Was Dunkirk a success or failure?

Answer 1

Who thought Dunkirk was a success?People who was hostile to Hitler thought that Dunkirk was a success. Hitler's armies needed to destroy the British Expeditionary Forces in France, and failed to do so.

Britain thought it was a success as the BEF managed to evacuate most of the people (although very little of their equipment) from France to England.

Hitler thought it was a disaster.

Answer 2

Both. The British and French armies were soundly beaten by the German Army in Northern France in the spring of 1940. This was one of the worst military disasters that the British Army has ever been involved in. So from that perspective, it was a total failure. However, the plan to evacuate the soldiers was a complete success with an armada of 'little ships' ferrying soldiers from the shallow beaches to bigger ships waiting offshore while under constant attack by aircraft. The authorities thought that they might be able to rescue around 30,000 personnel, but were eventually able to rescue more than ten times that number, even though they had to leave most of their equipment behind. Logistically, the evacuation surpassed all expectations and was described as 'The Miracle of Dunkirk'.