The battle that took place in May 1940 was the first great epic of the Second World War. The battle itself was won by the German Army, inevitable once they had reached Abbeville on May 20 before the Allied High Command had realized the danger. But in a sense, the battle was also won by the soldiers and sailors of the British Expeditionary Forces and its allies, to the extent that although all equipment was lost, almost 340,000 men were brought out safely.