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This
year 2010 marks the 70th anniversary of the
evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied soldiers from
the beaches of Dunkirk, France between May 26th and
June 4th 1940, during World War II.
British, French, Canadian, and Belgian troops had
been forced back to Dunkirk by the advancing German
army. Nearly all the escape routes to the English
Channel had been cut off; a terrible disaster had
appeared inevitable. At the time Prime Minister
Winston Churchill called it "a miracle of
deliverance".
On
12th May 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of
France. By 14th May 1940, German tanks had crossed
the Meuse and had opened up a gap in the Allied
front. Six days later they reached the English
Channel.
The
British, French and Belgium governments had
seriously underestimated the strength of the German
forces. As a result the British Expeditionary Force
(BEF), as well as French, Canadian and Belgian
troops, found themselves fighting against
overwhelming odds. Before long, the Allied forces
had retreated to the harbour and beaches of Dunkirk
where they were trapped, a sitting target for the
Germans.
In an
effort to at least evacuate some of the troops,
Winston Churchill ordered the start of 'Operation
Dynamo'. This plan took its name from the dynamo
room (which provided electricity) in the naval
headquarters below Dover Castle, where Vice Admiral
Bertram Ramsay had planned the operation.
Destroyers and transport ships were sent to
evacuate the troops, but they only expected to have
time to lift off about 30,000 troops.
However, in one of the most widely-debated and
potentially pivotal decisions
of the war, Adolf Hitler ordered his generals to
halt for three days, giving the Allies time to
organise the evacuation. In the end, despite heavy
fire from German fighter and bomber planes on the
beaches, no full scale German attack was launched
and over 330,000 Allied troops were rescued.
The
evacuation was by no means straightforward. Before
long the harbour became partially blocked by ships
sunk during the constant attacks from enemy
aircraft. It became necessary to take the troops off
the nearby beaches, an almost impossible
task because of shallow water which prevented large
ships from coming in close to shore. Small ships
were needed to ferry the troops from the beaches to
the larger ships.
700
of these "little ships" were used. Many of the
smaller vessels, such as motor yachts, fishing boats
etc., were privately owned. Although a large number
of these ships were taken across the English Channel by navy
personnel, many were also taken over by their
civilian owners.
It is thought that the smallest boat to make the journey
across the Channel was the Tamzine, an 18 feet open
topped fishing boat now on display at the Imperial War
Museum, London.
Listen now to JB Priestley talking about the
evacuation of Dunkirk:
The escape
captured the minds and hearts of the British people at a
time when it seemed that they too would soon be invaded.
What was actually a defeat appeared like a victory when
so many men were brought back safely to England.
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Between 27th
May and 4th June 1940, nearly 700 ships brought over
338,000
people back to Britain, including 140,000 soldiers of
the French Army. All heavy equipment was
abandoned and left in France.
The
phrase "Dunkirk spirit" is still in use today to describe British people
banding together in the face of adversity.
© HUK