Operation Cycle
1940 CE.
Shown on the map at 49.483°, 0.100°.
Operation Cycle is the name of the evacuation of Allied troops from Le Havre, in the Pays de Caux of Upper Normandy from 10 to 13 June 1940, towards the end of the Battle of France, during the Second World War. The operation was preceded by the better known rescue of 338,226 British and French soldiers from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo (26 May – 4 June). On 20 May, the Germans had captured Abbeville at the mouth of the Somme and cut off the main Allied armies in the north. South of the river, the Allies improvised defences and made local counter-attacks to dislodge the Germans from bridgeheads on the south bank and re-capture river crossings, for an advance northwards to regain contact with the armies in northern France and Flanders. The 1st Armoured Division arrived in France from 15 May, without artillery and less some divisional units that had been diverted to Calais. The division joined the large number of lines-of-communication troops south of the Somme, many of whom were hurriedly organised into the Beauman Division and other improvised units, despite a lack of training and weapons.
Text from the Wikipedia article Operation Cycle, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.