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Anyone else super exited for this? I love the trailers and have enjoyed all of Nolan's recent films. Needless to say I'm pumped.
Not really.. dont see the point in trying to glorify one of the biggest cluster****s and defeats in military history.
Yes, the situation that led to the British being surrounded at Dunkirk was a complete military disaster, thanks it large part due to their own errors. But the fact that the British were able to successfully evacuate over 300,000 remains impressive.
See that is the problem. No it was not impressive, that is the "victor writes the history" part. It was pure luck.
I am not trying to take away the heroism of the civilians who risked everything to get the men off the beaches or the French troops who held a rear guard as much as they could, but the fact remains that the only reason the British got those troops off the beaches was because the Germans let them.
Organizing the evacuation of 338,226 men over the course of just nine days by 861 boats takes more than just luck.
That's not really accurate.
The Germans failed to stop the British from evacuating for three main reasons, the first being the sensible choice to shift their Panzers away from Dunkirk (The marshy terrain around Dunkirk would've made for poor tank maneuvers, and German Panzer losses were already as high as 50% in some units), and also a general desire to conserve their armor for Fall Rot.
The second was the general overestimation of the Luftwaffe's capabilities (as the Germans regularly overestimated themselves),
the third was quite simply because the land and air minded Germans didn't see the sea as an escape route. German forces and leaders thought the allied forces in Dunkirk were doomed.
The Germans didn't simply stop attacking the perimeter at Dunkirk. German infantry continued to attack the the Allied forces and were held off by stiff resistance by both British and French forces. The idea that the Nazis simply "let" 300,000 men get away is ridiculous. That was not at all their intention, as Hitler clearly laid out in Directive No. 13
There was next to no organisation. Dont get me wrong, it was a great they got that many men out alive, but they were not under sustained attack for most of it... sure hit and runs by the Luftwaffe, but in no way did the Germans throw the full might of the Wehrmacht against the allies.
It is actually.
See this is just horse****. Yes the losses were high, but they had the chance of annihilating the enemy. The Generals wanted to do it, but Hitler stopped them.
Again bull****. The Luftwaffe was held back. The French and RAF were defeated over France, so the Luftwaffe ruled the air. They could have sent wave after wave of bombers in over the allies and killed them all. They did not. Hell the Luftwaffe could have easily sunk most ships trying to get people off.. yes they did sink some, but come on.. with no real air cover, the ships were sitting ducks.
And they were right, but any idiot could see on May 28th that something was up. That should have signaled an all out assault on the pocket to stop and or kill as many as possible. They did neither. From a strategic stand point it was an utter failure of leadership by Hitler to force his generals to stop the attack.
Had the RAF fallen (and we are talking about under 24 hours margin here as we now know from historical documents), then the Germans would have easily overrun the southern part of the UK, as the defenses were mainly poorly armed leftover home guard and recently defeated troops with next to no heavy weapons.
So to sum up.. Hitler might or might not have believed that the British getting so many men off the beaches was important in the grand scale of things, but the fact remains that the Germans stopped their all out attacks for a time, which meant the British could get off so many men.
Anyone else super exited for this? I love the trailers and have enjoyed all of Nolan's recent films. Needless to say I'm pumped.
PQ-17 - The Doomed Convoy?
I would pay to see that. The Arctic convoys and the sailors who manned them deserve more recognition.
Anyone else super exited for this? I love the trailers and have enjoyed all of Nolan's recent films. Needless to say I'm pumped.
I read some of their accounts in Max Hasting's Inferno. Unbelievable stuff.
A movie about Dunkirk?
What's next?
PQ-17 - The Doomed Convoy?
Sydney and the Kormoran - Fatal Draw?
Titanic - The Comedy?
The maiden voyage of the Vasa would be a nice movie. :mrgreen:
I would pay to see that. The Arctic convoys and the sailors who manned them deserve more recognition. The Dunkirk movie could be pretty good, depending on how it is done.
A movie about Dunkirk?
What's next?
PQ-17 - The Doomed Convoy?
Sydney and the Kormoran - Fatal Draw?
Titanic - The Comedy?
Why not Dunkirk? They have made films about black hawk down, pearl harbour and countless Vietnam movies.
And I thought those were mostly stupid movies as well.
I am not paying good money to see my side get creamed in a war movie.
You want to...go ahead.
BTW, most of the Vietnam movies denoted Americsn victories and/or were about emotions and the human condition - not historical battles; like Platoon.
And movies like Black Hawk Down told a story that needed to be told to educate Americans about not getting involved in tribal wars.
Dunkirk? Nothing whatsoever to be learned from Dunkirk that everyone does not already know and knew decades ago.
The only people that see it are the same people that saw the last Pearl Harbor movie...idiots/teenagers who go for the action...not historians.
Dunkirk will be an action flick wrapped up as a historical piece...and they will get TONS of historical events wrong to make it more appealing.
You like it...fine. I will pass.
We are done.
You underestimate the importance of Dunkirk not just in a military sense but also politically. Churchill was under immense pressure and 300k allied troops being captured would of probably been the nail in the coffin. Men like Lord Halifax would of pushed him out and then brokered a deal with Hitler as they had been pushing for .
With that deal you would of seen the collapse of the Empire which would of meant no North African campaign, Australiaalone vs Japan and of course no D-Day. Germany would of been allowed to focus on Russia without multiple fronts and then who knows what would of happened.
You underestimate the importance of Dunkirk not just in a military sense but also politically. Churchill was under immense pressure and 300k allied troops being captured would of probably been the nail in the coffin. Men like Lord Halifax would of pushed him out and then brokered a deal with Hitler as they had been pushing for .
With that deal you would of seen the collapse of the Empire which would of meant no North African campaign, Australiaalone vs Japan and of course no D-Day. Germany would of been allowed to focus on Russia without multiple fronts and then who knows what would of happened.