"May 1940, the British Army in France has been forced back to the channel port of Dunkirk." "For five days the royal Navy helped by a fleet of little boats has been fighting to evacuate them." "well I can see no other way to embark a quarter of a million men before the Germans overrun the beaches." "Divisions have emerged between the British and their French allies." "It is certainly a very large number of men." "To preserve the political alliance ChurchiII has ordered the French soldiers be lifted in equal numbers with the British, to further pressure on resources stretched to their very limits." "No wounded." "inevitably a stretcher will take up more space than a fit man." "Give priority to the fighting men - tell the admiralty." "The German Army is only six miles away." "If the evacuation is to continue then the advance must be held off." "The new Commander of the British Rear Guard is Major general HaroId alexander." "In May 1940 Britain came closer to losing the" "Second world War than at any other time." "The army in France had been defeated and driven to the sea." "For ten days the future of the country hung in the balance." "This is the story of those desperate days." "AII the characters are real, all the events are from the first-hand accounts." "Operation Dynamo was being run from Dover by sixteen" "naval officers under the command of Vice admiral Bertram Ramsay." "We have eight hundred or more vessels in use now sir," "I find it hard to see where we can possibly find any more." "The royal Navy have lost twenty-eight ships in the Iast five days and brought one hundred and twenty-six thousand men back to Britain." "A small flotilla of boats left at 1400 and fourteen tugs towing perhaps between them a hundred smaller craft will be in Dunkirk by now, we may be able to get a few more there by early tomorrow." "Good, it's tomorrow we must be thinking about now." "The operation must end tomorrow night, anyone who can't get home by daybreak on the" "2nd will be left at the mercy of the Germans." "The British Army has been in retreat for two weeks, thousands have already been taken prisoner and face an uncertain future." "A quarter of a million allied troops are crowding into a bridgehead twenty-five miles wide and six miles deep, a rearguard of 5000 British troops is holding the line to allow the men on the beaches time to escape." "As the Iast few stragglers make their way towards Dunkirk the perimeter closes behind them." "A mile long section along the Bergfund's canal is being held by the 2nd battalion CoIdstream Guards." "Lieutenant Jimmy LangIey is a twenty-four year old platoon Commander in 3 Company." "Right men it looks like we're here for the foreseeable." "Sgt Manders and Kingshot I want you to recce the house." "HoIt take three men and scout round the back here make sure there are no nasty surprises back here in ten." "I'II be inside with Major McCorqundaIe." "We've got a thousand yards between this bridge and this one." "We need to clean this place up." "To our right the Borders, to our left 2 Company CoIdstream and we've got to hold this bridge at all costs." "That's alright by me how long do we hold for?" "till the Iast of the BEF pass under the window, when they're all inside the perimeter, on the beaches, then we're clear." "We're clear to make a break for it ourselves." "Carry on, Jimmy." "Thank you Major." "I remember my father said, he said, whatever you do don't be a pub bore," "don't be a club bore, do something and I suppose that's what all this is about, doing something." "Sgt Manders, I want more ammunition in this post here, bring the second gun up and set up another Bren over there." "Oh and bring that radio up as well." "Yes sir." "Thorogood. good of you to join us, got lost did you?" "Some of us ended up back at Dunkirk sir." "You'II be disappointed to be back here then." "Perhaps you'd Iike to join me in the attic when you've recovered from your journey?" "Yes sir." "The allies were commanded from a concrete bunker on Dunkirk's seafront and admiral of the French fleet." "admiral Jean AbrieI remains unaware of British plans." "He believes that French and British troop swiII be able to maintain a permanent foothold in France." "You really must be putting me on." "My orders say nothing of an extended bridgehead." "I am instructed to hold our current position until the remainder of the British expeditionary forces are evacuated to england." "Are you saying that the French Army will cover your escape?" "You will leave seventy thousand French soldiers, c'est insupportabIe." "With the greatest respect admiral there's no alternative." "The Germans are already within reach of the city gates and we must embark by midnight." "By then we'II save everything we can." "Except england's honour." "admiral AbrieI I would Iike to co-operate but I've no intention of disobeying a direct order." "We can hold here 'til one minute to midnight." "It's a disgrace to the British Army." "I will close the port." "Then I must seek orders from London." "Monsieur shelter." "I'm sorry?" "possible for shelter?" "No it bloody isn't, trying to fight a war in here." "Oh pardon monsieur." "Madam." "Madam." "Excusez moi, restez-vous ici, please be our guest." "Thorogood can you find some food for this lady." "I'm gonna go outside and check on the men." "Yes sir." "I mean it's an honour to be here, it's what the CoIdstream's all about you know, that's what we're trained for." "I was talking to a lad the other day and he was saying the same thing you know," "you know, whether he was gonna get home and that and I was saying to him, yeah of course you're gonna get home, you'II be alright." "I dunno, yeah, should be alright." "It will be alright, it will be alright." "On the 31 st May the British public hears from the" "BBC the first details of the story unfolding in France." "AII day and all night, men of the undefeated British Expeditionary Force have been coming home." "allied forces are holding a covering line some distance from the coast." "This line has become known as the Corunna line in memory..." "Hear that Angus, we've become known as the Corunna line." ".. of Sir John Moore's army in 1809." "The Germans have claimed on more than one occasion that in the face of their pressure the British were fleeing from them in disorder which of course is a fantastic libel." "The fact is that no military operation is as difficult as a retreat..." "Oh really." "...and that re-embarkation at the end of a retreat requires more skill, more courage than anything else in." "Have to take your word for that." "LangIey's company commander is Major Angus McCorqundaIe." "What's wrong?" "HQ's been clobbered." "Some dead." "CSM Hewitt." "We don't know how he's gonna do." "Three wounded and many other casualties along the canal." "I see." "well then our turn can't be long now can it?" "Indeed." "In the Iast twelve hours the German 18th Army has moved ten infantry divisions to within a mile of the perimeter." "They do not press their advantage immediately." "The allies are beaten." "The German Army can afford to rest before the final assault." "Once inside the perimeter retreating units leave their wounded at the" "last casualty clearing station still operating - it's housed in a deserted chateau on the outskirts of Dunkirk." "We're burying between, well, we buried twenty-eight men yesterday and there are new casualties arriving every day, many seriously injured." "It's a horrendous situation." "God almighty, this bloody tourniquet, I need a light here." "What sort of training have these bloody idiots had?" "Tim!" "Ready?" "Nine months ago philip Newman was a surgical registrar in the middlesex hospital in London." "Now he is a major in the royal Army medical Corps and Chief Surgeon 12th casualty clearing Station." "Bye, bye leg." "Start closing him