Dunkirk is famous for the Battle of Dunkirk and the Great Retreat of British and French Allied Forces that took place here during World War II 1940.

1940 in may, the French campaign of world war ii broke out, and Britain sent an expeditionary force to France to help France. However, due to the rapid advance of the German army, the British and French troops were cut off.

British troops retreated to Dunkirk Harbor and were surrounded by German troops. It has always been believed that if we don't stop marching and send Nazi German Air Force to bomb Dunkirk, the British army will go to born to die.

However, according to the official war diary of the German A Army, it was the commander of the group army, Gerd von Lund Stedt, who gave the order to stop, and Hitler did not ratify it until a few hours later. Because of this pause, the British army had a few days to begin to retreat from the sea. Winston Churchill ordered the generator to operate, and assembled all available ships, more than 900 ships, to transport people, saving 338,226 people (including123,000 French troops), which Churchill later called the Dunkirk miracle. Although the Allies left more than 40,000 vehicles and countless arms and materials in France, the good soldier saved by this operation is still more valuable.

There are still 40 thousand people who have not retreated, either captured or forced to return home through various channels, including neutral Spain.

1944, after the allied forces landed in Normandy, they pushed northeast. In September, the Second Infantry Division of Canada tried to recapture the city, but the Germans refused to hand over the city that had become a fortress. Allied forces then surrounded and attacked the city, especially the First Armored Army of Czechoslovakia.

During the German occupation, Dunkirk was bombed by allied forces and suffered heavy losses.

Finally, on May 9th, 1945, German general Friedrich Frisius surrendered unconditionally to Brigadier General alois Lisca.

After the war, Dunkirk was rebuilt on the ruins. The scale of the city surpassed that before the war and became the third largest port in France, with an annual throughput of 35 million tons. Close to the port, the largest modern iron and steel complex in France was established. With good port conditions, rich ore and coking coal were imported, and more than 1/4 steel was produced in France.

The Gravorin nuclear power station in the western suburbs of Dunkirk has six reactors with a total installed capacity of 5.46 million kilowatts, ranking first in France and among the best in the world.

Relying on the port, other industries such as oil refining, chemical industry and agricultural product processing also emerged.

At present, there are many Dutch-speaking communities in Dunkirk, and the dialects they use belong to French Flanders under West Flanders, although compared with19th century, French has crowded out the local use of Dutch.

02

* * * * The first war broke out in World War II-Poland fell in the German-Polish War.

* * * *1September 3, 939, Britain and France declared war on Germany and did not actively support Poland. ****

1 939 September1In the early morning of Sunday, the German army raided Poland and World War II broke out.

9 * * * * * On March 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany, but the British and French allied forces mainly stayed behind maginot line, and they did not actively send troops to support Poland except the Salle offensive.

On September 27th, Germany occupied Warsaw and Poland fell. Britain and France only condemned Germany.

At the beginning of World War II, France took military action against the German Defence Forces 1 Army in Saar. The purpose of the attack was to help Poland, which was attacked by the Germans at that time, but the attack was later suspended.

According to the military agreement between France and Poland, after three days of mobilization, the French army should be prepared for a large-scale attack, effectively control the area between the French border and the German defense line, and then go deep into the German defense line.

On September 7, four days after France declared war on Germany, France began to attack in the Rhine valley. At that time, the German wehrmacht was concentrating on attacking Poland, and the French army had a decisive numerical advantage over the Germans stationed at the border. However, the actions of the French army did not help Poland, which was about to fall. 1 1 The mage marched along the 32-kilometer-long area around Saarbrü cken when the German resistance was weak. The French army advanced 8 kilometers and captured about 20 villages without resistance. However, the half-hearted attack was ordered to stop after the French army captured about 3 square miles of German territory covered with mines in Wyant Forest.

The Saar offensive did not force the Germans to transfer their troops to the west. The full-scale attack of the French army was carried out by about 40 divisions, including 1 armored division, 3 mechanized divisions, 78 artillery regiments and 40 tank battalions.

Saarbrü cken was once the industrial and transportation center of a huge coal seam. The factories here produce steel, sugar, beer, pottery, optical instruments, machines and building materials. However, in the past few decades, the industrial importance of Saarland has gradually declined, because more and more German companies began to import cheap coal directly from countries with low wages.

The historical buildings in Saarbrü cken include: the stone bridge across the Saar River (1546), the Gothic church St Arnual and the Saarbrü cken Castle built in18th century.

18 15, Saarbrü cken was controlled by Prussia.

According to the Treaty of Versailles, the "Saar region" was separated from Germany and was under the jurisdiction of the League of Nations, but it was actually controlled by France. The Saar mining area was monopolized by France for 15 years as compensation for the mines destroyed by France in the war. The treaty also states that after the expiration of 15, the future of Saar will be decided by a referendum.

In two periods of the 20th century (19 19 to 1935, 1945 to 1957), it became a part of France. Saar region including Saarbrü cken returned to German territory from 1 957 65438+1October1

After heavy bombing, the Saar region was once again entrusted to France by the Allies and became a Saar protectorate that did not join West Germany. From 1946, France promoted the autonomy of this region. From the end of 1940 to the beginning of 1950, France tried to make Salle an independent country, but ultimately failed. 195510123 October, after the referendum in Saar, most residents hoped that the region would return to Germany as soon as possible.

1956, West Germany and France signed the Treaty of Saar in Luxembourg (hence also called the Treaty of Luxembourg), which stipulated that the former Saar region would return to German territory on 1957 and 1, and then the "Saar Federal State" was established.

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