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Keegan gets knighthood

Sir John Keegan receives a knighthood

William Austin of Richmond, Virginia, writes on Saturday, October 6, 2001


typewriter

What about Hitler and Dunkirk?

THIS semester, I am both working on my thesis and take a class under my advisor, Dr. Joseph Bendersky (author of The Jewish Threat - anti-Semitic Politics of the US Army and Carl Schmitt: Theorist for the Reich) dealing with both European and American aspects of World War Two.

As such, we have been reading John Keegan's The Second World War. My question for you concerns Dunkirk. Keegan completely glosses over the Dunkirk evacuation in three sentences.

Keegan mentions that Hitler had been "assured by Göring that the Luftwaffe would prevent any evacuation from the Dunkirk pocket." This obviously did not occur since approximately 337,000 Allied soldiers escaped with their lives.

Had the Luftwaffe been able to prevent such an escape, and with the advancing German soldiers, a sound whipping could have turned the war for the Nazis right then. My question is about the details of Dunkirk. What happened to the Luftwaffe? Why were they not able to stop this massive evacuation? Were there any repercussions for Göring from Hitler about this massive failure?

Dr. Bendersky did not have an answer for me and Keegan goes around the issue altogether.

William Austin

David Irving Goring bookanswers:

I AM sending you a copy of my Göring biography which will answer part of your questions about Dunkirk; my updated HITLER'S WAR (free download) will probably answer the rest.

I went into the Dunkirk question in some detail, using the German army and other war diaries. Keegan is good, but did of course no original research. Do NOT trust the "diaries" of General Gerhard Engel on this episode, the diaries are partly a post war concoction.

© Focal Point 2001 David Irving