up." "earlier today ChurchiII travelled to the" "palace to discuss the evacuation with his French allies." "He had promised a meeting with the Supreme War council that British and French troops would be evacuated in equal numbers." "At 10.20 general alexander returns to French Headquarters with Capt bill Tennant Senior naval Officer at Dunkirk." "They have been ordered to offer a compromise:" "alexander will hold the perimeter for a further twenty-four hours while Tennant evacuates the" "French Army alongside the British expeditionary Force." "I have wired M. Viscount to protest at your behaviour." "You must do as you see fit." "I must remind you that I am in command here." "My orders are from His Majesty's government." "I will hold my section to the perimeter 'tiI tomorrow night and then withdraw my remaining troops to the beaches, your troops are welcome to board our ships but whether they do or not we are leaving." "I cannot stop you." "But this is a betrayal, some of us will never forget it." "12 casualty clearing Station has all but exhausted the supply of drugs needed to treat casualties from the perimeter, food is scarce and there is no electricity or fresh water." "Get some fresh dressings on him, move him outside." "God." "Put him on the verandah." "ShrapneI wounds, gas gangrene and perforation wounds of the abdomen are the priorities for surgery." "Theatre, immediately." "Twenty-four years to the very day" "I was in the middle of one of the biggest sea battle since TrafaIgar." "And we lost three times as many men as the Germans at" "JutIand but history still can't decided who won." "If they break through tomorrow I suppose we'II have to capitulate." "How does one capituIate." "I don't know." "Something I've never been asked to do." "How long are you expecting us to hold out sir?" "I dunno." "I'm about to speak to Major MacorkindaIe" "I expect him to tell me it's a matter of hours rather than days." "well they'II have a feast then won't they sir?" "actually no they won't." "Those bloody bastards who invade other people's countries and destroy their homes, their towns, their villages and machine gun and drop them in the roads and take what doesn't belong to them I want you to bayonet every single one of these tins." "They may be about to put us out of here but I'II be buggered if they'II do it with me feeding them first." "Boredom is endless, numbing, boredom takes energy, takes time, takes courage." "I don't have as much courage when I'm bored." "Dawn on the 1 st of June." "Some 40,000 men of the German Army are drawn up against the 5,000 men of the British rear guard." "Thorogood." "Thorogood!" "But they're just standing there, sir." "They don't even know we're here." "First gun. 700." "Fire." "Fire." "Thy know we're here now." "We can't go anywhere." "philip Newman has been operating for three days and nights without rest." "He is now flesh sick and there is no more anaesthetic." "Sir, sir." "Yeah?" "That's it, there's no more room." "Thank you." "I'm a surgeon more than a doctor, it's really a surgeon that I wanted to be but we've closed the operating theatre now so I'm not really even a surgeon here." "I must just continue to try and get as many men away as I can." "Dunkirk Harbour is a four kilometre drive along bombed roads from Firth casualty clearing Station." "It takes Major Newman an hour to make the journey." "These men have been here since midnight." "You carry on here." "Sir." "Best thing is if you concentrate on helping the" "French troops get away as best you can and I'II deal with AbrieI." "I'II try and get the French to stick to the west pier we'II organise a lift much more efficiently." "Perhaps if we put one of their own officers in charge of marshalling them." "Good." "Captain Tennant, Major Newman 12th casualty clearing Station." "Yes?" "I'd Iike to know what the position is regarding the wounded." "We have twenty cases waiting here now and well more than two hundred more at a field hospital four kilometres away." "I'm afraid the wounded are not our priority, they take twice as long to load and take up twice as much space as a fit soldier." "But many of them are in a bad way." "There's no more I can do for them, they need proper hospitaIisation, urgently." "I have my orders." "If you can hold out until tomorrow night" "I might be able to do something for you," "I can't make any promises." "I understand perfectly the logic in evacuating able bodied men before wounded men but they were able bodied themselves, yesterday." "And they're our men too, so they are foremost in my mind always." "well done." "Wait, Jimmy, wait." "Cease fire!" "Wait." "They're shielding themselves with civilians." "We can't fire now." "Not with the Brens we can't." "Good shot." "May the Lord free you from sin, save you and raise you up." "Through this holy anointing may the Lord in" "His love and mercy help you with the Grace of the holy Spirit, may the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up." "Okay." "With you in a second." "What happened here?" "A shell." "Six dead." "How did you get on?" "Same old, same old." "No surprises there then." "It was worth a try though?" "Yes, yes." "I have some news." "well?" "The deputy director of medical Services came by ordered the unit to evacuate by eight o'cIock this evening." "Thank God." "I wouldn't just yet." "They're not moving the wounded out yet." "skeleton staff of one medical officer plus ten other ranks, for every hundred wounded is to remain behind." "Ah." "Who's going to decide who stays and who goes?" "usual form, they're holding a ballot." "For six days the destroyers of the" "royal Navy had been the core of the evacuation fleet." "This is HMS MaIcoIm's sixth trip across the channel." "Oh look, that'II put some heart in them." "Our answer to the blasted Stukas." "Navigating Officer Lt David MeIIis is twenty-four." "He's been married for six weeks." "My father-in-Iaw and my brother are in the BEF and so I'm forever scanning faces and looking at the men to see if I can see them." "Come on, men." "Keep it moving." "Don't know if they're alright." "unfortunately I haven't seen them yet but knowing them they'II be OK." "Yes sir but... steady ahead." "As HMS MaIcoIm leaves Dunkirk with a thousand soldiers on board Luftwaffe Air fleet 2 are ordered to begin a continuous bombardment of the harbour and the packed ships." "I need a report on all guns." "Drop revolutions to 100." "well?" "2:1 it misses on the starboard side." "well called, pilot." "hell's fire, she's gone though." "Sir?" "The cargo ship" "HMS MaIcoIm comes alongside to the burning cargo ship." "Number five hold is packed with ammunition." "David MeIIis and First Officer Ian Cox volunteer to go on board to put out the fires." "Give us a hand." "Turn it on!" "Turn on the pipes" "Give us more pressure." "down there." "Let's get them out how we can." "I'II see what's happening up there." "In the Iast eight hours the Luftwaffe have caused more damage to shipping than during the whole of the Iast seven days." "Six days ago we had forty-one destroyers out there, there's only nine still operational." "I've just heard about the Keith, anything else significant?" "salamander, BasiIisk, Skipjack." "It might be time to draw in our horns." "Most of the BEF are home now." "Thirty-one vessels have been sunk and a further eleven put out of action." "More than a thousand men have died in the burning sea." "I want you to go back to Dover tonight to represent in the admiral's planning conference." "The last ship out will be just before dawn, make sure you're on it OK?" "No problem with that sir." "I've been told we've lost two more personnel ships and our main wings are under fire from German artillery." "Two French ships went down in the Iast half hour." "Bad enough being hit from the air." "I can't let it go on." "I'm gonna