The evacuation of Dunkirk ended on this day in 1940, saving 338,000 soldiers from the advancing Germans. It’s a modern-day miracle worth retelling.
In the early days of World War II, the German army was advancing through northern France. British troops stationed in the region were cut off from their French allies and trapped by the sea. By May 19, 1940, British commanders were considering the withdrawal of the entire British Expeditionary Force.
On May 26, they began to implement Operation Dynamo—the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk. There were not enough military ships to transport the huge masses of men stranded near the beaches, however. So the British Admiralty called on all British citizens in possession of any seaworthy vessel to contribute their ships to the effort.
Hundreds of fishing boats, pleasure yachts, lifeboats, ferries, and other civilian ships of every type and size raced across the English Channel to Dunkirk in response. They braved mines, bombs, torpedoes, and ruthless airborne attacks by the German Luftwaffe.
The Royal Air Force successfully countered the Luftwaffe, which saved the operation. However, German pilots bombarded the beach, destroying numerous vessels and pursuing ships within a few miles of the English coast.
Since the Dunkirk harbor was bombed out of use, smaller civilian vessels had to ferry soldiers from the beaches to warships waiting at sea. For nine days, the evacuation continued. The Allied commanders and rank-and-file soldiers expected utter annihilation, but the operation succeeded beyond their greatest expectations.
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