6 DUNKIRK THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT

Military historian James Holland shares some lesser-known facts about the evacuation at Dunkirk, and the fighting that led up to it...

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1 THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE WAS DEFEATED DUE TO ITS SIZE - NOT ITS EQUIPMENT

Britain in the early years of World War II has often been perceived to have been full of Blimpish commanders, out-of-date equipment and antiquated, stuckin-the-mud tactics.

In fact, the British Army's equipment in 1940 was certainly a match for that of the Germans. The Bren light machine gun did not have the rate of fire of the German MG 34, but was solid, accurate and more dependable than its far friskier German rival. Meanwhile, the new British uniforms were the most modern in the world at the time, and unlike anything any soldier had worn before.

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was also entirely mechanised, which was certainly not the case for the German Army. In fact, of the 135 German divisions used in the attack in the west, only 16 were mechanised; the other 119 used horses and their soldiers' own two feet. British tanks were mostly superior to those of the German Army too, and while they had not invested as heavily in radio as the Germans, the BEF still had proportionally more radio sets than the French.

The reason for defeat in France in 1940 was not a failure in equipment, tactics or training, but the BEF's small size: just 10 divisions. This meant they could only ever play a supporting role in the action. When Belgian and French forces on their flanks collapsed, the BEF had no choice but to fall back in line with their allies. For Britain, an island nation with a large seaborne empire, the Royal Navy was the senior service. Prewar rearmament had sensibly focused on naval and air power. After all, France was an ally with a vast army. The idea was that Britain would take the lead at sea, France on land, and both would contribute to air power.