Dunkirk
From the declaration of war in September 1939 until the spring of 1940, a ‘phoney’ war was in place. The declaration of war had been made but little had happened in terms of offensive gains by either side. However, in 1940 as the German forces swept across Holland and Belgium, the British Expeditionary Force were pushed back. As the BEF retreated, German forces whilst still attacking, seemed more intent on getting to Paris rather than finishing off the BEF. This gave Britain valueable time to evacuate their soldiers from the little pocket of France they had retreated to.
Operation Dynamo
By late May 1940, a potential catastrophe was unfolding near Dunkirk. King George VI called for a week of prayer. The initial plan of Operation Dynamo was to rescue 45,000 men within 2 days. After this, it was believed the Germans would be able to stop any further evacuations. However, only 25,000 men were rescued during this period so 10 additional destroyers joined the operation on 26 May 1940.
In addition to the Royal Navy destroyers, a flotilla of around 700 merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and lifeboats. These little ships brought back thousands of soldiers. The paddle steamer “Medway Queen” made a total of 7 round trips rescuing 7,000 men. The smallest boat in the flotilla was the 15 foot (5 meter) fishing boat “Tamzine” but they all helped.
Aftermath
After 9 days of evacuations, Operation Dynamo came to an end. A total of 338,226 BEF and French soldiers had been saved and Churchill was delighted that so many men had returned safely to Britain. However, for every 7 men evacuated, 1 was taken prisoner and the BEF also lost a significant amount of equipment which was abandoned in France.
Today, people still refer to the “Dunkirk Spirit” which is a belief in solidarity of the British when faced with adversity.
Escorted Tours
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