Although Guderian didn’t know it, once he began disobeying orders from above in the race to the English Channel there was a first and a second prize awaiting.

The second prize was trapping the Allied armies that had advanced into Belgium against the coast. That would be the bulk of the Allied armies and would effectively end the Battle of France.

The glittering first prize, though, was to take Dunkirk before 24 May, 1940, beating the British there, so that the entire British Army would be captured and Hitler would win the war.

So let’s start the race.

Tag words: Blitzkrieg; Heinz Guderian; Dunkirk; Adolf Hitler; Sedan; Meuse River; Panzer Group Kleist; Panzer Corp Guderian; Panzer Corp Reinhardt; Generalmajor Werner Kempf; Erich von Manstein; General Gerd von Runstedt; Sickle Cut; Franz Halder; General Georg von Sodenstern; Sickle Cut plan; 6th Panzer Division; Army Group A; Colonel Freiherr Baron von Esebeck; Oberst (General Staff) Count von Stauffenberg; Pursuit Detachment von Esebeck;