There was no order to halt, the panzers stopped because on reaching the sea they had to make the decision as to whether to throw their full weight north against the BEF plus the Belgians and several French divisions or south against the bulk of the French army.
That delay was vital to the British as an otherwise identical state of affairs only 3-4 days earlier would have cut the number of troops evacuated by nearly two-thirds.
The bold part is incorrect.
There most certainly was a halt order.
Earlier, on May 22nd at 8:00 AM the decision was made to move North against the BEF and not South.
Advocates of the halt-order who succeeded in convincing Hitler (although he didn't need much convincing as he was afraid of another Miracle of the Marne) were amongst others Göring, Ewald von Kleist (Pz Group commander), Hans von Kluge (4th Army commander) and Von Rundstedt!
The initial order to halt on the 24th actually came from Rundstedt on the 23th of May. Hitler approved of this on the 24th itself and voiced it more explicit (naming lines on the map which weren't to be passed by the Panzertroops).
Advocates against stopping were Guderian (commander XIX Corps), Halder, von Bock and von Brauschitsch (chief OKH) amongst others.
You see the choice to go North/South was a different one from the Halt-order?
I'm copying the above almost literally from Walter Lord's "The miracle of Dunkirk", page 30.
Astrodragon said:Oh, picky picky....
Open beaches as in no port - the port of Dunkirk was bombed and unusable, the mole was just that, a mole..
But yes, you're quite correct.
The mole was used as an improvised quay/mooring and made sure the moored ships were in calm waters. How is that any different from the most important roles a port would provide for shipping?
As opposed in open waters the only way to moor would be to anchor on the seabottom and be hindered by waves etc.
I agree I'm a bit nitpicking...