History | Prelude to Dunkirk | Second World War
History | Prelude to Dunkrik | Second World War
Prelude to #Dunkirk (not the feature film, but history) as told by #BT- a war historian aspirant:
In 1939, Hitler broke the 'Treaty of Versailles', (which formally ended world war I and ensured peace in Europe) and invaded Poland. Consequently, England and France declared war on Germany. While Germans had upgraded their military equipments to superiority, British fought with reportedly primitive weapons of world war I (1914 - 1918).
As allied forces, British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and French resistance made progress into German occupied France, they were brutally assaulted and cornered to the edges of France, precisely beaches of Dunkirk for annihilation. For some unknown reasons, Hitler did not order his 'Panzer' division (Tank) to attack, instead entrusted 'Luftwaffe' (Airforce). Had Panzer division attacked with it's invincible 'Tiger' tanks, the course of history would have changed.
Axis forces (Nazi Germany and allies) would have eliminated BEF and allied forces, eventually capturing entire Europe. Back in England, prime minister, Winston Churchill realized the significance of saving 400,000 troops, than winning the war. Therefore, England mobilised everything they had for the rescue mission. Even civilians crossed the English channel with small boats alongside Navy for rescue operation, named 'Operation Dynamo'.
On the beaches of Dunkirk, British destroyer vessels and fighter jets 'Spitfire' defended their men from German's unforgiving attacks, until help arrived. Dunkirk evacuation, actually a military defeat for allied forces, which happened in May of 1940, enormously improved the morale of allied forces, and reinvigorated their beliefs of winning the war.
In June 1944, allied forces regrouped and initiated the offensive attack on Germans at Normandy, France (codenamed D - Day invasion), and liberated western front of Nazi German occupied territories, eventually defeating them in the April of 1945.
If evacuation of 400,000 men from the beaches of Dunkirk, was not successful, perhaps, allied forces would have never won the war, and we might be still under the occupation of Axis forces. It's implications need not be made explicit, as we all know the history. Therefore, auteur, Christopher Nolan, chose to tell this inspiring story of paramount importance, through his feature film, 'Dunkirk', released worldwide on 21st July 2017 and became one of the most important films on the second World War.
Authored by Balaji Thangapandian aka #BT - a spacefarer, who is also curious about film-making, connectivity technologies and military history.
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