have to order an air-to-aII evacuation in daylight hours." "I can't afford to lose the ships." "I can't afford to lose the men." "What are you latest estimates of troops inside?" "About 40,000 of our own troops plus a hundred thousand French." "We're gonna have to find more time." "I'II signal the perimeter." "Anything happening?" "Activity down by the bridge sir." "They've brought an anti-tank gun up." "Shifty buggars they're setting up opposite us." "well I'm not having that." "Let's get at them." "Uh-uh, that's mine." "Sir." "Fucking firing pin's melted." "What do want a toffee apple?" "Use your bloody rifle." "Keep going." "Out." "Out." "Out." "Out." "Get out." "Bit lively out there sir." "Any casualties?" "Er, suspect King's shot to the Ieft foot lightly singed but as yet none of us have had the courage to verify it." "well we must always be grateful for small mercies." "Had a signal from HQ essential to hold the perimeter no withdrawal from 22.00." "Sorry to spoil your afternoon gentlemen." "Major." "Captain." "The Germans are amassing to attack the bridgehead sir." "So I believe." "I propose to withdraw my company while there's still time to get away." "Oh you do." "Beginning now." "Permission denied." "What?" "I order you to stay and fight." "Sorry Major I have overriding orders from my colonel to withdraw when I see fit." "really." "Do you see that tree, second tree back?" "What about it?" "The moment you or any of your men get back beyond that tree we will shoot you." "Oh don't be so bloody stupid." "I beg your pardon Captain?" "Sir." "As I have explained, our position is impossible." "If you or any of your men go back beyond that tree we will shoot you." "Then you'II have to explain yourself to the colonel." "Get your rifle would you, Jimmy." "You're to shoot to kill the moment he goes beyond that second tree are you clear?" "Sir." "Fire." "Back to your positions men." "If the perimeter breaks now one hundred thousand men will be within the enemy's reach." "I think we're in serious trouble." "We have to hope that we have time." "I'm more than happy to have it unfold hour by hour." "I'm not in the business of prediction." "One piece of good news for the" "French is that they got more men off than we did yesterday." "Good." "At least I wasn't proved a liar on the first day of our new policy and now we've extricated such a Iarge proportion of the BEF we should be able to consider some additional support to France." "The bad news is that the British sector was heavily shelled and we sustained heavy casualties." "As a result the line is considerably shorter this morning." "I said to our French allies in Paris yesterday that he Germans could beheld off for forty-eight hours." "Was I right to do so?" "Perhaps a little optimistic." "bloody hell." "Angus." "I'II go and get somebody for you." "No Jimmy." "No need for that old boy." "I think we've done about all we can here." "They'II be pulling us out any time." "Just go back to your spot and do whatever you can in the meantime." "I'm not leaving you." "Then I'II bloody well shoot you." "SIave-driving bastard." "exactly." "I feel tired." "We'II be getting somebody to you." "I'II see you in aldershot." "Bugger off, Jimmy." "Go on." "Thanks for coming chaps." "Now as there will be some two hundred and thirty casualties remaining we'II need three officers therefore the Iast three out of the hat will be remaining." "Right." "Here we go:" "GiIzean," "Adams," "SmedIey," "CritchIey," "Murphy," "Prentice," "CaIIaghan," "Frost." "Gents I have only three names left:" "HeweII, WiIIiamson, Newman." "Jimmy LangIey's platoon has been engaged in battle for thirteen hours." "Positions to the right and left of the" "CoIdstreams have fallen back and their flanks exposed to the full force of the enemy attack." "Thorogood, more ammunition." "Sir." "Anybody hurt?" "Anybody hurt?" "I'm hurt." "I'm hurt." "Good luck AIec." "George." "Good luck old chap." "You too." "Good luck." "philip." "I've been told I have to leave." "Best of luck Cocky." "You should get home soon enough." "Thanks Cocky but I'm under no illusions." "Just pray that the Germans behave when they arrive." "I'II pray for you alright." "This should see you home." "If not soon then some day." "Cocky, I can't take that." "Oh yes you can." "At 10pm the British rear guard withdraw from the perimeter and make their way to Dunkirk." "Darkness has halted the German attack." "By dawn the French Army will be holding the line." "I don't know what it's like dying you know," "I mean I've seen enough people die very quickly and die very, very slowly you know." "They say getting shot in the stomach's pretty bad, wouldn't wanna get shot in the stomach." "Must bloody hurt." "I think if I do go I wanna go quickly really." "I don't wanna be screaming and shouting," "I don't wanna have anyone having to carry me around you know." "Did you hear about Corpus shooting that officer?" "At midnight Jimmy LangIey's ambulance is waiting on the beach at Dunkirk." "Can you walk?" "Any of those who can stand or sit up?" "No room for stretcher cases." "Rather a ticklish day." "The rear guard on the beach, the barbarians at the gate and no ships 'til nightfall." "Desmond Thorogood arrives in Dunkirk at dawn on the morning of the 2nd June, the Iast ships have just left for Dover." "daylight bombardment has temporarily brought an end to the evacuation." "The remains of the British rear guard must wait until nightfall for a chance of rescue." "The German Army is now less than 5 miles away, held off by the French 32nd Infantry who are engaged in a last desperate battle for the bridgehead." "For thine will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." "Give us this day our daily bred and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them..." "Sir, Major Newman 12th casualty clearing Station." "What is it?" "Sir the conditions in which" "I'm looking after my patients are impossible," "I have no medical supplies left," "I've no clean water, men who with proper attention would live are dropping like flies." "Now look here Major..." "please, take a seat." "You must understand I'm not unsympathetic to your situation but I simply do not have the resources to devote to helping you." "I realise you have other priorities sir." "sadly it's all about priorities." "Even so, in the name of humanity surely something can be done?" "Very well, I will signal for a hospital ship." "We'II signal in clear so the Germans understand this is a plea for humanitarian help." "Thank you sir." "Though whether the Luftwaffe will take a blind bit of notice is anyone's guess." "They've shown no scruples before about the Geneva Convention." "It's better than letting them just die here." "Mmm." "In the meantime get back to your station." "I'II send a rider for you when the ship gets here." "Sir." "In Dover Commander CIouston is representing Captain Tennant at a planning for tonight's evacuation." "Numbers Commander CIouston, what is your best estimate?" "As far as we can tell sir, five thousand British and approximately thirteen thousand French." "Now we think we can make best use of the time, the ships and the space if we despatch to arrive in fleets of dive, now can you berth five at a time?" "No problem sir those chaps can park in a line now and I'm going to be taking augmented pier party with me." "Then we'II dispatch every half hour until" "malcolm berths just before dawn." "Good luck." "Thank you." "Vice admiral Dover to Senior naval Officers, destroyers and minesweepers off Dunkirk," "the final evacuation is staged for tonight and the nation looks to the Navy to see this through," "I want every ship to report as soon as possible whether she is fit to meet the call which has been made on our courage and our endurance." "Sir, sir!" "hospital ship approaching Dunkirk sir!" "Dunkirk