The story of this place
In late May 1940, the German blitzkrieg trapped the British Expeditionary Force and French troops against the sea at Dunkirk. Between 26 May and 4 June, Operation Dynamo evacuated some 338,000 Allied soldiers across the Channel—rescued not only by warships but by an armada of civilian 'little ships', yachts, fishing boats and pleasure craft that ferried men from the shallow beaches. Under constant Luftwaffe attack, and screened by a doomed French rearguard, the withdrawal saved the core of Britain's army. Churchill called it 'a miracle of deliverance' while warning that 'wars are not won by evacuations'. The beaches and the 1940 memorials draw visitors and film-makers alike.