Operation Dynamo – 26 May to 4 June 1940 saw the evacuation of allied soldiers from Dunkirk to the UK. Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay masterminded Operation Dynamo from a bunker deep within the Dover cliffs.
In addition to the navy’s vessels about 850 small private boats (hence the term ‘little ships’) of all shapes and sizes sailed from UK shores through heavy enemy fire on a rescue mission to save Allied troops stranded on the beaches and harbour at Dunkirk as the Nazis swept through France.
With the British and French armies cornered by the advancing German army near Dunkirk in 1940, more than 330,000 troops were rescued from the nearby beaches in one of the most astonishing operations of the second world war.
Local residents supplying refreshments to a trainload of British soldiers who had been withdrawn from the beaches of Dunkirk on 3-4 June 1940 and brought back to England. Image: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
One of the munitions left strewn down Flemish roads leading to Dunkirk center. Image: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
World war two. British troops evacuate from France as the German army invades 1940, Dunkirk, France. Image: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Abandoned Equipment at Dunkirk. Image: Pen and Sword/Universal Images Group 
Many Soldiers Waiting Around in the Streets. Image: Pen and Sword/Universal Images Group 
Ships Full of Soldiers at Dunkirk. Image: Pen and Sword/Universal Images Group 
Soldiers on a Ship in World War Two, Dunkirk. Image: Pen and Sword/Universal Images Group 
Ships Full of Soldiers at Dunkirk. Image: Pen and Sword/Universal Images Group 
British troops in winding queues waiting to board small boats which ferried them to larger vessels for transport back to UK. Constantly under German fire. Image: Photo12/Universal Images Group 
26 May 1940, France, Dunkirk. Image: Photo12/Universal Images Group
The area of Dunkirk was under constant German attack as the Allies defended this small area with thousands of soldiers packed into streets and buildings, and also along the beaches where they were very vulnerable to intense German air attacks and shelling. Little time was available to plan and organise a systematic evacuation, and effective means of communication were scarce.
The best and most logical place from which to evacuate troops – the main docks at Dunkirk had been put out of action by the Germans. There were two far from ideal alternatives – firstly, the thin but walkable breakwater type pier also known as the ‘mole’), to the east side of the harbour, that larger ships could get to the end of in the sea and secondly, the beaches to the north. The Dunkirk beaches shelve gently into the sea and even at a high tide, a large navy destroyer vessel could not approach within a mile of the shore, so troops would need to be ferried out to them from the beaches in small craft that could get very near to the beach.
The evacuation started on 26th May and the rescue was initially very slow at first with only 8,000 men rescued on the first day. On 29th May, the evacuation was announced to the British public, and in response many privately owned boats started arriving at Dunkirk to ferry the troops to safety. This flotilla of small vessels famously became known as the ‘Little Ships’.
Crewed 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, while under severe attack from German aircraft and artillery. Many also took troops all the way back across the Channel themselves.
Queen Elizabeth visiting the survivors of Dunkirk. Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. Image: Designpics Editorial/Universal Images Group 
The ships which brought the Dunkirk heroes to safety were constantly attacked by Junkers dive bombers. Image: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
World war two: British troops evacuate from France as the German army invades 1940; Dunkirk; France. Image: Photo12/Universal Images Group 
Black and white photograph of the Battle of France, May-June 1940; Soldiers who were evacuated from Dunkirk disembark in England. Image: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
The evacuation of the British troops. Dunkirk, 1940. Image: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Following Battle of France and fall of Paris in May 1940, members of the British Expeditionary Force left in France after evacuation of Dunkirk made their way to Channel ports not yet in German hands to find transport to England. Image: Photo12/Universal Images Group 
Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British and Allied troops from Dunkirk 27 May to 3 June 1940. Members of the British Expeditionary Force on a Royal Navy vessel docking back in Britain. Image: Photo12/Universal Images Group 
Operation Dynamo: British troops safely back in a home port, some of the 338,226 British, French and Belgian men evacuated from Dunkirk 27 May to 3 June, saved from the German advance in France. Image: Photo12/Universal Images Group 
Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British and Allied troops from Dunkirk May to June 1940. Some of the ‘little ships’ who rescued British, French and Belgian troops from Dunkirk in face of the German advance. Image: Photo12/Universal Images Group
With the help of the little ships ferrying soldiers to the larger ships or going back all the way to the UK and using the mole breakwater that the larger ships could get to over 330,000 troops were rescued.
Dover was the busiest of the disembarking ports during the frantic seven days of the evacuation. Here, ships were unloaded and refuelled before returning to the French coast to pick up more troops, while trains shuttled the arriving soldiers away from the Dover coast.
As the allied troops had abandoned or destroyed nearly all its heavy equipment at Dunkirk, Hitler declared the evacuation a decisive victory for Germany.
But with Operation Dynamo, in what was the biggest evacuation in military history, by rescuing the bulk of the army – had retained a valuable asset – most of its trained and experienced troops. If they had been lost, the whole conflict might have taken a very different course and so was a critical moment for Britain in the Second World War.
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Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Dunkirk-evacuation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/kent/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8697000/8697067.stm