70 years ago today…
70 years ago today, on 27th May 1940, Operation Dynamo began. Over a 9 day period a total of 338,226 troops were evacuated from the beaches and harbour at Dunkirk. The rescue started slowly with only 7,669 personnel evacuated from the harbour on the 27th, but the rate sped up significantly as a flotilla of around 850 ships of all sizes joined in the effort.
Many of the troops were able to embark directly from Dunkirk Harbour onto 42 British destroyers and other large ships, while others had to wade from the beaches toward the ships, waiting for hours to board, shoulder-deep in water. Others were ferried from the beaches to the larger ships, and thousands were carried back to England by the 700 or so merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats quickly assembled for the evacuation. The smallest of these was the 15-foot fishing boat Tamzine, now on display at the Imperial War Museum.
The BBC has an audio slide-show of the rescue and a detailed history is available at Wikipedia.
