This last week marks the 80th anniversary of the evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, France, between May 26 and June 4, 1940, in World War Two.
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF), French, Canadian, and Belgian troops were all forced back to the beaches as the German army ripped through France in just six days.
With essentially all escape routes to the English Channel cut off, disaster loomed.
At the time Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the rescue ‘a miracle of deliverance.’
The hope was some 30,000 might be saved but the ‘miracle’ of Dunkirk saw more than 330,000 rescued from the beaches - including more than 100,000 soldiers of the French army.
They were ferried across the channel by the Royal Navy and a flotilla of some 700 ‘little ships’ between May 27 and June 4, 1940.
The ‘Dunkirk Spirit’ shown at the time is a phrase still in use today and carved in history.
Main image:
LUCKY: Pvt Herman Dimelow (right) 9th BTL Manchester Regt made it out of Dunkirk.
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