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The Battle of Dunkirk (French: Bataille de Dunkerque) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on the Western Front , the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and other Allied forces to Britain ...
The Siege of Dunkirk was a siege commenced by France under the command of Louis, le Grand Condé with naval support of the Dutch Republic under the command of admiral Maarten Tromp, who were able to blockade the city to help Condé's siege.
The Luftwaffe flew fewer sorties over Dunkirk on 28 May, switching their attention to the Belgian ports of Ostend and Nieuwpoort. The weather over Dunkirk was not conducive to dive or low-level bombing. The RAF flew 11 patrols and 321 sorties, claiming 23 destroyed for the loss of 13 aircraft. [77] On 28 May, 17,804 soldiers arrived at British ...
The siege of Dunkirk in 1658 was a military operation by France and the Commonwealth of England intended to capture the fortified port city of Dunkirk, Spain's greatest privateering base, from a Spanish garrison strengthened with English Royalists and French Fronduers.
The defeat of the Spanish relief force and the taking of Dunkirk ended the immediate prospect of a Royalist expedition to England. Dunkirk surrendered to French forces ten days after the battle on 24 June, and Cardinal Mazarin honoured the terms of the treaty with Oliver Cromwell and handed the port over to the Commonwealth. [30]
Dunkirk was besieged in May 1658. A Spanish relief force attempted to lift the siege but was defeated on 4 June at the Battle of the Dunes. The Commonwealth contingent in Turenne's army fought with distinction and impressed their French allies with a successful assault up a strongly defended sandhill 150 feet high during the battle.
There was also a 2,000 strong Waffen-SS detachment. The total strength was in excess of 10,000 men. Many of these were remnants of five divisions, which had been mauled during the Normandy campaign, then retreated to Dunkirk. The town was fortified and supplied for a lengthy siege. [2] The Canadians approached Dunkirk from the south-west.
The decision to besiege Dunkirk was taken not by military commanders, but by the British government, chiefly by William Pitt's closest advisor, Secretary of State for War Henry Dundas. Dundas had considered the possession of Dunkirk as desirable, both as a bargaining chip in negotiations and as a potential British base in Europe.