Book description
It could have been the biggest military disaster suffered by the
British in the Second World War, but against all odds the British
Army was successfully evacuated, and 'Dunkirk spirit' became
synonymous with the strength of the British people in adversity.
On the same day that Winston Churchill became Prime Minister,
Nazi troops invaded Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium. The eight-month
period of calm that had existed since the declaration of war was over.
But the defences constructed by the Allies in preparation failed to
repel a German army with superior tactics. The British Expeditionary
Force soon found themselves in an increasingly chaotic retreat. By the
end of May 1940, over 400,000 Allied troops were trapped in and
around the port of Dunkirk without shelter or supplies. Hitler's army
was just ten miles away.
On 26 May, the British Admiralty launched Operation Dynamo. This
famous rescue mission sent every available vessel - from navy
destroyers and troopships to pleasure cruisers and fishing boats -
over the Channel to Dunkirk. Of the 850 'Little Ships' that sailed to
Dunkirk, 235 were sunk by German aircraft or mines, but over this nine
day period 338,000 British and French troops were safely evacuated.
Drawing on the wealth of material from the Imperial War Museum Sound
Archive, Forgotten Voices of Dunkirk presents in the words of
both rescued and rescuers in an intimate and dramatic account of what
Winston Churchill described as a 'miracle of deliverance'.
Joshua Levine is the author of
Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and
the Battle for Britain
(41,000 in two editions),
Forgotten Voices of the Somme
(20,500 in hardback) and
On a Wing and a Prayer
. He has also had plays performed on the London stage and on Radio 4, as
well as scripting a television documentary about 18th century London for
BBC2.
