Dunkirk The Men they left behind by Sean Longden
Mention the word “Dunkirk“ and you probably picture an armada of small boats that rescued the remnants of the British army from the beaches of Dunkirk to escape the Blitzkrieg German army in 1940. That rescue is well documented, but what isn’t so well known or is what happened to the men that put up the rearguard action and kept Rommel's forces at bay so 330,000 Allied troops could escape to England.
This book tells the story of the unfortunate 41,000 British troops who were left behind and spent five hellish years as German prisoners of war.
It wasn’t for another six weeks after the evacuation that the units of British and French armies finally surrendered to the Germans. For the next five years most of the men became prisoners of war. But life as a German prisoner was far removed from films such as the “Great Escape“ , but horrifically closer to those who became slaves of the notorious Japanese. These men became slaves, starved, executed, tortured and worked to death in mines and wherever the Third Reich felt that they could be of use.
A third of the book tells of famous last stands where it was only after all ammunition and hope of rescue was lost did the soldiers surrender. Sadly many of these troops were executed shortly after offering their surrender by an enemy who cared nothing for the Geneva convention. After this things didn’t get any better.
Mention the word “Dunkirk“ and you probably picture an armada of small boats that rescued the remnants of the British army from the beaches of Dunkirk to escape the Blitzkrieg German army in 1940. That rescue is well documented, but what isn’t so well known or is what happened to the men that put up the rearguard action and kept Rommel's forces at bay so 330,000 Allied troops could escape to England.
This book tells the story of the unfortunate 41,000 British troops who were left behind and spent five hellish years as German prisoners of war.
It wasn’t for another six weeks after the evacuation that the units of British and French armies finally surrendered to the Germans. For the next five years most of the men became prisoners of war. But life as a German prisoner was far removed from films such as the “Great Escape“ , but horrifically closer to those who became slaves of the notorious Japanese. These men became slaves, starved, executed, tortured and worked to death in mines and wherever the Third Reich felt that they could be of use.
A third of the book tells of famous last stands where it was only after all ammunition and hope of rescue was lost did the soldiers surrender. Sadly many of these troops were executed shortly after offering their surrender by an enemy who cared nothing for the Geneva convention. After this things didn’t get any better.
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