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The story of the Battle of Dunkirk is one of heroic courage amidst untold tragedy. In the year 1940, at a time when World War II was in full rage, Hitler’s army was winning against France, despite help from more than 300,000 troops sent by Britain to help them out. The German army had surrounded and trapped most of the allied forces in the northernmost corner of France. Despite severe casualties the British troops could not retreat as their escape routes were all blocked.
The person in charge of troop evacuation, Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay, who was stationed in the reinforced tunnels, which lay beneath Dover Castle organized a rescue operation called Operation Dynamo. However, the operation was riddled with innumerable major problems. The troops had to be rescued within a week as the beaches they were crammed on were being mercilessly shelled. An exodus by sea was impossible because of the difficulty in navigating the seas that were full of sunken ships and also because of the constant threat by U-boats. Nearer the beach the water was too shallow for the transport ships and destroyers to get close to the shore. What’s more the British troops did not have enough vessels to transport the huge numbers of soldiers that were trapped on the beach.
Despite all the setbacks, meticulous preparations were made and Operation Dynamo was mobilized. Unfortunately they managed to rescue less than 8,000 troops, at which rate rescuing all the troops who were trapped would take about 40 days.
In desperation Ramsay made a public call for help and asked anyone who owned any kind of boat to assist in rescuing the troops. He got an overwhelming and instantaneous reaction and managed to organize a temporary flotilla comprising 850 “Little Ships” which was made up of lifeboats, yachts and fishing boats. Civilians joined British sailors in manning the boats across the 35 km crossing and a massive rescue mission was launched, evacuating almost 2,000 troops per hours. Nine days later 338,226 trapped people had been rescued.
Churchill referred to this story of heroism and courage as the ‘miracle of deliverance’. This ‘Dunkirk spirit’ as it is often referred to quickly became a popular legend.
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