to Vice admiral Dover." "French counter attack postponed until 2000." "The remainder of front quiet." "Bombers will probably be playing evening hymn." "Have you heard from those MTB's yet" "I thought Commander CIouston would be back by now?" "The boats were machine gunned sir." "One of them was sunk." "Commander CIouston was last seen making a swim for it." "I'm sorry sir." "I heard the hospital ship had been sighted." "Sir." "I'm sorry." "If that were true, I'd know." "It's wishful thinking on someone's part." "Protected by the French Army who were fighting street to street on the outskirts of Dunkirk, the remains of the British expeditionary Force make their way to the ships." "I shall survive this war." "Down to the lower deck, get down to the lower deck, keep moving please." "Keep moving, keep coming." "Keep coming please." "Ian." "Wondered where you'd got to." "Tom says we can't hang around, case of take all we can and get the hell out." "What do you make of this sir?" "pull them out, if the French aren't ready to step onto the boats we can't wait for them, the guns are too close to take any chances." "Keep moving please, get down to the lower deck, keep moving please." "At thirty minutes before midnight on the 2nd June 1940 Captain bill Tennant sent his last signal from Dunkirk and embarked for england." "One hundred and eighty degrees starboard pilots, we're going home." "Starboard fifteen altering three zero, zero." "signal sir." "British Expeditionary Force evacuated." "WO..." "If you write your name and address here you can collect it on the train." "Captain bill Tennant is on the 1 1 .47" "from Victoria to Haywards Heath." "Poor chap looks done in." "This is his first sleep for five days." "hello thought this one was empty." "CouIdn't get up, they sent me here - where is here by the way?" "12 casualty clearing Station." "I'II get somebody to bring you inside." "could you leave me outside?" "I'm hellish hot." "French troops are digging in tot he grounds." "I'm very much afraid they're going to attract unwelcome attention." "signal Vice admiral Dover to fleet:" "I had hoped and believed that last night would see us through, but the French who are covering the retreat of the" "British rear guard had to repel a strong German attack and so were unable to send their men to the pier in time to be embarked." "We cannot leave our allies in the lurch and I must call on all officers and men detailed for further evacuation tonight to let the world see that we never let down our ally." "David I've just been up at the castle, it seems the French have asked us to go back to night." "They held the perimeter for our lads last night and well we can't do anything else really can we?" "Now I was just about to address the ship's company but as I saw you." "Better cancel the celebration supper." "The hell we will, we're not sailing 'til late." "Carry on." "Ready to slip, Iet go head rope." "Boats have pulled out then." "Mm, last ships are coming in after dark." "It'II be in the bag by morning." "philip I'd Iike to sleep down by the gate please." "If I may." "Get it over with quickly I the morning." "Got a reputation in the Iast show you know the CoIdstream, didn't take prisoners." "I don't suppose it will count in my favour." "It won't be like that." "And I expect it will be cooler away from the house." "I'II get the orderlies to carry you down." "Right." "Just after dawn in the 4th June HMS MaIcoIm berths at Dover for the Iast time in" "Operation Dynamo and disembarks 736 French soldiers, it has made nine return trips to Dunkirk and evacuated a total of" "5851 men." "That's pretty well it sir." "Thank Christ for that." "almighty bloody relief to have the ship to ourselves again eh pilot?" "Indeed Captain." "Anyway I've got some good news, a period of leave's been granted for both watches, general feeling is you all deserve it." "Hard to disagree I suppose." "How much leave sir?" "Three days." "Three days?" "And then our war goes on so make the most of it." "We saved all we could in a very tight spot." "But it will be enough." "For the time being." "It has brought us perhaps a month." "The probability is the next threat will be from the air." "We're about to be plunged into what I fear will be total war." "By the time Dunkirk fell on the 4th June 68,000 of the British Expeditionary Force had been captured or killed in the twenty-four day campaign." "40,000 French soldiers had been taken into captivity." "In ten days Operation Dynamo had returned over a third of a million allied soldiers to england." "A quarter million men of the British Expeditionary Force were to be the core of the Army for the next five years." "A miracle of deliverance achieved by the allies, by perseverance and perfect discipline, by faultless service, by resource, by skill, by incomparable fidelity is manifest to us all." "still we must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory." "Wars are not won by evacuation." "If all do their duty, if nothing is neglected and if the best arrangements are made as they are being made we should prove ourselves once more able to defend our island home, ride out the storm of war and outlive" "the menace of tyranny if necessary for years, if necessary alone." "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air," "she shall defend our island whatever the cost may be." "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender." "May 1940, the British army is in retreat." "clive TonIy and WiIf Saunders of the royal signals are among hundreds of thousands of soldiers making for the coast." "morale amongst our forces in France is high, if we can get one hundred thousand away that will be a magnificent performance." "The royal Navy has begun a hastily improvised evacuation." "Embark all possible troops using your own boats." "You had better add, this is our last chance of safety." "We shall go on and fight it out." "Give me your weapon." "And if this long island story of ours is to end..." "Now get on the ship." "...let it end only when each one of us" "is choking in his own blood upon the ground." "In May 1940 Britain came closer to losing the Second world War than at any other time." "For ten days the future of the country hung in the balance." "This is the story of those desperate days." "AII the characters are real, all the events are from the first-hand accounts." "They said head for the pillar of smoke, it's Dunkirk." "You were stuck together, clive and Titch and me." "Titch is exhausted, sounds stupid but you know he's older than us," "he's been good to us, kept us going." "We never imagined this." "Since the evacuation began, the German airforce had sunk more than thirty ships in the harbour at Dunkirk." "Now the Fuhrer has ordered the Luftwaffe," "led by marshall Herman Goering, to finish the job of annihilating the" "French and British armies on the beaches." "German fighters are despatched to engage all RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires, to leave the bombers free to attack their targets, unchallenged." "WiIf Saunders, clive TonIy and Titch Humphries have become detached from their signals unit." "This is it, we're going to die up here." "Just five days ago Captain bill Tennant had a desk job in the admiralty, now he's the senior naval officer at Dunkirk responsible for directing the evacuation." "FLO Dunkirk to Vice admiral, Dover, there is a shortage of ships and boats, I have no destroyers." "And make sure they acknowledge receipt." "What's happening sir?" "Nothing." "I haven't had a ship for seven hours." "There are no boats." "The royal Navy have commandeered the Eastern MoII a flimsy wooden breakwater which separates Dunkirk harbour from the beaches, as their only hope of quickly evacuating significant numbers of men, but sunken ships make navigating the approaches difficult