Festung Dunkirk

Dunkirk, FR

The port city of Dunkirk — scene of the famous 1940 evacuation of 338,000 Allied troops — was designated a German **Festung** in 1944 and held by a garrison of approximately 12,000 troops under Admiral Frisius. Allied forces chose containment over assault, besieging the fortress with a Czech brigade until it surrendered on May 9, 1945. The garrison was one of the last German forces in western France to capitulate.