Tango01 | 13 Jun 2019 4:08 p.m. PST |
"The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in May 1940 from Dunkirk by a flotilla of small ships has entered British folklore. Dunkirk, a new action film by director Christopher Nolan, depicts the events from land, sea and air and has revived awe for the plucky courage of those involved. But the story of the French army after Dunkirk is altogether less glorious, and perhaps because of that, less widely remembered. Of the 340,000 allied soldiers evacuated by boat from Dunkirk, 123,000 were French – but thousands more were not rescued and were taken prisoner by the Germans…" Main page link Amicalement Armand |
emckinney | 13 Jun 2019 8:55 p.m. PST |
Robert Forczyk's Case Red: The Collapse of France is a great read, is the only extensive history of the post-Dunkirk fighting in English, and completely explodes several myths about the French army. |
Ferozopore | 13 Jun 2019 9:08 p.m. PST |
As I recall, approximately 1,500 Senegalese prisoners were massacred by the Wehrmacht. |
Legion 4 | 14 Jun 2019 6:13 a.m. PST |
Many of those French that escaped became part of the Free French, IIRC. Sadly it is generally well known that the Germans not only executed the Senegalese, but anyone of "color". However they also executed some "white" European POWs as well, in France. During that campaign. |
Marc33594 | 15 Jun 2019 5:55 a.m. PST |
Unfortunately not so. Of the 100,000 plus French evacuated from Dunkirk nearly all were repatriated to France. Only some 3,000 of those evacuated stayed in the UK joining DeGaulle. |
Legion 4 | 15 Jun 2019 8:41 a.m. PST |
That I did not know ! Thanks for that Marc. I knew some were repatriated, but I did not know so many. IMO … Does not generally speak well of the many of the French that escaped only to return to France under Nazi/Vichy control. I wonder how many of those ended up in French North Africa ? And were some of the first of the Axis/Vichy forces to shoot at the Allies initially during Torch, etc. |
Murvihill | 15 Jun 2019 10:10 a.m. PST |
I think they were sent to Western France beyond the German army before the capitulation. There they could be reequipped and continue the fight. The BEF had to be reequipped in the UK, but even after Dunkerque the allies had not given up yet. |
Jcfrog | 15 Jun 2019 11:51 a.m. PST |
They followed orders and came back home.Contrary to Polish or NL governments for ex, the French officials surrendered and so all orders and news etc. were pushing for it. It took lots of guts to the 3000 who heard first, and followed De Gaulle to go for it at a time when the cause seemed pretty doomed. Much more than to gun down running gerries in August 44 and shave women… |
Marc33594 | 16 Jun 2019 4:18 a.m. PST |
Murvhill and Jcfrog are spot on. The French government ordered the French forces evacuated to return home to continue the fight. Being loyal soldiers the vast bulk complied with the British providing the transportation. The idea was to reform and re-equip the forces and have them return to the fight. Remember the Dunkirk evacuation occured between 26 May and 4 June. On 16 June Reynaud resigns and Marshall Petain signals his intent to seek an armistice. Formal surrender, and end of hostilities, doesn't take place until 22 June. In essence there was just enough time to return the French forces before the formal surrender. |
Legion 4 | 16 Jun 2019 6:54 a.m. PST |
Very good information. Yes, I can see that they returned just in time before France's formal surrender. Bad run of luck … But as history shows us the Free French and partisans carried on the fight. In many locations … E.g. from Bir Hakim to even some cases in French Indo-Chine, etc. |