The 'Miracle of Dunkirk'
The desperate retreat that became a triumph
Alex Q. Arbuckle
May-June 1940
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/ruHGaTtghfMNLD9jr5WS4AlNfLE=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_25.jpg" caption="Allied troops wade to evacuation ships off the beach at Dunkirk." credit="Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images" alt=""]
I saw the most magnificent bit of British discipline there — taught me something. They went down in the water, they stood in rows of four, and they stood in the water... and the tide came in… and then the tide went out... and then it came back. - James Bradley, Gunner, Royal Artillery
Following Hitler’s invasion of Poland in September 1939, the United Kingdom sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) across the English Channel to help their French allies. When Germany invaded France, it avoided the fortified Maginot Line on the France-Germany border by first attacking Belgium and the Netherlands on May 10, 1940. Contrary to Allied expectations, the Germans also sent armored Panzer units barreling through the sparsely defended Ardennes Forest, before swinging toward the English Channel in a “sickle cut” maneuver.By May 21, the Germans’ audacious push had left the entire BEF and large numbers of Belgian and French forces trapped in a marshy pocket along the northern coast of France. Their only exit option was a desperate evacuation from the beach town of Dunkirk.
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/n7XtujJi5Tf3lWLIHYqSeTPkobI=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_2.jpg" caption="Oil tanks burn on Dunkirk beach." credit="Keystone/Getty Images" alt=""]
As the Allies retreated to Dunkirk, they opened sluice gates and flooded a series of canals to slow the German advance. Concerned about the security of supply lines and the performance of tanks on the marshy terrain, Hitler ordered his forces to halt, which allowed the fleeing Allies precious time to prepare defenses around the evacuation zone. On the other side of the English Channel, a motley armada was hastily assembled to facilitate the evacuation, as naval cruisers and destroyers were joined by hundreds of private fishing boats, yachts, and pleasure craft — anything with a draft shallow enough to approach Dunkirk’s wide, sandy beach.From May 27 to June 4, as the Luftwaffe relentlessly strafed and bombed Dunkirk and the surrounding German ground forces slowly tightened the noose, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers dug into the sand and waited in winding queues for their turn to board the boats home.
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/4gGOskPan8lI0x2I505fwXyFroI=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirkap_5.jpg" caption="Allied minesweepers work to clear the English Channel while a convoy of evacuation ships head for Dunkirk." credit="AP" alt=""]
Most of the fleeing Allies boarded rescue boats from the harbor and breakwaters, but almost 100,000 were forced to wade out from the beaches, in water past their shoulders, to reach the flotilla.
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/qcVIANFpddD4Lf6maYPPzdxq6qg=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirkap_3.jpg" caption="British Expeditionary Forces wade out to one of the "little ships" aiding the evacuation." credit="AP" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/3b1vP9nYFOal0zzsb_L_jkzLRkc=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_11.jpg" caption="British Expeditionary Forces queue up on the beach at Dunkirk to await evacuation." credit="Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/bHVLJGFRCOiE8tninG62REdr858=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_4.jpg" caption="British and French troops await evacuation on the beach at Dunkirk." credit="Topical Press Agency/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/GpAMwGBYgSkTzuxamatJMlX1vrk=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirkap_1.jpg" caption="British Expeditionary Forces view the Nazi bombardment of Dunkirk from an evacuation transport." credit="AP" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/SCmg-akPdfKpFCmBfLU1YcIsH7I=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_12.jpg" caption="The town of Dunkirk while under bombardment." credit="Keystone/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/oPsmsuUYeAACuV3xd_u-DYLZJOM=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_5.jpg" caption="A British ship rescues soldiers from a landing craft sunk during the evacuation." credit="Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/j5wRh85bvDhUwUC1UbR2WpSapMs=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirkap_2.jpg" caption="British and French soldiers arrive safely at a British port." credit="AP" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/xOOKWHvocjHSLOU1VY61dUnFJj4=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_13.jpg" caption="British Expeditionary Forces queued up on the beach at Dunkirk as they await evacuation." credit="Fox Photos/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/60DyQNGh2HmFbziNklVcPblVzW8=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_14.jpg" caption="British and French troops wade out to evacuation ships off Dunkirk beach." credit="Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
I remember seeing a paddle steamer, and I watched a Stuka dive-bombing it… and to me, 2,000 yards away, it looked exactly as if this bomb had gone down the spout, the funnel of the paddle steamer. The whole thing disintegrated. In fact, it had gone down the funnel of the paddle steamer. The whole thing disintegrated, and I think they lost 2,000 chaps. - James Hill, Staff Captain, Royal Fusiliers
