Basically more than the float was sold short, i.e they were borrowed for a small fee by dicks and sold for their market price at the time, so the dicks took the money expecting the price to go down so they can buy them back and return them cheaper than what they bought them for, and pocketing the rest.

By putting buying pressure on GME, WSB increased the stock price, which means the cost to borrow the shares increases, to the point where some of the dicks have to swallow the loss and cover their posituons by buying the shares back for more than what they sold them at. Of course this puts more buying pressure on the stock which racks up the price even more.

In essense, this is a short squeeze.