400,000 Troops Trapped by German Armor

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]In 10 days, Germany trapped 400,000 Allied soldiers against the sea.

[00:00:04]Here's how. May 10th, 1940. The Wehrmacht crosses into France. The world expects a slow grinding stalemate like World War I. What they got was a tank-led Blitzkrieg, the likes of which no army had ever seen. At the tip, General Heinz Guderian, the father of German armored warfare, leading the 19th Panzer Corps on a slashing 200-mile drive across northern France. May 20th, 1940. Lead elements of Guderian's 2nd Panzer Division reach the town of Noyelles-sur-Mer on the English Channel coast. In 10 days, German tanks had cut the Allied armies in half.

[00:00:38]The entire British Expeditionary Force, the cream of the French Army, nearly 400,000 men, trapped against the sea. No supply line. No escape route by land.

[00:00:47]The race for Dunkirk had begun. One of five wild WWII stories from this week.

[00:00:52]Full breakdown on the channel.