and dangerous." "The majority of troops are spread out along the ten miles of beaches stretching east towards the belgian border." "At Operation Dynamo's Dover headquarters, every effort is being made to find vessels that will increase the rate at which troops can be evacuated." "In charge of operations is Vice admiral Bertram Ramsey." "Lieutenant." "I know it's been a dead loss as far as the MoII's concerned." "His staff office is Captain michael Denny." "AII we can do is try and find a better use for the beaches." "We just don't have enough suitable craft there." "Then we must find more." "Get on to the admiralty, tell them in the strongest possible terms that they must find us more inshore crafts." "Yes sir, and the crews to man them, we just don't have the men to do it." "The mainstay of the operation are the destroyers of the royal Navy, fast ships that can cross the channel at speed, among them HMS MaIcoIm, a Scott class destroyer, that arrived off the belgian coast just before dawn." "She's stationed a mile out to sea, small boats ferry the men out to her." "The MaIcoIm's navigator is twenty four year old David MeIIis, the captain is Tom HaIsey." "Looks like pitch." "Better send starboard watch to breakfast." "I thought we'd been sent to pick up some solitary futile unit that had got cut off." "Rather than an entire bloody army, so did I, admiralty communications for you." "Can we get any closer in?" "well we're under four fathoms as it is." "Go down well with Ramsey if I beast a destroyer wouldn't it?" "Sir!" "still having difficulty getting men from beach to ship by the looks of it Mr Cox." "Sir, we've just a handful of whalers to ferry the men, it will takeaII summer to load the ship." "Better take the motor launch as well, and don't go and bloody well lose it." "Do your best." "Sir." "Six weeks ago, realising the war was about to take a turn for the worst, David MeIIis married." "We were in Portsmouth at the time obviously because that's where the ship was." "So we sort of rushed in, got married and I was back on the ship, so other than writing I haven't really seen her since." "Yes it's wonderful." "Keep moving chaps." "It's good to be married." "The lower deck, keep moving please, down to the lower deck, move down to the lower deck, keep moving please." "Break it up, break it up, break it up." "Queue in an orderly manner or you will be allowed no water at all." "Haven't seen a single face I recognise," "let alone anyone who can tell us how to get off this beach." "I met CIive when we were eleven, first day at school." "He always makes me laugh." "Yeah, we've been good friends for a Iong time." "The soldiers have marched for days with little to eat or drink." "Dehydration is taking its toll." "clive, Titch, come on, wake up, we didn't come all this way to die on a beach." "I'm going if you're not." "I'm coming." "Titch." "I can't, WiIf, not yet." "Ten miles up the coast, in a villa belonging to the belgian royal family, the commander in chief of the British Expeditionary" "Force has set up his last headquarters." "In the First world War, Lord Gort won the Victoria Cross for valour on the Western Front, for three weeks his forces have been pursued and destroyed by the German blitzkrieg." "Five days ago he disobeyed orders from London and Paris to counter attack, and, without informing his allies, ordered a general retreat." "It was the only thing you could have done." "I know." "If you hadn't given the order when you did, we would have lost them." "We may yet, and even if we do get them back to england who's to say it's enough." "We came for the wrong war, Henry." "We've been out-gunned, out-run and out-manoeuvred." "More and more troops are arriving at the beaches." "On the morning of the 30th of May the job of lifting them has slowed, the rising surf has made handling the whalers almost impossible." "Look at this man, remember his face and stay with him." "Right, you see that whaIer out there?" "Take your men out and bring it closer into shore." "Tennant's team of twelve officers and one hundred and sixty signaIIers and ratings, are charged with enforcing order on thousands of men on the beaches." "As troops wade up to their necks they are weighed down by their sodden woolen clothing and equipment." "Many of the destroyers, among them the malcolm, are unable to elevate their guns high enough to fire on the diving bombers, they're forced to rely on small calibre machine guns to defend themselves." "30 degrees to fore." "We need an ammunition report on all guns." "Drop revolutions to 100." "It's starting to look a bit personal captain." "Indeed, and I'm prepared to play silly buggers with them all day if necessary." "Hard to starboard!" "This is hopeless." "Come on, WiIf." "Evacuating your troops along a ten mile stretch of beach is really no Ionger making any sense." "What do you mean?" "It would be much more effective if they were all at Dunkirk." "Where they'd make one single target, at Ieast while they're spread out the Luftwaffe are having to work for their casualties." "That would make the process of evacuation so much swifter." "I've no doubt, and I know you're just doing the job that you've been charged with but I have other plans for some of those units." "Evacuate who you can and let me deploy my troops captain." "As German forces tightened their grip," "Lord Gort despatches units into a final line of defence." "It's an attempt to hold off the German advance and buy time for the men at the coast to escape." "But along with the British troops inside the defensive perimeter, hundreds of thousands of the French first army are also trapped." "They too are making for the coast, looking for any means of escape." "Go to your commanding officer and speak to him." "I cannot let you..." "What's going on?" "I've no idea, are we evacuating the French as well?" "Not to my knowledge." "In spite of the growing number of their units in Dunkirk," "French commanders have no plans for full scale evacuation, but most intend to ferry their troops along the coast to rejoin the battle further south." "admiral Jean AbriaI is under the impression that the" "British are only evacuating their support staff." "We have a problem down on the Eastern MoII, your soldiers are impeding the embarkation of our troops." "This town is overflowing with soldiers, it's not surprising they're obstructing each other." "With respect sir, your men are queuing in the wrong place." "Some stricter traffic control would be advisable." "I don't know what arrangements you're making for them but they can't interfere with my operation at the MoII." "Your operation depends does it not on my permission to use the MoII?" "Yes, I suppose it does, but I can see no other way to embark a quarter of a million men before the Germans overrun the beaches." "A quarter of a million?" "certainly, it's a very large number of men." "In London, the public are still unaware that over two hundred thousand troops are waiting to be evacuated, even at the daily meeting of the Defence Committee, reliable information is hard to come by." "Lord Gort has sent his Chief of Staff," "Lieutenant general Henry Pound to report at first hand." "And how many do you believe remain to be evacuated?" "As I Ieft, around sixty thousand." "That precise?" "absolutely not, it could be twice that." "And figures for the French troops in Dunkirk or making for it are just as vague?" "Which in my view makes it imperative that we leave them to make their own arrangements for evacuation." "I'm afraid that is no Ionger an option." "But every Frenchman embarked is an englishman lost." "I'm sorry but it's true." "There's a lack of small boats on the beaches, naval organisation is limited and" "admiral AbriaI doesn't even appear to understand the policy of his own government on evacuation." "None of that will