Prelude - May 1940

The soldiers were fearing the worst - capture or death.

This location was surrounded by marshes and possessed sand beaches

330,000 men were trapped here and they were easy targets

After a few days of intensive fights, they trapped the British and French armies on the beaches around Dunkirk.

The Germans swept through France, Belgium Netherlands and Luxembourg in a Blitzkrieg.

Goering had promised that air power could win the battle

Suddenly, Hitler ordered his troops to stop 10 kilometers outside of Dunkirk. He halted a full-scale attack on Dunkirk with his Panzer tanks.

The smallest boat was the Tamzine, a 4 meters fishing boat

Civilians joined the effort by using their own yachts, lifeboats, paddle steamers, motor launches, and barges.

“Nothing but a miracle can save the BEF now” - General Alan Brooke.

smaller boats were required for this operation

The beach was on a shallow slope so no large boats could get near.

It was estimated that 45,000 men could be evacuated in two days.

On the other side, Admiral Ramsey planned Operation Dynamo to save from the beaches as many soldiers as was possible.

May 27

The next eight days

German air attacks intensified so daylight rescuing operations were ended and the evacuation ships were running only at night.

The RAF fought incredibly to combat the bombs falling down on the beaches

The sky was lighten with fighter planes engaging in terrific dogfights.

Some units had been ordered to fight to the last man

a total of approximately 340,000 British soldiers were successfully brought back

a total of 140,000 Polish, Belgian and French troops was also saved.

The total number of involved vessels with civilians at the helm was around 900.

Rescuing operation had impression of people waiting for a bus, with no pushing

Churchill: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!”