Relic MAS 36 French bolt-action rifle abandoned near the French town of Bergues.
The town of Bergues was key to holding the Dunkirk inner perimeter, being only five miles from the port and being linked by two good roads. The thick town walls and moat, designed in the 17th century, and a 1,000-strong garrison of British and French troops held out for three days against the German 18th Infantry Division.
The town of Bergues was key to holding the Dunkirk inner perimeter, being only five miles from the port and being linked by two good roads. The thick town walls and moat, designed in the 17th century, and a 1,000-strong garrison of British and French troops held out for three days against the German 18th Infantry Division.
It was only after a concentrated dive bomber attack on the afternoon of the 2nd June 1940, and an assault by German combat engineers armed with flame throwers and scaling ladders, that its walls were finally breached. Soon after, the garrison surrendered.
Total disaster was only averted after a costly counter-attack by two battalions of the French 32nd Infantry Division, supported by tanks, stopped the advance just outside of Teteghem, on the outskirts of Dunkirk itself.To read more about and view a complete MAS36, click here.
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