I dispute since you've seen the situation at first hand." "If the aim of all this was to salvage our own army to defend these islands when the rest of Europe is lost, hen some may question its wisdom." "It's not that I don't want to help." "Good, we're very grateful." "I just can't believe why you'd want her." "Orders." "We're requisitioning all shallow draft boats across the estuary." "well look I'II tell you what, you go on and requisition some of the others and" "I'II get one of the lads to come and find you when they get back." "Thank you, I'd prefer to wait." "Some of the other lads are volunteering." "Do you think we should?" "Don't know." "What about the business?" "Doner couldn't take the boat out on his own could he?" "Suppose so." "well then." "well it's just - we should do our bit." "We are, country's got to eat hasn't it?" "Don't you ever feel " "What?" "I dunno, as if it's all going on without you." "No, that's just you mate." "Look, what's this all about?" "I've not heard anything on the news or anything." "What's said on the news and what's actually happening may not be the same thing." "May not?" "You people haven't half got a funny way of putting things." "well I mean I'II have to ask the lads anyway," "I mean no boat means no work for them doesn't it?" "Doner Osborne is head of one of" "Leigh-on-Sea's cockIe fishing families." "His son's Lukie and Pie along with their cousins" "Frankie Osborne and Harry Noakes, crew the cockle boat Renown." "Harry is the boat's skipper." "You can't believe they can do that, just come and take someone's boat." "They can do what they like Frankie." "But it's people's living, eh Pie?" "Yeah, course it is." "Don't count for nothing does it, not when there's a war on." "Anyway I've been thinking Iads, if they're going to be taking the boat, why don't we go with her?" "Did they say we can?" "well, according to Donor, aint that right Unc?" "What's that?" "Navy man says we can crew her on this trip to France." "That's right." "it'd make sure she was looked after wouldn't it?" "Yeah." "Where's your brother?" "Down below." "Here, how did you do that boy?" "slipped getting back on the boat." "Might all come to nothing anyway, the job could all be done by the time they come to need us." "There you go." "Cheers Unc." "We've got a problem with small boats obstructing the ship sir." "still?" "I've already given orders they should go by Ramsgate." "They're bobbing about in the harbour like ducklings among dragons at the moment." "I'II do some shouting on your behalf." "You know Iads, I've been thinking aint I?" "I don't think we should let this boat be used by anyone else." "So the boat goes, we go?" "well, you see what I mean don't you?" "We get some collection of cIodhopping" "naval ratings takes her over, they're not going to give a damn whether they bring her back in one piece or not are they, and that's our livelihood up the spout." "What do you think Pie?" "Navy probably know what they're doing." "I don't know as I fancy it." "What, you don't fancy a week of naval pay either?" "Gwen won't let me go for a week." "Hark at him." "Right lads, well done." "Let's clean up." "So who else is going?" "Waffer's taking Letitia." "What about Suzie" "He's letting them have reliance aint he?" "Anyway, we'd better go, we're supposed to be in Southend in an hour." "Where's Pie." "He's not coming." "The baby?" "That crack on the head he took, the doctor won't let him come." "Come on lads, Iet's go." "How are we doing with small boats?" "plenty already in Ramsgate but I don't think we can use all of them." "Twenty four assorted pleasure cruisers coming down the Thames from Chiswick, fishing boats requisitioned this afternoon from the estuary and a dozen Thames barges." "What about Iifeboats?" "Ramsgate and Margate are already on their way," "FoIkstone and ?" "will be setting off shortly." "AII boat crews who volunteer are signed up on naval orders and are given naval pay." "That'II be three quid when we get back." "What are you going to do with yours Frankie?" "I'II probably give it to gran I suppose." "only three?" "I'm getting four aint I?" "Why?" "responsibility boy, that's what." "Come on." "On day five of the evacuation only one route across the channel remains open, route X, around the Goodwin Sands." "Fifty four miles from Dover to Dunkirk, but each night German aircraft sow the sea with mines." "What do we know?" "We have information from the First Lord which is causing alarm in navel quarters." "So it should." "The invasion of Britain appears to be imminent." "I'm not sure he went that far." "Aren't you?" "Increased German activity off the Norwegian coast," "landing craft being collected from Bremen and Hamburg and surely no-one can dismiss this." "The Germans have left an area of sea opposite our coast clear of mines." "With so much of our naval strength tied up at Dunkirk, what means would we have of repelling an invasion?" "I take it that is not a rhetorical question?" "Of course not." "Good." "Then we should contaminate the beaches along the south coast with gas at the earliest opportunity." "We have a right to do what we like with our own territory." "Now if one might move one to the question of the evacuation of the French from Dunkirk, the French are asking for men and material to join in the battle around the Somme," "I am not prepared to offer it until the defence of this country has been made as thorough as can be." "If the French can hold out until the" "BEF is safe and other regular battalions have returned from overseas, then I will commit more forces but not until then." "That seems an entirely reasonably position." "Are they fully aware that this is your view?" "No, I intend to fly to Paris tomorrow to tell them so but I must have something to offer in return." "I shall telephone Lord Gort and order him to share his evacuation facilities with the French on a strictly fifty-fifty basis." "I'II take these blankets off and make space for the charts or something." "Lukie, what's going on?" "We've been asked to do a job for the Navy tomorrow." "Yeah I know that, but why have you agreed?" "well, they asked for our help and well, we thought it wouId be a good idea." "We being you men of course." "What about what I might think?" "well I aint had a chance to discuss it with you yet." "You mean you weren't even going to." "well, yeah but " "Just get on and do what you Iike, why should I worry?" "Wait, hold on, course I was going to talk to you about it." "I'II be a fool to say I wasn't scared cos" "I am a little bit scared you know so - we'II see what happens." "I'm not saying I don't think we'II come back cos" "I think we will, but you don't, you don't know, got to do your bit." "Lord Gort's staff are closing down his headquarters at Rapin, the eastern end of the perimeter has begun to crumble." "The Germans have moved artillery within range of headquarters." "The Commander in Chief of the" "British Expeditionary Force has been ordered home." "Lord Gort, whilst you're still here" "I would urge you once again to consider whether it wouldn't be better if you were to order your army from the beach towards Dunkirk." "Evacuation from the MoII is proving to be far more successful than from the beach." "Captain Tennant, I thought I'd made myself clear." "You realise your men are exhausted, that persuading them to move down the beach to Dunkirk will not be easy." "And therefore it is something I'm not prepared to do." "I've no intention of putting all my eggs in one basket, a couple of well aimed bombs and the" "MoII will be rendered useless." "What would you do then with thirty or forty thousand men I'd sent down?" "I understand the risks sir, but time as you know better than I do is running out." "surely we should be using the swiftest possible means of evacuation for all your troops?" "Excuse