Word: dunkirks
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Though Alexander had the misfortune to command two retreats (Dunkirk was the other), in both cases he got the job after other generals had been recalled, possibly too late. His own motto is: "Attack, attack and reattack, even when you are on the defensive." His politeness is unfailing, but staff officers confronting him for the first time remark his pale blue eyes with unwavering, pinpoint pupils, his clipped mustache and his clipped, machine-gun orders; they regard him as a somewhat dashing but thoroughly competent commander. His chief aide in the field as the battle joined was Lieut. General Bernard...
...gained the reputation in World War I, when he went over the top 30 times, was wounded twice, was twice decorated (D.S.O., M.C.)In the British Army his known talent for aggression still outweighs his World War II record as the leader of two "brilliant retreats," from Dunkirk and Burma. Now in Egypt, he commands forces which cannot retreat again without losing all that they defend. At El Alamein his back is to the wall in a theater where three soldiers with greater reputations- Wavell, Cunningham, Auchinleck-failed to beat Rommel...
...Alexander is the youngest full general in the British Army. He is also a favorite subject of army stories. At Dunkirk he showed some of the qualities of the U.S. Army's General Douglas MacArthur. When the remnants of the B.E.F. seemed to face destruction, Alexander donned his smartest breeches and finest boots, sat down to breakfast in a shell-shattered house, at a table with a spotless cloth, and calmly consumed Dundee marmalade...
...bloody beaches a staff officer told Alexander: "The situation is catastrophic." "Sorry," said Alexander, "I don't understand such big words." He then squatted on the beach and built a sand castle. He was the last man in his command to leave Dunkirk...
...muscle on a defense skeleton. He was lucky in that his defense area had magnificent communications. It was criss-crossed with highways and railroads (see map, p. 29), dotted with airdromes, some snatched from the French, some built by the Germans in their months of hesitancy after Dunkirk. With these advantages Rundstedt has organized a fluid defense, well but tressed on its front by strong points, backed by forces that could be whipped to any threatened point...