Dunkirk evacuation
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The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk in northern France between 26 May and 4 June 1940. It followed the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, after which France and the British Empire declared war, and the British Expeditionary Force was sent to help defend France. After the Phoney War, Germany invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and France on 10 May 1940; panzer corps advanced through the Ardennes toward the English Channel. By 21 May, German forces had trapped the BEF, the remains of the Belgian forces, and three French field armies along the northern coast of France. BEF commander General Viscount Gort planned a withdrawal to Dunkirk. A halt order issued by Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt late on 23 May and approved by Adolf Hitler the next day left attacks to the Luftwaffe until it was rescinded on 26 May, giving the Allies time to prepare defences. From 28 to 31 May, the French First Army fought a delaying action at Lille. During the evacuation, only 7,669 soldiers were rescued on the first day, but by the eighth day 338,226 had been rescued by over 800 vessels, including naval destroyers and the Little Ships of Dunkirk. The BEF lost 68,000 soldiers in the French campaign and abandoned most equipment. On 4 June, Winston Churchill called the event 'a colossal military disaster' and the rescue a 'miracle of deliverance', while warning that wars are not won by evacuations.