Can defeat ever be a victory?

1. Can defeat ever be a victory?

2. Look at the pictures you have been given. What story to these pictures tell? You have 5 mins in your groups to come up with a theory.

3. By the end of this lesson you will be able to... • Explain the events of Dunkirk. • Understand why the government wanted Dunkirk to be seen as a victory and not a defeat.

4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/wwtwo_map_fall_france/index_embed.shtmlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/wwtwo_map_fall_france/index_embed.shtml

9. Your Task Your Task • In the days after the evacuation from Dunkirk, the newspapers in Britain were filled with the story. Read through the sources you have been given, and look again at the pictures. • Write a newspaper article about the evacuation from Dunkirk, using the sources. This is all the information you have available (writers at the time would have had little information from which to create their story). • Remember – Your report should be a patriotic piece to help maintain British spirits (anything focusing too much upon the defeat would not have been allowed to be published). • You must mention the following: • The effect of the evacuation on the British and French armies • What it was like on the beaches • How the troops were rescued • The heroism of the people who went across in the different types of boats (how brave they were) • The spirit of the rescued men (how did they feel about being rescued?) • In the days after the evacuation from Dunkirk, the newspapers in Britain were filled with the story. Read through the sources you have been given, and look again at the pictures. • Write a newspaper article about the evacuation from Dunkirk, using the sources. This is all the information you have available (writers at the time would have had little information from which to create their story). • Remember – Your report should be a patriotic piece to help maintain British spirits (anything focusing too much upon the defeat would not have been allowed to be published). • You must mention the following: • The effect of the evacuation on the British and French armies • What it was like on the beaches • How the troops were rescued • The heroism of the people who went across in the different types of boats (how brave they were) • The spirit of the rescued men (how did they feel about being rescued?)

10. Dunkirk – Defeat or Victory?

11. Dunkirk – Defeat or Victory? Why do you think the British government wanted the people to see Dunkirk as a success rather than a defeat?

12. ‘There were lines of me waiting in queues until boats arrived to transport them, a score [20] or so at a time, to the steamers and warships. The queues stood there fixed and regular, no bunching, no pushing’ - A firsthand account by a gunner officer, published in 1940 Source 1

13. ‘All night an all day men of the undefeated British Expeditionary Force have been coming home. From interviews with the men it is clear they have come back in glory; that their morale is as high as ever and that they are anxious to be back again, ‘to have a real crack at Jerry [the Germans]’’ - From the BBC six o’clock radio news bulletin on 31 May 1940. This was the first report about Dunkirk that was broadcast Source 2

14. ‘[At Dunkirk] a miracle was born. This land of Britain is rich in heroes. She had brave daring men in her navy and air force as well as her army. She had heroes in jerseys and sweaters and old rubber boots in all the fishing ports of Britain. That night when the word went round in all the south-east ports of Britain, there was not a man or a boy who knew how to handle a boat who was not prepared to give his own life to save some unknown son of his country who had faced, without flinching, the red hell of Flanders. For almost a week the epic went on. The little ships dodged their way up the waters and hauled over their sides the soldiers who waded waist deep to safety.’ - An extract from a book published in England in July 1940 Source 3