WWI Dunkirk

WI the Germans were able to inflict enough damage on the Allied armies in the opening months of WWI--perhaps through a devastating victory or two--that the British would feel it necessary to evacuate the BEF, a la Dunkirk in WWII? The British are still in the war, but have evacuated France due to losses.

What happens next? Do the French fight on? Do the British attempt to invade somewhere behind German's front lines?
 
Wait, if the BEF is evacuated, doesn't that just mean that they'd be redeployed elsewhere in France? Or are you suggesting that France is really getting KOed in WW1?

I think the UK will redeploy to France if the BEF is somehow encircled and forced to evacuate, but unless France is knocked out of the war, the BEF will reappear in France. The Western Front will almost certainly shift considerably as a result of the UK pullout and the likely shortening of German lines that results, but the real question is...does France fall as a result?

I think the answer is probably no. Germany might well reach the outskirts of Paris, but they either can storm the city or face far superior French Logistics in an attempt to encircle it. If they can somehow encircle Paris, they've probably won in the West--but I think Germany's logistics would be under too much strain to get that far that fast.
 
It will presumably be somewhat easier to evacuate them onto full-size transports, since the Royal Navy controls the Channel, and German aerial power in 1914 is not up to aerial bombardment. The threat would be artillery, presumably the Germans would bring up their railguns and the mortars that did for the Belgian forts (borrowed from Austria-Hungary IIRC). I think if the Germans have the CHANCE to wipe out the BEF they will take it, tho of course in 1914 the high command didn't view either the BEF or Britain as the key factor in the war. Thus, although a bombardment would be unpleasant, I think the British would be able to hold the line and evacuate most men, horses and equipment reasonably well. The key question would then be one of politics - would those not wholly in favour of this war be able to move that this setback is enough to call for a negotiated peace ?

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Top