The Siege of Calais (1940)

The siege of Calais - the battle for the port city of Calais between the British and French troops and the Wehrmacht forces in May 1940 , lasted for three days, is part of the French company . The siege of the city was carried out in parallel with the siege of Bulouoni and preceded the Dunkirk operation . The siege resulted in the complete defeat of the forces of the allies and 19,500 captured soldiers and officers, of whom 3,500 fought in Calais and 16,000 deserters, mostly French, Belgians and Dutch ^[1] .

Starting the attack on May 10, German troops broke through to the English Channel by May 20, reaching the rear of the French forces and the British Expeditionary Force .

In Calais at that time there were only British anti-aircraft gunners and rear units, as well as parts of the French coastal defense.

On May 22, the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Tank Corps was hastily transferred from Great Britain in Calais, and the next day the newly formed British 30th Infantry Brigade joined it. It included two regular motorized infantry battalions (2nd battalion of the Royal Rifle Corps and 1st battalion of the Rifle Brigade ), as well as the 1st battalion of Arrows of Queen Victoria ) (a unit of the Territorial Army , a motorcycle battalion of barely trained militias, a third of which was armed only with pistols). The brigade was commanded by brigadier Claude Nicholson .

On May 24, the German 10th Panzer Division began to attack the city. Stubborn street battles for the city began. Together with the British soldiers, about 800 French soldiers and sailors fought under the command of Captain de Frigate Charles de Lamberti. At the same time, many French and Belgian soldiers from the broken units who did not take any part in the battle were hiding in the city.

On May 25, the Germans, through the mayor of Calais, invited the British to surrender. Brigadier Nicholson refused to give up. To the secondary offer to surrender, he also refused.

On the evening of May 25, Nicholson received the following message personally from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill : “Every hour that you continue to exist is the greatest help to the British Expeditionary Force. Therefore, the government decided that you should continue to fight. I have the greatest admiration for your magnificent defense. Evacuation will not be (I repeat, it will not be) carried out, and the ships intended for this purpose must return to Dover . "

On the morning of May 26, with the support of diving bomber Yu-87, the Germans continued the offensive. Only about 250 people remained in the British battalions by this time, the British no longer had tanks or artillery. By evening, resistance had ceased, all the surviving British and French soldiers and officers, including Brigadier Nicholson, were captured.

The importance of the defense of Calais lies in the fact that it distracted significant forces of the German troops, which was one of the factors that made it possible to organize the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk .