The Dunkirk Story

On 10 May 1940, Adolf Hitler began his long-awaited offensive in the west by invading neutral Holland and Belgium and attacking northern France. 

Holland capitulated after only five days of fighting, and the Belgians surrendered on 28 May. 

With the success of the German ‘Blitzkrieg’, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and French troops were in danger of being cut off and destroyed.

To save the BEF, an evacuation by sea was organized under the direction of Admiral Bertram Ramsay.

 Over nine days, between 26 May and 4 June 1940, warships of the Royal and French navies together with civilian craft successfully evacuated more than 338,000 British and Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk, in the remarkable Operation Dynamo.

The success of the evacuation strengthened not only Britain’s defenses in the face of a German invasion threat. 

Seventy years later, Dunkirk is still synonymous with refusing to give up in times of crisis