donkeyking
Airman
- 35
- Dec 6, 2005
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My question is whether there is a better option. What if allies would insist on fighting at Dunkirk for three months?
Could they insist for 3 month around Dunkirk like the battle of Anzio?
The Port of Antwerp is huge and it's in an ideal location for supporting military operations in Belgium.
What about the rest of French 1st Army Group? The BEF was a smaller loss then the cream of the French Army. The German victory at Dunkirk ensured that France was doomed.US resupplied the British and in a short time those trained troops were ready to fight again.
The Port of Antwerp is huge and it's in an ideal location for supporting military operations in Belgium.
Was Antwerp inside the perimeter of the Dunkirk area when the decision had to be made?
Or was Antwerp in German hands on May 15th after the Dutch surrendered?
You cannot fight for long without a supply line. If we postulate a scenerio start date of 14 May 1940 then French 1st Army Group's highest priority should be to push the German Army out of artillery range of Antwerp.Antwerp is still in Allied hands but Antwerp is unusable in 1940 (as in 1944) unless all of the Scheldt is free of enemy artillery.
You cannot fight for long without a supply line. If we postulate a scenerio start date of 14 May 1940 then French 1st Army Group's highest priority should be to push the German Army out of artillery range of Antwerp.
French 1st Army Group was commanded by Gaston Billotte. If General Billotte doesn't know what's going on then the battle is lost before the first shot is fired.nobody in the French command that knew what was going on
There is the logistics question. Even if (big if) the Allies can stand up to the Germans tactically, the 300,000 man army would have to be supplied.
Depending on when or how big the area is when the stand is made, is there enough port capacity in the perimeter to allow this (roughly 100 tons of supplies per division per day).
Can the RAF keep control of the air long enough (more than the time of the evacuation) to allow the supply ships to dock and unload without too many being sunk.
Is there a rail, road network to distribute the supplies or enough motor transport.
Food, fuel and ammunition all have to brought in and distributed.
If it's turns into a WW I type "siege" artillery pieces can use hundreds of shells per day each.