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Only 30 un wounded survivors were brought off by the Navy, and we do not know the fate of their comrades. Their sacrifice was not, however, in vain. At least two armored divisions which otherwise would have been turned against the B. E. F. had to be sent to overcome them. They have added another page to the glories of the light division.
The time gained enabled the Gravelines water line to be flooded and held by French troops. Thus the port of Dunkirk was held open. When it was found impossible for the Armies of the north to reopen their communications through Amiens with the main French Armies, only one choice remained. It seemed, indeed, a forlorn hope. The Belgian and French Armies were almost surrounded. Their sole line of retreat was to a single port and its neighboring beaches. They were pressed on every side by heavy attacks and were far outnumbered in the air. . . .
I thought, and there were good judges who agreed with me, that perhaps 20,000 or 30,000 men might be re-embarked, but it certainly seemed that the whole French First Army and the whole B. E. F., north of the Amiens-Abbeville gap would be broken up in open field or else have to capitulate for lack of food and ammunition. . . .
That was the prospect a week ago, but another blow which might have proved final was still to fall upon us. ...
Judgment on Leopold. At the last moment, when Belgium was already invaded, King Leopold called upon us to come to his aid, and even at the last moment we came. He and his brave and efficient Army of nearly half a million strong guarded our eastern flank; this kept open our only retreat to the sea.
Suddenly, without any prior consultation ar . with the least possible notice, wither the advice of his ministers and on his own personal act, he sent a plenipotentiary to the German Command surrendering his Army and exposing our flank and the means of retreat.
I asked the House a week ago to suspend its judgment because the facts were not clear. I do not think there is now any reason why we should not form our own opinions upon this pitiful episode. . . .
Lost Contact. Contact was lost inevitably between the British and two of three corps forming the First French Army who were then farther from the coast than we were. It seemed impossible that large numbers of Allied troops could reach the coast. The enemy attacked on all sides in great strength and fierceness, and their main power, air force, was thrown into the battle. . . .
Their U-boats, one of which was sunk, and motor launches took their toll of the vast [cross-channel] traffic which now began. For four or five days the intense struggle raged. All armored divisions, or what was left of them, together with great masses of German infantry and artillery, hurled themselves on the ever narrowing and contracting appendix within which the British and French Armies fought.
Meanwhile the Royal Navy, with the willing help of countless merchant seamen and a host of volunteers, strained every nerve and every effort and every craft to embark the British and Allied troops.
Over 220 light warships and more than 6.50 other vessels were engaged. They had to approach this difficult coast, often in adverse weather, under an almost ceaseless hail of bombs and increasing concentration of artillery fire. . . .