Operation Barbarossa, a plan drafted by Hitler’s dream of claiming more Eastern territory in the vast Russian lands in the name of Lebensraum, …show more content…
As the German Army advanced on the trapped British, French and Belgian soldiers, the large amount of men were sitting targets for the Germans. A plan was formulated by the name of Operation Dynamo, to get off of the beaches with as many soldiers as possible. The German army awaited the orders of Hitler to ensue with a full-scale attack, but the order never came, resulting in the first fatal mistake of the war on the Axis part (Trueman, 2013). The mistake of the Nazi German leader, Adolf Hitler, can be seen in this quote “After the war the surviving German generals did their best to shift the blame for this order on to Hitler,” (Rickard, 2008, pg.1) The argument that Hitler’s stalling of the attack on the beaches of Dunkirk proved a large mistake for them can be seen in this quote by a leading German commander in the 1940 campaign from Goutard (1959), “You can never talk to a fool. Hitler spoilt the chance of victory” (pg.227). These two sources are both relevant to the topic thesis and also both corroborate as they both show how Hitler’s inability to call on the attack, lead to the defeat of the Axis powers. These two sources by Trueman and Goutard can trusted for they both have extensive knowledge in the area of military history. Using the historical evidence given, it can be concluded that Hitler’s failure to proceed with the attack on Dunkirk was a prominent mistake that lead to the overall outcome of the