fantastic piece of propoganda and supplied a huge morale boost, and rightly so.

However, what would have been the effect nationally had the entire Dunkirk forces been captured? There were plenty appeasers, plenty of memories of the horrible losses of the Great War. Could Churchill have survived such a loss on the Continent? etc. etc. Militarily it may not have changed a whole lot, but politically?

Churchill was pretty pessimistic about the chances of survival, let alone victory, after Dunkirk but soldiered on anyway, so I don't think it being an even bigger disaster would have made any difference.

If Halifax has got the job of PM on 10th May instead of Churchill though, he would most likely have sought a peace agreement at that point.

I think an interesting 'What if' would have been if the Germans had 'allowed' the British Army to evacuate at Dunkirk, and then consolidated mainland Europe, not launching the Battle of Britain or the Blitz, or getting involved in the Balkens, Greece or North Africa other then material support for the Italians. Kept the u-boats closer to European waters and not tried to starve the UK.
Would the UK have been so keen to keep fighting someone who wasn't fighting them, especially as the French, Dutch, etc had 'given up', so quickly? Would the USA, without the 'images' of Blitzed London etc, treat the war as a purely (mainland) European conflict, which the Germans, mainly by defeating France, had won? Especially if they were more worried about the Japanese?
If nothing else, no BoB would have improved the availability of the Luftwaffen for Barbarossa.
Thoughts please.