Powerful misconceptions have shaped our understanding of this pivotal moment in WWII. This documentary looks at the truth behind Dunkirk and the disastrous days leading up to the evacuation.
Director Interview
BBC Four: You challenge a number of myths about Dunkirk in the programme. What would you say are the most significant misunderstandings?
Alastair Laurence: One of the key things is this idea that the British betrayed the French, specifically before the evacuation and also in the circumstances of the evacuation. Then you've got the myth that the Germans were bigger and better than us and that their systems were infallible. In the programme we point out that the Allied forces were effectively equal to the Germans at the time of the invasion in May 1940.
BBC Four: So do you think that the Germans were more successful because they had better leadership?
AL: The answer to that is no. In the end there was a huge Allied intelligence failure in not predicting that the Germans would go through the Ardennes the way they did. Following that, the Germans used their tanks in an innovative and dynamic way and outflanked the French.
BBC Four: It seems as if even the revolutionary use of the tanks was due more to individual commanders than skilful leadership, while Hitler ordered the halt outside Dunkirk as a way of proving he was in charge...
AL: The German halt was a result of a row within the German high command, which foreshadows later events in Russia and in 1944, where some of the German generals were trying to mount a coup against Hitler. It's a power battle right at the beginning of the war about who will be in control. The Wehrmacht was staffed by career officers who were not necessarily Nazis and who didn't share Hitler's ideology. So you have the Nazi party on one side and the German army on the other, a less politicised entity. German historian Karl-Heinz Frieser's thesis is that they are questioning Hitler and he has to slap this down. He saw his authority being questioned and decided not to continue the advance to the coast.
BBC Four: You interview soldiers from each side of the conflict: French, British and German...
AL: This was an iconic event in British history. Almost from the time that the first troops came home, heroic myths were beginning to be spun around Dunkirk because they needed to use it for propaganda. But given that there were other parties to the crisis, the Germans and the French, we thought it was important to revisit this critical event; look at it in a European way.
Here was this extraordinary crisis when we were fighting the Germans, and look at us all these years later. We're not fighting each other but there are still these stereotypes between the nations: plucky Brits, cowardly French, remorselessly efficient Germans and we're attacking that. Fortunately, we don't kill each other any more. I did another programme for BBC Four, about a year before this one, about the 1919 Versailles peace conference, called Peacemakers. And, again, it was the same kind of thing, in effect it's television revisionism. We particularly look at what historians think of it, because often if you go to historians they have a point of view which might be a little bit ahead of what our popular preconceptions of events are.
BBC Four: Another element you explore is the positive spin put on Dunkirk and how a disaster became a rallying point. What's your view on that?
AL: You have to distinguish between the build-up to Dunkirk and Dunkirk itself. The evacuation of Dunkirk was like an exercise in logistic genius. They got 350,000 troops out in 10 days, albeit they were let off the hook slightly by the Germans. Despite that, you can't fault the heroism and logistical skill that went on there.
We talk in the programme about the reality of propaganda. But Churchill wasn't making it up; it was an achievement getting the troops out. Taking the long view, this meant that the British were separated geographically from the Germans and had the chance for a respite. This made D-Day possible - you've got this historical link between the two events.
