Key Facts
- Dates
- 10–13 June 1940
- Allied troops evacuated (Le Havre)
- 11,059 soldiers
- Rescued at St Valery-en-Caux
- 2,137 British and 1,184 French soldiers
- Highlanders taken prisoner
- Over 6,000 soldiers
- Preceded by
- Operation Dynamo (Dunkirk, 26 May–4 June 1940)
- Followed by
- Operation Aerial (14–25 June 1940, 191,870 evacuated)
Strategic Narrative Overview
With withdrawal inland blocked, Allied commanders directed forces toward Le Havre. General Fortune detached Arkforce — roughly two brigades — to secure the port's approaches. The main Highland Division and French IX Corps forces attempted retreat to St Valery-en-Caux but found their route blocked by Rommel's 7th Panzer Division, which had raced through Yvetot to the Durdent river. Naval vessels rescued 3,321 troops at St Valery on 10–11 June before German forces closed the perimeter.
01 / The Origins
Following Germany's capture of Abbeville on 20 May 1940, Allied armies in northern France were severed from those to the south. As Fall Rot launched on 5 June, German forces drove the French Tenth Army's IX Corps — including the British 51st (Highland) Infantry Division — back toward the Seine. Rouen fell to German armour on 9 June, cutting off retreat routes southward and isolating the pocket west of the Seine near the Normandy coast.
03 / The Outcome
Over 6,000 Highlanders and French troops at St Valery surrendered on 12 June. At Le Havre, the Royal Navy evacuated 11,059 troops between 10 and 13 June. Plans for a Franco-British national redoubt in Brittany collapsed, and Operation Cycle was immediately followed by the larger Operation Aerial, which extracted a further 191,870 Allied soldiers before the Franco-German Armistice of 22 June 1940 ended French resistance.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Erwin Rommel.
Side B
2 belligerents
Victor Fortune, Charles de Gaulle, Maxime Weygand.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.