Dunkirk: The Miracle of Deliverance

By late May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force and large numbers of French and Belgian troops were trapped in a pocket around the port of Dunkirk, with the German army closing in from three sides. Operation Dynamo, the evacuation plan devised by Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay from his headquarters in the tunnels beneath Dover Castle, seemed almost impossibly ambitious—the initial hope was to rescue perhaps 45,000 men.

Between 26 May and 4 June, a fleet of over 800 vessels—Royal Navy destroyers, merchant ships, fishing boats, pleasure craft, lifeboats, and paddle steamers—crossed the Channel to lift soldiers from the harbour mole and the beaches. The 'little ships' of Dunkirk, many crewed by civilian volunteers, have become one of the most enduring symbols of British resilience.

In the end, 338,226 Allied soldiers were rescued. The cost was heavy: over 68,000 British soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured during the campaign, and the BEF lost virtually all its heavy equipment. Churchill warned that 'wars are not won by evacuations,' but the rescue preserved the core of the British Army to fight another day.