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Dunkirk Evacuation, 1940 — historical photograph 51.0°N 2.4°E Western Europe
1940 · 51.0°N 2.4°E

Dunkirk Evacuation

Dunkirk, France · battle · Western Europe

Briefing

With the British Expeditionary Force and French First Army encircled against the Channel coast, Operation Dynamo evacuated over 338,000 Allied soldiers between 26 May and 4 June 1940 — carried by destroyers and a famous fleet of around 850 civilian little ships. Nearly all heavy equipment was abandoned on the beaches, but the rescued men formed the nucleus of every British army that fought for the rest of the war.

Books Covering This Event (9)

Popular History

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich cover
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William Shirer · 1960

A monumental history of Nazi Germany from its origins through its destruction, written by a journalist who.

Intermediate
The Miracle of Dunkirk cover
The Miracle of Dunkirk Walter Lord · 1982

The full story of Operation Dynamo, from the encirclement to the last little ship home.

Accessible
The Second World War cover
The Second World War John Keegan · 1989

A single-volume history of the entire war by the most influential military historian of the 20th century.

Intermediate
Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 cover
Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 Max Hastings · 2011

A global history of the war focused on the experience of ordinary people — soldiers and civilians — caught in.

Intermediate

Historical Fiction

The Winds of War cover
The Winds of War Herman Wouk · 1971

An American naval officer and his family are swept up in the opening years of the war, from Hitler's invasion.

Accessible
Atonement cover
Atonement Ian McEwan · 2001

A child's lie destroys two lives; the retreat to Dunkirk gives the lie its terrible setting.

Intermediate
The Nightingale cover
The Nightingale Kristin Hannah · 2015

Two French sisters resist the German occupation in their own ways — one by hiding a child, one by guiding airmen over the Pyrenees.

Accessible

Memoir

Berlin Diary cover
Berlin Diary William Shirer · 1941

Shirer's actual diary as CBS correspondent in Berlin, from the Anschluss to the fall of France — published while the war still hung in the balance.

Accessible
The Second World War cover
The Second World War Winston S. Churchill · 1948

Churchill's six-volume memoir-history of the entire war, from the gathering storm to triumph and tragedy.

Intermediate

Timeline Position

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