the germans had encircled the british army in northern france. the german tank divisions asked for time to recuperate, regroup and restock ammunition and fix any vehicles. hitler permitted after goering assured him the luftwaffe could dismantle the british forces in dunkirk. he was wrong. the british fled dunkirk using a huge array of ships from actual naval vessels to small fishing boats and leisure craft to abandon the continent in a few days. conspiracy theorists like to claim it was hitler permitting the brits to leave despite fierce rearguard actions by british and french troops preventing the germans from advancing days earlier proving otherwise.
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