What happened to non-British Dunkirk evacuees

the >war for his acts) <<stuff deleted>>

As far as I know, there was a line of defence through the middle of France and many units were transported from Dunkirk and the Belgian beaches of La Panne (only a few miles away and harbouring the only direct telephone link with England) to ports further down the French coast. Many of these units saw action again against the Germans. Even Belgian units took part in the bitter fighting preceding the French capitulation (I happen to know one of the survivors of one of the Belgian Artillery Units which fought on after the capitulation of the Belgian army on 28th May 1940).

As a matter of fact, the Belgians did not cave in, further resistance had become futile and would have cost dearly in civilian life. Do not only blame the Belgian king as the sole responsable for the defeat of the Belgians, for: 1. Promised help did not arrive in time, because the Germans were there faster than the allies 2. The Belgian field army was relatively small, poorly equipped and due to a shortage of capable reserve-officers in most cases badly led. 3. The British were unable to hold their bit of the line, as the French were unable to plug the hole in the Ardennes (where, by the way, the Belgian Chasseurs Ardennais put up a splendid retarding action with their light infantry armament against panzers ) 4. The Belgian army put up quite a fight in order to keep escape hatch open for the British troops. There was a general lack of communication between French, British and Belgians. Imagine the British distrusting the 'froggies' and the French having nobody around speaking decent English ... and the Belgians smack in the middle (did you know that the French had no real communications centre in their headquarters, thanks to C-in-C Weygand and Gamelin)

I could continue enumerating reasons why it is unfair to blame the Belgians for losing the war in 1940. As for the abdication of king Leopold after the war, it had something to do with 1940, but also with his attitude regarding parliament. Believe or not, but a vote was taken regarding the return of the king after the war, and a majority of the people wanted him back. There was only a minor problem: it appeared that the Flemish (and catholic) northern part of Belgium wanted him back with an overwhelming majority, while the Walloon (and socialist/communist) southern part did not want him back at all. The abdication of the king is a far too complex problem to explain here in a short message, but please bear in mind that Belgium was and still is a very complicated country.

As far as the Belgians that fled to England are concerned, many of them joined the Belgian section of the RN, while the younger people joined the 1st Belgian Armored Brigade. Other people saw service with the RAF and still other operated under cover in Europe, since most Belgians speak two or three languages.

Sorry, but I had to air my grievances regarding the Belgians being treated as 'cowards' (we paid part of the war effort with the revenue coming from Congo and without the uranium from Belgian sources, no A-bomb would have been possible).

My understanding is that vast majority of French troops evacuated from Dunkirk were almost immediately shipped back to France ... which was still fighting, andwould be for several more weeks.

Why does everyone seem to think that France surrendered at (or on) the evacuation of Dunkirk? It didn't.

Phil Phillip McGregor (Space Opera (FGU), Rigger Black Book (FASA)

Mais ouais. The following is summarised (and if there are errors, doubtless it's my crap translation or additions) from <<La 1re DLM dans les combats de 1940>> by Erik Barbanson in _39-45 Magazine_, Nos 150 and 151.

The 1re Division Legere Mechanique (DLM), after having been badly chewed up in fighting in Belgium and France, reached the Dunkirk area between 26 and 30 May. The most part of those who reached the perimiter were evacuated. However, losses had already been high. The 4e Regiment de Dragons portes, the division's mechanised infantry component, had already suffered 40% losses. The 4e Cuirassiers, one of the division's two armoured regiments, lost around 15% of their personnel. No picnic.

[As an aside, while great credit is usually given to the Stop Order in allowing Dynamo to succeed, the bitter resistance by the French 1st Army pocketed around Lille is commonly ignored. Such are the wonders of Anglophone historiography - even more visible in the Grande Guerre, but that's another tale.]

1re DLM was collected in Hampshire and was repatriated via Cherbourg and Brest. With a variety of new and salvaged equipment, the division was back in action on 10th June, three days after it was reformed, near Vernon (between Paris and Rouen). This was facing the German attacks to break the French lines on the Seine. The division was in action for two days, making several counter-attacks, mostly successful, and inflicting many casualties on the opposing German units. However, the French lines were broken elsewhere and the retreat, this time the last, began.

[I dug through English and Gudmundsson's tedious _On Infantry_ and found an account of an earlier, and equally unsuccessful post-Dunkirk effort at stopping the Gerrman advance, this time on the Somme, in chapter 4, in the unlikely event that anyone is actually interested.]

Somewhat reinforced, the 1re DLM withdrew in good order, being in action again on the 17th to the north of Le Mans. The morning of the 18th saw 1re DLM as rearguard on the banks of the Mayenne. The division held it's sector of the river, stopping German attacks, before being forced to pull out in the evening of the 19th by German breakthroughs elsewhere. The division continued to withdraw southwards as the French position went from bad to worse. It's final successful action appears to have been on the morning of 22nd June, an attack on a German column by the S-35s of the 4e RC. The withdrawal then resumed, once more under heavy German pressure. The end of hostilities on 25th June found the 1re DLM in the Dordogne, still in good order. It was dissolved on 11th July, with it's constituent regiments, the 4e RDP, 18e RD, 4e RC and 74e RA likewise by August 9th.

[The fate of 6e RC, the divisional recce regiment, is not stated. IIRC, this unit was later part of either 1st or 5th French Armoured Division in 1944-1945, so it probably soldiered on as part of the Armistance Army. ISTR that it's 1940 CO, one Colonel Dario, led a Combat Command in the Liberation era.]

The 4e RDP suffered over 50% losses in around 6 weeks, the division's AFV losses were well over 100%, and so on. In spite of the chaos wrought by the campaign in the Low Countries, the evacuation from Dunkirk and the hurried repatriation and reconstitution of the Division, it continued in action as an effective force until the end, in which it was certainly not unique. This does seem to clash somewhat with the usual view of the French Army in 1940.