calais fell into german hands on 26 may 1940. claude nicholson and his french counterpart raymond le tellier were taken pow, whereas french commander charles de lambertye was killed in action by german forces. nicholson had received word from winston churchill the previous day that no evacuation and no relief was coming, but that the besieged units at calais were of vital importance to the bef in their ability to tie down and distract the german units. nicholson would die in german captivity in 1943. the victory at calais saw xix army corps to take some 20,000 allied soldiers pow. although the decisive action of 10th panzer division had proven the ability of german ground units to break into occupied cauldrons, they were still denied the right to proceed the same way against the allied units at dunkirk, and so they were forced to idly sit by as operation dynamo unfolded.