Rearguard (Military Tactic) - Heroic Sacrifice at Dunkirk, 1940

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term rear guard refers to that part of the military force that protects the main body of it from any form of attack from the rear this protection is given when the main force is either advancing or retreating which is also known as withdrawing rear guard units were formed when a military formation was forced to evacuate its troops or to withdraw from the battlefield due to the threat of being overwhelmed by the enemy forces in these cases the withdrawing main body of the formation would not be capable of fighting back while it was retreating it was very likely that they would be totally routed and either annihilated or taken prisoner the rear guard's task was to establish and hold the defensive perimeter long enough for the main body of the formation to safely withdraw they had to block defend delay or interfere with the enemy as far as they were able to they were also required to destroy all materials weapons and vehicles that could not be evacuated it was a difficult task as rear guard units were either overstretched on the perimeter or they were facing much stronger enemy forces or both in order to complete the task rearguard soldiers were preferred to be in high spirit and well-disciplined usually these were considered to be suicide missions but it wasn't always the case it was not that unusual that rearguard units would manage to hold off the enemy for long enough to make a successful withdrawal for themselves too rearguard units have been used in warfare throughout history in medieval times the least honorable of all battle lines was the rearward typically deployed on the left or at the rear this forerunner of rear guard formations had the task of making counter-attacks on advancing enemy units to secure the safe withdrawal of the other two battle lines in time as military tactics developed so did the use of rear guard units who were used in various ways a defensive tactic was the standard way of deploying rear guard units in this case rearguard troops would establish a perimeter to repel or withhold the incoming enemy barricades minefields and other obstacles were also used to increase the defensive power of the rearguard units the order for the rear guards would be to fight to the last man but if they were successful in repelling the enemy once the main body had withdrawn safely they would also withdraw from the defensive perimeter ideally rearguard units would follow the withdrawal of the main body once a predetermined distance between them had been established until the whole force was reunited an offensive approach was another way for rearguard units to disrupt the enemy offensive sudden counter attacks on enemy positions could cause a major disruption and alter or delay their movements an offensive approach also implied behind the lines activities to disrupt the logistics and communications which would also slow down the enemy during world war ii the deployment of rear guard units was a tactic commonly used by all sides the soviets used it during the 1941 barbarossa offensive the germans applied it as a standard tactic against the allies on all fronts after 1943 however the most famous deployment of rearguard units during the war took place in the early stages of the conflict it was at the battle of dunkirk that the courageous resistance and sacrifices of the rearguard units allowed the main body of british french belgian and dutch troops to safely evacuate to the british isles and thus save the remnants of the british expeditionary force and its allies during the 1940s offensive into france and the low countries with the blitzkrieg of panzer troops the german army managed to cut off the allied forces in belgium hundreds of thousands of allied soldiers were threatened with being completely surrounded if this had happened it would have probably meant the end of the war for the allies however on may 24th adolf hitler ordered general heinz budarian's army to halt but suddenly reversed this decision three days later the port of dunkirk in northeastern france was considered to be the only place suitable to try to extract the remnants of the bef back across the english channel to safety on may 26th the order was issued to allied troops to retreat to the perimeter around dunkirk operation dynamo commenced the evacuation of allied troops to britain the evacuation was a huge and complex operation and above everything a critical one as german troops were advancing from the west east and south if the operation was to be successful the allies had to establish a defensive perimeter around dunkirk and deploy their rear guard units to hold back the germans long enough for all the allied troops to evacuate a joint french british 25 mile or 40 kilometer long and eight mile deep line of defense was formed which was divided into the french sector in the west between martin spiker and berge and the british sector in the east between berge buscamp ferns and newport the french sector was defended by the remnants of the 21st infantry division 68th infantry division and british 144th brigade the first corps of the british expeditionary force was deployed along the rest of the line they were the rear guard formation that would defend the withdrawal of the second and third core they would be the last to pull out if they were able to get away at all the task required men who were well disciplined those who would not run away at the first sight of a more powerful enemy such were the men of the first corps brigadier merton beckwith smith commander of the first guards brigade after receiving the news of being ordered to stand as the rear guard told his fellow officers that we have been given the supreme honor of being the rear guard at dunkirk go and tell your platoons the good news further he ordered his men to stand up to the stuka dive bombers quote stand up to them shoot at them with a bren gun from the shoulder take them like a high pheasant give them plenty of lead and five pounds to any man who brings one down he probably missed the fact that few soldiers had any knowledge of the aristocratic sport of pheasant shooting with shotguns it was of great importance for the defense of the perimeter that all units were determined to hold their positions to the end retreat was not an option not until all of the troops at dunkirk were evacuated any attempt to leave their post was to be punishable by death the commander of the third company of the