me sir, telephone call." "Gort." "Secretary of State." "Midnight, but that's absurd, well it may be fair but it wouId disastrousIy slow the evacuation." "It would make the successful evacuation of the remainder of the British Expeditionary Force an impossibility." "Yes." "Thank you for informing me." "Goodnight." "We're to evacuate the French in equal numbers?" "We are, and I think your job is just about to become even more interesting." "What did he say?" "The Navy said they're going to put one of their men on board with us, hope he don't start throwing his weight around." "Leighding Seaman Porter." "AII right." "You can help Lukie stow the water down there if you want." "albatross, Commodore, Dreadnought," "Eve, Empress, Lark, elizabeth Green, Johanna, Sark, Good Hope." "On the morning of the 31 st of May hundreds of fishing boats, wherries, trawlers and yachts set sail for France." "Whaffer!" "Hey, Whaffer!" "Hey Whaffer, over here." "Come on Whaffer!" "...race you back." "Row it." "call that a boat?" "Come on Whaffer!" "Come on mate." "throttle up a bit, it's just we're falling behind." "Do you think she's up to it?" "Course she is, it's a new boat." "Not going to break up on me then?" "Cheeky so and so." "I bet you lot have never been beyond Goodwin have you?" "although the sand deadens the effect of the bombs, hundreds of men are being killed on the exposed beaches by the Luftwaffe's strafing." "We were all just boys, sky Iarking boys," "I feel like an old soldier now, after these three weeks." "We did our job, we're not going to be lost," "I'm not going to be a lost soldier." "How you doing?" "AII right." "Have we got any water?" "No." "Been trying to get on the boats, couldn't manage it." "Did CIive get on?" "No, he's collecting bodies, stretcher party." "Do you think you can make it to the water even." "Look, I'II be all right, you get on." "I'II go with these lads here." "You go." "Go on." "I'II see you." "I'II see you WiIf." "On this sixth day of the evacuation," "HMS MaIcoIm has abandoned the beaches." "She is approaching the MoII on her fourth trip to Dunkirk." "Five degrees port, three knots." "It may not be as bad as you fear." "Reduce revolutions." "Sir?" "The Bideford." "She was your last ship wasn't she?" "You must know a good few of the crew." "well yes sir but - steady ahead." "She was hit yesterday." "I see." "I thought you must have heard." "No sir, I hadn't." "One degree starboard." "well apparently she's still floating so we'II presume that's good news unless we hear otherwise, eh?" "Steady ahead." "Lieutenant, hold the stores, we need to get these men on board now." "AII right men, put the boxes down, get these men on board." "Heading down to the lower deck, move them down to the lower deck." "full up down there sir." "By no means, keep them coming." "How's it going?" "Like running my very own sardine factory." "How many aboard?" "Five hundred sir, reckon we can squeeze another hundred or more." "Good God man." "She'II be a bit slow pulling on the way home sir." "Come on men, keep it coming." "Is he all right, our pilot?" "The Bideford." "She's been towed back to Dover I hear, burnt out, broken backed, countless dead and injured." "well maybe his friends won't be among them." "almost done David, give me ten minutes and you can sail." "I'II tell Tom." "Make sure the rules of the house are enforced will you?" "And tell them I charge five guineas a night." "Frankie, look, ahead." "We've got to beach in the surf and load it, then we'II take them back out to the TiIIey north north west of us." "No way mate, this aint going to work, if we take her in there she's going to beach and we'II never rock her off." "But that's our orders." "At three thirty in the afternoon, the Luftwaffe launch a series of continuous air raids attacking the beaches and the little boats." "The cockle boats have a draft of three feet and the tide is faIIing." "The crew of the Renown struggle to get men on board before they are hard aground." "I've got you son, I've got you mate." "Give us your hand." "Come on that's it, use both hands." "pull yourself up, come on." "How many have we got?" "We've got about fifty." "That's enough, no more, that's enough." "Sorry mate, next time." "We'II be back, we'II get you." "We're stuck." "There's too many on, we're overloaded." "I'm sorry about this Iads." "Can I have five off?" "Come on, we've got to choose five off." "Come on lads, we'II come back for you." "We need five off, come on I'm sorry, off you get." "Off you get, come on." "The boat won't take it, come on, please." "Sorry mate, sorry mate." "alec, thank you for coming." "I won't beat about the bush, you know that I've been told to come home." "Yes sir." "I want you to take command of the rear guard." "Thank you sir." "I'm not sure you'II have much to thank me for, you'II have what remains of one corps under you." "I shan't be leaving until later this afternoon so officially GHQ won't close down until 1800, but I want you to take over now." "Yes sir." "Instructions from London are to hold on to the perimeter for as long as possible and you are authorised to capitulate when no further evacuation is possible in order to avoid useless slaughter." "But AIec understand, there's no need to sacrifice yourself, when you're down to a brigade hand over to a brigadier and join the evacuation." "Sir." "This is Captain Tennant, he's organising the evacuation for Ramsay." "I suggest the two of you Iiase with admiral AbriaI as soon as possible, you'II be under his command." "If you feel the safety of the BEF is imperilled, refer to London." "I understand sir." "You all right mate?" "He's in shock." "Get him a blanket." "We chucked all the blankets off." "It can't end here, I'm not going to be a lost soldier." "Come on, help me." "Come on boy." "We've got you." "Come on son." "You alright, mate?" "We'II have you home soon." "Mind how you go boy." "Offshore at the merchant vessel TiIIey, the cockle boat Renown is unloading her cargo of troops before making another trip." "We can't do that again, cos next time we go into that beach, she's going to get stuck." "This isn't going to do much good, these boats were meant to be ideal for the job." "On an incoming tide they would be, this one's running out like mad." "Yeah." "shall we take her into the harbour next time?" "Harry?" "What?" "I think this one's dead." "Are you sure?" "No, no." "Yeah, he's gone." "what are we going to do Harry?" "shall we put him over the side?" "We can't do that." "What else can we do with him?" "Why don't they take him home to bury him." "What do you think Harry?" "He's right." "Yes, thank you, thank you good bye." "I need a reserve crew for a lifeboat." "bloody coxswain won't go, says it takes a winch to get his boat off the sand as it is, doesn't stop the rest of them sir." "Some of these boats are working to the very limit of their capability, he may well be right." "Yes Ramsgate please." "We're just cockIe fishermen you know, that's what we do, that's our livelihood, that's our job." "I'm not letting on to the lads really what's going on through my head because - well, they've got enough to worry about really, we've got to try and keep the morale up but I am seriously concerned." "Senior naval Officer at Dunkirk to Vice admiral, Dover." "We have been continuously and heavily bombed." "They are gradually finding the range of our loading berth." "I would rather only enter ships which are necessary for the flow of troops." "Is there anyone out there?" "We're coming to get you boys, we're coming." "It's not long now boys." "There's loads of them up there Frankie, look." "We aint the only one." "There's plenty more come on boys." "Jump." "Come on we'II catch you." "It's only about twenty feet Iads, come on." "Come on." "it's your lives boys, come on, it aint that far, come