The passage traces the German armoured advance as the 1st Panzer Division was redirected past Calais and the refitting 10th Panzer Division was recalled to attack the reinforced port. Brigadier Claude Nicholson had to organise the defence without knowing the reasoning behind German high-command movements. He also received an overriding War Office order to send a large ration convoy toward Dunkirk before the British high command had formally decided on the wider BEF withdrawal. Tanks, carriers, and infantry were committed to clearing the twenty-mile road while German forces reached the high ground around Calais. The evacuation emerges through urgent logistical and defensive decisions made while the available route was rapidly narrowing.
Chapter · 1:35-4:12
Calais, the BEF retreat, and the road to Dunkirk
Julian Thompson's account follows the pressure on Calais and shows why decisions about its defence mattered to the BEF's developing retreat toward Dunkirk.