coldstream guards major angus mccorkadale promised a captain from a neighboring unit that he would personally shoot him when he reported that he was going to fall back from his position because the germans were massing to attack there not taking the major seriously the captain followed by two of his men started to walk away from their ditch towards some trees behind the perimeter major mccorkadale and his subaltern lieutenant langley picked up their rifles set the sights to 250 yards and waited until the captain had reached the trees and then shot him down the two other men ran back to their position and the unit remained at their posts it was a testimony to the bravery and to the stubborn resistance shown by the allied soldiers that the entire contingent at dunkirk managed to be evacuated a great example of the rear guard's heroic struggle at dunkirk was captain harold marcus irvine andrews of the east lancashire regiment for the personal gallantry shown and fighting off german troops from his outpost captain irvine andrews was awarded the victoria cross later that year on the morning of june 1st the position held by the east landcaster regiment was outflanked on both sides thanks to the fire support from some bren gun universal carriers the british soldiers managed to prevent the germans from surrounding them later that day the germans commenced a new attack which was repelled by the heroic actions of irvine andrews and his men the citation announcing the victoria cross award best describes what he did that day there being danger of one of his platoons being driven in he irvine andrews called for volunteers to fill the gap and then going forward climbed on top of a straw roofed barn from which he engaged the enemy with rifle and light automatic fire though at the time the enemy were sending mortar bombs and armor-piercing bullets through the roof captain irvine anders personally accounted for 17 of the enemy with his rifle and for many more with a bren gun later when the house which he had held had been shattered by enemy fire and subtle light and all his ammunition had been expended he sent back his wounded in the remaining carrier captain irvine andrews then collected the remaining eight men of his company from this forward position and when almost completely surrounded led them back to cover afforded by the company in the rear swimming or wading up to the chin in water for over a mile captain irvine andrews and his company had held their position for over 10 hours in true style the rear guard units fought to the very end and withdrew only when there was no chance of defending the position anymore as the main evacuation continued the rear guard units were gradually withdrawing to dunkirk holding the line against the germans many men were killed defending the evacuation but some did manage to get to the dunkirk beaches and got taken home on the last few boats however for every seven men taken home from dunkirk one would be taken prisoner the french rear guard units fought to the very end to protect the withdrawal of the main body of allied troops on june 3rd as most of the british expeditionary forces were already gone general fagald of the french 16e court army ordered his men to make another counter-attack his plan was to withhold the german advance on the defensive perimeter for as long as possible fagal gathered what was left of his army four battalions of infantry supported by six s-35 and four h-35 tanks even though utterly exhausted the french pushed back the germans from the defensive perimeter their assault was stopped only when german anti-tank gunners had destroyed their tanks unfortunately forty thousand soldiers of the french rear guard didn't manage to escape and were captured by the germans in general more than 50 000 british troops were unable to escape the continent of these 11 000 were killed and the bulk of the remainder were made pows a handful of them were able to evade capture and eventually made their own way back to allied or neutral territory in the town of eskelbeck near dunkirk 80 british troops and one french soldier were executed on may 28th in a barn by ss troops who threw in stick grenades and riddled the soldiers with automatic gunfire fifteen british soldiers were badly wounded but managed to survive by lying very still or hiding under the bodies of their dead comrades two days later there were only six of them left alive these were found and treated by the regular vermont german army it is now known as the vermouth massacre on the same day another ss division murdered 100 members of the 2nd battalion of the royal norfolk regiment which just surrendered with machine gun fire in a ditch on a farm in le paradis tens of thousands of rear guard troops were taken east to the stalag camps where they would spend the next five long years working as slave labor ending in a terrible march of hundreds of miles in the freezing winter in late 1944 as the allies began their advance this final tribulation would be a step too far and many died of exhaustion and malnutrition it was only after all of the other troops were evacuated that the rear guards were also evacuated by british vessels on june 3rd their commander major general harold alexander was the last to leave the beach only after he ensured there were no soldiers left on the beach it was only thanks to the bravery of these men that 338 226 allied soldiers were saved and more importantly kept the allies in the war the miracle at dunkirk would have never happened if it wasn't for the sacrifices made by the rear guard soldiers enjoy conflict of nations the free online pvp game and create your own strategy for taking over the world to get an exclusive gift click on the link in the description to get 13 000 gold in one month of premium subscription for free hurry up because the offer is only available for 30 days choose your country and fight your way to victory

Channel: Simple History

Views: 839,267

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, rearguard, military tactic, dunkirk, ww2, bef, british army, french army, german army, belgian army, bravery, heroic sacrifice, defensive perimeter, Defensive tactic, Offensive approach, British Expeditionary Forces, Allied troops, evacuate, bren gun carrier, Merton Beckwith-Smith, Angus McCorquodale, Major McCorquodale, Marcus Ervine-Andrews, East Lancashire Regiment, French rearguard, Miracle at Dunkirk, little ships

Id: jTcLPNQoKm4

Length: 13min 51sec (831 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 12 2021