Last Stand at le Paradis by Richard Lane

Author:Richard Lane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS027100
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781844685103
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2009-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

‘The Führer is beside himself with joy.’

AS EARLY AS 19 MAY, LORD Gort’s Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Pownall, had telephoned the War Office in London to discuss the possibility of a withdrawal to the Channel Ports, or even from the Continent of Europe itself. Although, at this stage, lines of communication had not been severed – rail and road links across the River Somme at Abbeville were still intact – it would only be a matter of time before the German Panzers cut this last tenuous link. The Allied forces in the north-east would be isolated – the French from their armies in the south and the British from their western rearward areas. ‘The picture,’ wrote Gort, ‘was no longer of a line bent or broken, but of a besieged fortress.’

Later that day, a meeting was held in the War Office at which Bertram Ramsay, Vice Admiral Dover, was present. Maintaining a temporary supply line to the BEF and the evacuation of some personnel through the ports of Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk was discussed. The question of a major evacuation of forces was also considered. But London, it seems, knew little about the true military situation in France that it regarded such a measure as unlikely, although ‘seven days later it developed into Operation “Dynamo”.’ According to Vice Admiral Ramsey, ‘the main decision … was that the control must be delegated to the Vice Admiral Dover, and available shipping placed at his disposal.’1

Despite such contingency plans, the British Cabinet was against withdrawal and ‘decided that the BEF must fight its way southwards towards Amiens to make contact with the French.’2 Churchill was still undoubtedly expecting the counter-attack he had demanded of General Gamelin during a Supreme War Council meeting in Paris on 16 May. Gamelin had indeed drafted an orderfor an attack on the Germans flanks – in fact, his only order since fighting began. On 20 May, however, he was sacked by Reynaud and replaced by 73-year-old General Maxime Weygand, who flew in from Syria to take up his appointment. Before confirming an order issued by his predecessor, Weygand had to familiarize himself with the situation. Gamelin’s order was cancelled the next day, 21 May.

Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Sir Edmund Ironside, travelled to France on 20 May to convey the British Cabinet’s orders to Gort. Gort told him that an attack towards Amiens would be impracticable as seven divisions would have to be detached from the Escaut front where the BEF was already heavily engaged. Any weakening of that sector would be quickly exploited by the enemy. He planned to use his only available reserves for an advance on Arras, where they would relieve the town’s garrison which was in danger of being completely encircled.

A major attack like that ordered by the British Cabinet would also require considerable input from the French, but British commanders were rapidly losing faith in their ally. Billotte, in particular, as coordinator of the Allied forces, was causing great concern – he appeared to have become mentally paralysed by the German breakthrough.

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