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/DruwwNRXvU_33RPQpmTahFO0rXI=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_21.jpg" caption="Allied soldiers climb aboard a ship during the evacuation of Dunkirk." credit="Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/8c1-Vsq222cKIFgZbnH3CUu8_gU=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_8.jpg" caption="Discarded coats and equipment litter the beach at Dunkirk." credit="Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/aY9jBBzCNhyWoC4iNyQwhn9TvGI=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_19.jpg" caption="Crew members of the French destroyer Bourrasque, sunk by a mine at Dunkirk, are hauled aboard a British vessel from their sinking life raft." credit="Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/lGA7P27r-H45MM3nE37Et97TmsQ=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirkap_4.jpg" caption="Some of the last troops to be evacuated crowd aboard two civilian boats." credit="AP" alt=""]
It was the queerest, most nondescript flotilla that ever was, and it was manned by every kind of Englishman, never more than two men, often only one, to each small boat. There were bankers and dentists, taxi drivers and yachtsmen, longshoremen, boys, engineers, fishermen and civil servants.... - Arthur D. Divine, boat pilot
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/Bu9LlWbYZpcoq6m76juF28vQTlo=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirkap_6.jpg" caption="A British destroyer carries evacuees home while Dunkirk burns and the rearguard continues to fight." credit="AP" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/bBCnK27YHBE51nqYZm0GLQFEBIo=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_20.jpg" caption="Allied troops crowd aboard ships during the evacuation of Dunkirk." credit="Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/fOeyKE2mmDAxhEXTIdmcGQGnV7c=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_23.jpg" caption="A wounded Frenchman arrives at Dover after being evacuated from Dunkirk." credit="Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/tXGtJWUSSDACIJQBATMBmKkWWC0=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_17.jpg" caption="A beached torpedo lies among other abandoned equipment after the Allied evacuation." credit="Past Pix/SSPL/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/7ElxppXajqpcKR7CUhVCz_yID5A=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_18.jpg" caption="Abandoned trucks and equipment line the beach after the Allied evacuation." credit="Pen & Sword/SSPL/Getty Images" alt=""]
In total, the nine-day effort saved more than 338,000 soldiers from capture or death. The operation ended when the remaining 40,000 French troops surrendered on June 4.That same day, Winston Churchill delivered his famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech. The evacuation became known not as a disastrous defeat, but as the “Miracle of Dunkirk”: The safe deliverance of thousands of men who would live to fight and win another day.
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/2frmEDHWBbMN0LRhEywFI0LmWCw=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_15.jpg" caption="A German cameraman records the departure of the last Allied troops from Dunkirk." credit="Roger Viollet/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/RwUJ5fxeEL-0ujWft62VlyTHlew=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_24.jpg" caption="French troops are taken prisoner by the Germans at Dunkirk." credit="Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/vTOssicllSIe5y18F9IVslBTdSs=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_10.jpg" caption="British soldiers sleep aboard a train after escaping from Dunkirk." credit="Keystone/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/leJ21jI_qmVYgQqrGxGkdOVcGJY=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirkap_7.jpg" caption="British Expeditionary Forces safely arrive back in England." credit="AP" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/5tnd45qO63HXnnoyPj5m3nt2siI=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_22.jpg" caption="Allied soldiers enjoy food and drink upon returning to Britain." credit="Fox Photos/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/eLdRibcoAStx4nwDJAfQNaV1cvs=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_6.jpg" caption="British troops arrive safely back in London." credit="H. F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/GO02uiP0BcXysEH7ly7YnFrH4mo=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_7.jpg" caption="Children greet returning British soldiers." credit="Hulton Archive/Getty Images" alt=""]
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/5k5hqWvJz2AArzR_AGLCB0uk4V4=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_3.jpg" caption="A trainload of British Expeditionary Force soldiers arrives back in London." credit="Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images" alt=""]
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, 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.... - Winston Churchill, address to the House of Commons, June 4, 1940
[img src="http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/k4U7Yu7yGyvPeD594gLZGZgWEck=/fit-in/1440x1440/uploads%2F2016%2F6%2F1%2Fdunkirk_1.jpg" caption="A soldier of the British Expeditionary Force is greeted by his girlfriend upon arriving back home." credit="Topical Press/Getty Images" alt=""]