Nov 17, 2025 · 1h 25m
Today we have something fascinating - After Dunkirk, job done… right? Not quite. While Britain cheers the “miracle,” more than a hundred thousand of our lads are still in France — fighting, improvising, and trying not to be rolled up by Rommel. The 51st Highland Division digs in at St Valery. Alanbrooke rows with Churchill down a crackly phone line, the RAF keeps flying and the Navy pulls off two more evacuations most people have never heard of. Today we’re unpacking the 18 desperate days after Dunkirk — Operation Cycle, Operation Aerial, the fate of the 51st, de Gaulle’s decision to fight on, and the tragedy of the Lancastria. Joining the show is historian Paul Fantom, author of A Forgotten Campaign: The British Armed Forces in France, 1940 — From Dunkirk to the Armistice. https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/a-forgotten-campaign-the-british-armed-forces-in-france-1940-from-dunkirk-to-the-armistice.php Join my patreon - https://www.patreon.com/RedcoatHistory