After being discovered by the Germans, the retreat of the Anglo-French Allied Forces suffered a major setback.
Once it recovered from its shock, the German Government immediately ordered the armored units to continue their attack. At the same time, it had the German Air Force under Göring constantly harass Dunkirk Harbor and attack the Anglo-French vessels anchored at Dunkirk.
On July 11, after a brief period of rest, the German armored units launched another large-scale attack on Lille.
The Anglo-French Army and Germany engaged in fierce fighting near Lille. That day, the casualties on both sides exceeded 50,000, while more than 200 aircraft were shot down.
Because of Germany's renewed offensive, the number of soldiers evacuating from Dunkirk once again fell into a trough. Fewer than 13,000 people successfully evacuated over the entire day.
During the evacuation, more than 15 large transport ships and dozens of small civilian vessels were also bombed and destroyed.
After two consecutive days of fierce fighting, only around 100,000 soldiers of the Anglo-French Allied Forces remained along the line from Dunkirk to Lille.
Of the more than 400,000 troops they had started with, as many as 287,000 soldiers had successfully evacuated. That was already an astonishing number.
The safety of those 100,000 men was hanging by a thread. After deliberation, the British Cabinet Government decided to make one final desperate gamble for them.
On July 13, the British Navy launched its final evacuation operation.
This evacuation mobilized every vessel in Britain and France. Even some civilian ships from the Netherlands joined the evacuation fleet.
The goal of this evacuation was exceedingly ambitious. Thirty thousand men would remain behind to hold the line from Dunkirk to Lille, while all of the remaining 70,000-plus soldiers would be evacuated.
Evacuating more than 70,000 people at once was an