[cpdiii]

I still believe he held out hope after the defeat of France, that he could have made a deal with Britain. Destroying the BEF, probably would have ruined any chance that the Brits would be accommodating towards such a deal, in Hitler’s mind.

I suspect that is the right answer. Prior to Dunkirk Hitler was ruthless in his conquest of Europe. He made a very bad error. Those troops on the beaches of Dunkirk some years later carried the spears that defeated Hitler along with the rest of the Allied Troops.

[dfwgator]

On the other hand, if Hitler could have gotten a deal with Britain (he probably thought Churchill was finished), it would have freed up a lot of troops for Operation Barbarossa. There probably wouldn’t have been the campaign in North Africa and manning the Atlantic Wall in France would have required a lot less manpower.