![]() ![]() The British, French and Belgium governments had seriously underestimated the strength of the German forces. Six days later they reached the English Channel. By 14th May 1940, German tanks had crossed the Meuse and had opened up a gap in the Allied front. On 12th May 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of France. At the time Prime Minister Winston Churchill called it “a miracle of deliverance”. Nearly all the escape routes to the English Channel had been cut off a terrible disaster had appeared inevitable. Its ‘big ships’ – mainly destroyers, minesweepers and requisitioned merchant vessels with naval crews – crossed to Dunkirk time and time again, without rest, and suffered terrible losses.The year 2020 marked the 80th anniversary of the evacuation of more than 300,000 Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, France between May 26th and June 4th 1940, during World War II.īritish, French, Canadian, and Belgian troops had been forced back to Dunkirk by the advancing German army. ![]() And the role of the Royal Navy, especially its destroyers, was paramount in the operation. In fact, over two-thirds (239,465) reached safety via the mole, while 98,761 were rescued from the beaches. Many also took troops back across the Channel themselves.īut it’s a common misconception that the little ships evacuated most of the men. By 31 May, hundreds of civilian vessels – from fishing smacks and cockle boats to lifeboats and sailing barges – had answered the Royal Navy’s call for help and crossed the English Channel to Dunkirk.Ĭrewed mainly by volunteers, these tiny vessels bravely and repeatedly picked up soldiers queuing patiently on the beaches and in the water, and ferried them out to the waiting larger ships, under severe attack from German aircraft and artillery. Ramsay and his team quickly realised that small boats would be able to get close to the beach and ferry the troops out to larger ships. The little ships played an important part in the evacuation. What did the ‘Little Ships’ do during the evacuation from Dunkirk? ![]()
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