Eighty years ago today, on May 26, 1940, Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British and other Allied troops from the French port of Dunkirk, began. Following a Blitzkrieg attack by German forces in early May, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), three French field armies, and the remains of Belgian forces were driven back and encircled near Dunkirk. Initially, the plan was to attempt to rescue up to 45,000 troops. By June 4, when the Germans took the port, 338,000 British, French, and other Allied troops were evacuated across the English Channel to England.
Over 900 ships took part in Operation Dynamo, of which 236 were lost and 61 put out of action. French, Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian ships took part in the operation alongside the ships of the Royal Navy.
Hundreds of “little ships,” small craft volunteered by their owners or requisitioned by the Royal Navy, helped to ferry soldiers from the beach to larger ships.
One hundred twenty-six merchant seamen died during the evacuation. Over 68,000 British soldiers were killed or captured during the Blitzkrieg, retreat, and evacuation. An estimated 40,000 French troops, fighting a rearguard action, were taken into captivity when Dunkirk fell.
Here is a one-minute video summary of Operation Dynamo.
Operation Dynamo – DUNKIRK – The Miraculous Rescue – World War II – One Minute History
Dont forget that two weeks after the success at Dunkirk on 17 June 1940 the mail liner RMT LANCASTRIA was lost at St Nazaire causing the worst loss of life in British Maritime History more than 4000 died in her more than in the TITANIC and LUSITANIA added together, in the few days around that time a further 225.000 plus were brought out a little spoken about incident my father was a survivor from RMT LANCASTRIA.
Thanks. We will post about it on the anniversary of the loss.
I was in Dunkirk a few years back at the same time as a veteran’s reunion.
We got talking to some of the men in a bar and the story was incredible, how when one of the ships near shore was mined one of the chaps, who was lying on the beach at the time trying to sleep, was lifted clear of the sand by the force of the blast.
He was on the beach for a couple of days, waiting to be evacuated whilst there was carnage going on all around.