Actually, the British Army of 1939, while not as superbly professional as the British Army of 1914, was in better shape than one might think. It was entirely motorized, well-trained, and well-equipped (at least by 1918 standards). They could and did put up a tough fight against powerful German forces, retreating in fairly good order to Dunkirk. Lord Gort was no great strategist, but he held a Victoria Cross and was nobody's fool. He was phlegmatic enough to cope with the situation fairly calmly. I don't think too many other armies could have done the retreat to and evacuation from Dunkirk. The defeat was not of their making. They were caught in a brilliant trap laid by the Germans.
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"My intensity is intense." -- Roger Clemens
"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." -- Winston Churchill.
"I am not a hero. The heroes are all dead. I am a survivor." -- Sgt. William Guarnere, Easy Company, 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
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