Re:My grandfather at Dunkirk
by lostlogin on Sunday August 13, 2017 @03:41PM
(#15004524)
I'd read it too, but I'd be very keen on a decent German version too, as the failure to push to the beach is less well covered.
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According to the movie they didn't need to because it was easier to just drop bombs from the air.
Re:My grandfather at Dunkirk
by asdfgadsfgasfdg on Sunday August 13, 2017 @04:44PM
(#15004837)
Wasn't there a political reason? The air force wanted to show how great it was and the army was prevented from advancing?
The politics were involved, but in a subtler way, by warping the decision-making process. The army was exhausted and needed to rest, repair their vehicles, and resupply. There was debate about whether it should first finish off the Dunkirk pocket or let the air force finish them off, and the air force chief Göring (who was both politically strong and fantastically overconfident) insisted that he could take care of it. Very similar to his later overconfidence in the Battle of Britain, and the way it warped German strategic decision-making.