June 4, 1940: Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British and allied troops from the French port of Dunkirk, is completed. It is known as the Miracle of Dunkirk.
After Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, France and the British Empire declared war on Germany, and imposed an economic blockade. The British Expeditionary Force was sent to help defend France. After the "Phoney War" of October 1939 to April 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, the Netherlands and France on May 10, 1940.
Those countries were overwhelmed. By May 21, German forces had trapped the BEF, the remains of the Belgian forces, and three French field armies along the northern coast of France. The BEF's commander, General John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, immediately saw evacuation across the English Channel as the best course of action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest good port.
From May 28 to 31, in the Siege of Lille, the remaining 40,000 men of the French First Army fought a delaying action against seven German divisions, giving the evacuation a fighting chance. -- About 338,000 men were carried across the Channel by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 vessels, including 39 Royal Navy destroyers, 4 Royal Canadian Navy destroyers, 3 French Navy destroyers, and a variety of civilian merchant ships, including a few pleasure yachts and poor people's fishing boats.
The BEF lost 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign, and had to abandon nearly all of its tanks, vehicles, and equipment. But the British Army would live to fight another day. A humiliating defeat had been turned into a massive act of heroism.
Among the British soldiers killed was Joe Carr, a fullback for Sheffield United, and a gunner for the Royal Artillery.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke over the radio to the entire British Empire, with America's networks also broadcasting it. He refused to accept this humiliating defeat as the end for his country:
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have fallen, or may fall, into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end.
We shall fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.
And even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island, or a large part of it, were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.
America's President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, surely recognized this as the same tone he used in his Inaugural Address, 7 years earlier, when it was an economic emergency, rather than a political one, that seemed to have doomed his country, which he countered with the words, "Let me assert my first belief that the only thing we have to fear is... fear itself!" As with America with FDR in 1933, Britain in 1940 heard Churchill, and were ready to stand with him. They believed it because he believed it.
Four years and two days later, the British Army, along with American, Canadian and French troops, went back across the English Channel, and took France back from the Nazis.
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June 4, 1940 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 7-3 at Yankee Stadium. Eddie Smith went the distance, outpitching Red Ruffing. The White Sox got 2 home runs from Joe Kuhel and 1 from Taffy Wright. The Yankees got 1 from Joe DiMaggio. The following year, In a White Sox victory over the Yankees, Smith would give up a single to DiMaggio, starting the Yankee Clipper's 56-game hitting streak.
* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Mel Ott went 0-for-4, but had an RBI through drawing a bases-loaded walk.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.
* The St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Jimmie Foxx went 0-for-4. Ted Williams went 1-for-5.
* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-6 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Hank Greenberg went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
* A doubleheader was split at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Washington Senators won the opener, 7-2. The Cleveland Indians won the nightcap, 3-2. Al Smith got into trouble in the 9th, and Bob Feller had to come on to get the last out and the save.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Bees, 14-2 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Paul Waner went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Lloyd Waner did not play. This was the last season of the unpopular 5-run as the Bees for the Boston franchise of the National League, before they went back to being the Braves.
* And the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
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