Hitler's Grand Error at Dunkirk: Why?

[Nachtengel]

Virtue magazine

... Why the nonsensical halt order [by Hitler], when the enemy was beaten, and with no chance of stopping the powerful German army? ... But on May 24th, 1940, while the campaign was still in progression, Hitler expressed a deeper, more political motive, to members of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt's staff ... "He 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 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." An incredible tale, and yet, it fits with the admiration Hitler expressed for Britain in Mein Kampf. Hitler offered peace to the British twice during World War Two ...

Continued: http://www.virtuemag.org/articles/hi...at-dunkirk-why

[Wolf]

Continued: http://www.virtuemag.org/articles/hi...at-dunkirk-why

...was that he was bound in many ways to the standards of Chivalry. This chivalrous Hitler can be seen in his treatment of the Belgian King, of France, at Dunkirk, and in his respect for Great Britain.

While it cannot be forgotten that Hitler was an absolute dictator and behaved accordingly within his own domain, his behaviour otherwise was quite in accord with the standards of Chivalry

[frippardthree]

That was very interesting and informative article, but I do not believe that Britain's entry into the War could entirely be blamed on Hitler's error at Dunkirk. Neville Chamberlain declared an unnecessary war with Germany, because he was following the wishes of his advisor's, including Winston Churchill, who would later replace him as Prime Minister. I believe that there were critical errors on both the part of Britain & Germany at the time.

Britain, under Neville Chamberlain, chose to negotiate with Hitler over the Sudenten crisis. Chamberlain knew very well that Czechoslovakia was a land-locked nation and that Britain’s military strength - its navy - could play no part in a conflict here. Britain’s army - though professional - was small. Britain’s air force was far from strong and undergoing change from a bi-planed force to using the new monoplanes which were still not ready for combat.

His military chiefs had advised Chamberlain that over one million people would be killed by bombing raids in just 60 days and that mass graves would be needed as there simply would not be enough wood for timber coffins. Any form of conflict with Germany was fraught with dangers – hence Chamberlain’s desire for a negotiated peace. Many British people supported Chamberlain at the time and before the meetings took place no-one would have known what it would be like negotiating with Hitler. It seemed right that a negotiated settlement should be tried and the attempts to succeed started in September 1938.
Retrieved From:http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...vakia_1938.htm

The Second World War, writes Buchanan(Pat Buchanan, Author of
Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War), could also have been avoided. One of the many mistakes made by the Entente Powers after the Great War was the Treaty of Versailles that, apart from creating chaos on the continent, humiliated Germany and sowed the seeds of Fascism and Communism in Europe`s two great countries. Of the two diabolical ideologies, Buchanan depicts the latter as the more barbaric and dangerous to the western civilization. Instead of isolating Hitler, argues the writer, Great Britain should have allied itself with him and waged a war against the Soviet Union where victims of Stalin`s policies were already amounting to millions in the 1930s. Buchanan reminds that, had Great Britain not offered Poland the war guaranty, Warsaw would have surely accepted Hitler`s proposition to attack the USSR and saved the lives of over six million citizens who perished in the ensuing Second World War.
Retrieved From:http://thesop.org/history/2008/07/20...essary-warquot

Here is an excerpt from another article on Dunkirk.

Reviewing events from the German invasion of Western Europe on 10 May 1940 to the decision of the British government to withdraw its forces from the continent, Harmon discovered that the long-held assertion that Britain was let down by her French and Belgian allies is a myth. Although the Allies outnumbered their German opponents, including a superiority in tanks,[2] Hitler's generals employed innovative tactics to subdue their more numerous enemies. On 22 May, Churchill's Cabinet decided to retire the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from France. Anthony Eden formally ordered the commander of the BEF, General Lord Gort, to deceive his Allies about the British Army's intention to retreat. Churchill contributed to the deception by reassuring French Premier Reynaud that Britain was firmly committed to victory. Even as the British prepared to evacuate, they tried to convince the Belgians to continue to fight. The Belgians did remain on the field of battle for an additional five days, which delayed the advance of German Army Group B toward Dunkirk. As the author points out, "Far from being betrayed by their Allies, the British military commanders in France and Belgium practiced on them a methodical deception which enabled the British to get away with their rear defended."

Harmon's research disclosed that the British were responsible for crimes against both German soldiers and Allied civilians. Some British troops were supplied with dumdum bullets-lethal missiles expressly banned by the Geneva Convention on the rules of war. London issued directives to take no prisoners except when they specifically needed captive Germans for interrogation. For this reason British Tommies feared being captured because "they supposed that the enemy's orders would be the same as their own." On 27 May, ninety prisoners of the Norfolk Regiment were killed by members of the SS Totendopf Division and on 28 May over eighty men of the Warwickshire Regiment were executed by troops of the SS Adolf Hitler Regiment. These acts were committed in retaliation for the massacre of large numbers of men of the SS Totenkopf Division who had surrendered to the British.
Retrieved From:http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v02/v02p375_Lutton.html