Why didn't the Germans anihilate us at Dunkirk?

[jimslip]

I was wondering why our retreating army was allowed to flee Dunkirk more or less unscathed. There are many theories, some say Hitler wanted to be pals and couldn't bear to massacre an Aryan army in retreat. Others say they were bogged down fighting French units and others say his generals advised him to save his armourments for another day.

What do the wise of BGAFD believe?

[Dave Wells]

He knew we'd always lose to them in penalty shootouts ?

[RoddersUK]

I believe that the boxheads underestimated the British, not for the 1st time either, and thought that the B E F was completely beaten. They thought that our govt would then seek an armistice and surrender. The fact that Britain was prepared to stand alone was lost on them. As history has shown, another monumental cockup by Adolf and his so called invincible General Staff. The good Generals of note could be counted on the fingers of one hand, Rommel, Halder, Manstein etc.
Having met several Generals in my time I understood why they were Generals and I was a Sgt. The 1st WW thinned out the Colonel Blimps from the British Army and we have been well served since then with some very professional officers with combat experience. I think the majority of the German General Staff did not learn from their 1st WW experience. The Americans certainly didn't, but then that is par for the course with them anyway.

[spider]

"another monumental cockup by Adolf".

How the F**K did he think he could take on the Russians AND the Yank and think he could win?

[JamesW]

General Gerd von Rundstedt issued an order to halt the German panzers and not move into Dunkirk. He requested that Hitler confirm the order, which he did. Too much had been achieved already to take the risk of falling into an Allied trap at that stage, and there were still large French forces to deal with to the south. Rundstedt said he wanted to conserve the armour for a push to the south and anyway the numerous canals in Flanders made it bad country for tanks. Hitler agreed that the terrain wasn't the most suitable for tanks, with marshes as well as canals, and also wanted the German infantry to catch up, which had been left behind by the rapid panzer advance, as he was wary of an Allied breakout. In addition the always optimistic Hermann G?ring was confidently promising that his Luftwaffe could easily wipeout the Allied forces at Dunkirk anyway, without the need of any tanks or other ground action. Hitler later wrote: "The pocket would have been closed at the coast if only our armour had not been held back. The bad weather has grounded the Luftwaffe and we must now stand and watch countless thousands of the enemy get away to England right under our noses."

[randyandy]

What James said

[RoddersUK]

No one knows!!

[jimslip]

spider wrote:

> "another monumental cockup by Adolf".
>
> How the F**K did he think he could take on the Russians AND the
> Yank and think he could win?

Adolf was a victim of mind boggling arrogance and blind faith in the superiority of his Aryan led war machine, he totally underestimated the resolve of the Russians and the cold of their winters.

"Pride commeth before a fall!"

[one eyed jack]

I believe in the future unwritten history of the world at that time it was simply not meant to happen. I'm not sure "fellow aryans" had anything to do with it.

If he felt that personal about it then how would he have had fellow aryans executed for not following his orders.

I can buy the saving of armaments. Why waste bullets on an army that is already defeated when you can save it to kill another day?