on, come on." "Come on mate, you can do it, come on mate." "You can do it." "Come on mate, come on." "Frankie, grab his arm." "Quick Harry, get a rope." "Come on, next one, come on, next one." "Come on, we aint got all night." "HMS MaIcoIm, 1 st June 1940." "Your last letters were and are the greatest encouragement." "We aren't finished with this business yet, but whatever happens we in this little ship have saved five thousand lives since Tuesday and it is a great comfort to know that we won't have made any useful sacrifice if we aren't so lucky now." "Here, no reason why you shouldn't get your head down for an hour or two." "You think so?" "absolutely, only wish the same were true for me." "One realises what a grain of sand one is in the gigantic mountain of the war." "If I don't survive this show I'II only be one of thousands of my betters." "I'II finish this in the morning." "Oh hell." "Do I hear Harry Noakes swearing?" "Too right you do, here, take the tiller Frankie will you?" "That's all we bloody need." "Oh for God's sake, that's all we need." "Water in the fuel?" "Take the tiller will you." "I'II just have a look." "There's something fouling the propeller." "Hang on a moment." "See anything?" "No." "Who's for a swim?" "What is it?" "Oh Jesus." "Chuck it back." "OK, Iet's give it one more go shall we?" "I think we're going to need a tow." "I'd better signal sub Iieutenant SoIomon." "I think this just about wraps it up for tonight." "Harry." "It's Whaffer." "Is that you Whaffer?" "You all right boy?" "No mate, the engine's packed up." "Any chance of a tow?" "Come on." "Cheers mate." "Am I glad to see you." "That's it." "Ready." "AII right." "Nice one Son." "By midnight on the 31 st of May," "Piermaster Commander Jack CIouston has embarked forty five thousand and seventy two men from the MoII." "Twenty three thousand have been lifted from the beaches, including for the first time many thousands of French troops," "it's been the most successful day of the operation so far." "At least the MoII's still in one piece sir." "Just." "Is this the Iast of them?" "Good." "Shower and sleep for me, and not necessarily in that order." "And for me sir." "Where's our pilot?" "Gone on board the Bideford sir, they laid her up here apparently." "I reckon we've got thousands in them Leigh boats." "What do you think Frankie?" "Frankie?" "Oh what a day, eh?" "Do you remember those stukkas on the way over?" "Are we going back tomorrow." "I want to go back tomorrow won't you Frankie, eh?" "We won't be going back" "Why not?" "What about the rest of them?" "well the boat won't take it for one thing." "What are we going to tell Dad about the engine?" "Going to tell him an arm stuck in the propeller." "Luke, Luke, calm down son." "I'm all right." "What's Pie going to say about all this?" "should have got up on the pier though, at Ieast then I can say I've been to France." "Did you see Eric?" "He shot down that ladder like greased lightening." "Hey Luke, why don't you give Frankie a break, take the tiller for a while eh son?" "Frankie, give Lukie the tiller boy." "Here you are, Lukie'II give you a break." "Dad" "What's the problem now?" "That'II be the battleship." "At noon on the 1 st of June, five cockIe boats returned to harbour at Leigh on Sea." "Whaffer, is it true?" "It's true boy." "When the admiralty made their call for help, the response of the fishermen of Leigh was instant, they volunteered to man the six cockIe boats," "Renown, reliance, Defender, Letitia, Endeavour and resolute." "In the forenoon of that Friday this little fleet left their moorings to engage in one of the most forlorn hopes of history." "They left in high spirits as if they were going to a football match, but they knew they were going and the terrible hazards to which they were giving themselves." "Three of those men, Frank and Lukie Osborne and Harry Noakes, whose lives we have gathered today to remember, did not return." "Frank, Lukie and Harry were Leigh men through and through, better living boys you could not wish to meet." "They knew nothing of war, they went to save lives, not to fight." "They had done their work and then suddenly on their way home there came annihilation." "But they went because they understood that there's something which matters more than life itself," "they understood that only the man who is ready to lay down his life for other people or a holy cause has the life worth calling life at all." "Got the place to yourself again eh?" "Indeed." "Make the most." "Tom says we sail again for Dunkirk at 1300." "Bad luck about the Bideford." "My last ship." "I know." "The captain was an even worse ship handler than Tom HaIsey, which is saying something." "successfully challenged his judgement and saved the ship on more than one occasion." "You must have lost some good friends." "collins, Stuart, numerous others." "I'm sorry David." "By the end of the week, two thirds of the" "British Expeditionary Force have been evacuated, and two hundred thousand allied troops remain in France surrounded by a German army who could sense a famous victory." "The German generaIship is extremely good and their junior leadership first rate." "It is their tactic to feel for the soft spot and when they've found it, to press hard." "Thank you Lord Gort." "Your report has been most illuminating." "What is your forecast for the next few days?" "That we must waste no time." "There are no Ionger any French troops of any real value." "When our men withdraw from the perimeter it will be a close run thing." "Can they hold the bridge head while our rear guard withdraws?" "I believe you have until dawn." "clive TonIy was awarded the Croix de Guerre for gallantry during the Normandy landings, he retired from the army with rank of Brigadier in 1972." "WiIf Saunders fought in Africa and italy, after the war he was awarded a scholarship to Cambridge, he went on to become Professor of" "Information technology at sheffield University." "clive and WiIf remain friends." "The wounded are not our priority." "They take up twice as much space as a foot soldier." "Give us more pressure." "My orders are from His Majesty's government." "The moment you or any of your men go back beyond that tree we will shoot you." "Oh don't be so bloody stupid." "capituIate." "It's something I've never been asked to do." "How did it come to this." "It can't end here." "Things can never be the same again, we are just stuck together." "You know they say no man is an island entire of itself, any man's death diminishes me." "They were sent to know for whom the bell tolls." "It tolls for thee." "In May 1940 Britain came closer to losing the Second world War than at any other time." "The army in France had been defeated and driven to the sea." "For ten days the future of the country hung in the balance." "This is the story of those desperate days." "AII the characters are real, all the events are from the first-hand accounts." "It is the 26th May 1940, at the admiralty in London news is coming in of a crisis unfolding across the channel." "The situation is fluid." "I must handle the challenge." "I pray that my best is good enough." "Captain bill Tennant is a staff officer at the admiralty." "For the Iast week he has been drawing up contingency plans for evacuating the British expeditionary force from France." "Most impressive Captain." "Thank you sir." "One would think you'd had a solid eight hours sleep." "I have asked them to send scrambled eggs up for us." "Speaking." "How much longer?" "clear thinking." "The measure's good." "It is inevitable." "Yes, thank you." "The line is definitely gone." "I see." "The German Panzers pounding CaIais." "The town's half demolished and on fire." "Pessimistic report say it's fallen." "The more optimistic say they may hold out for another twenty four hours." "So, we still have our stand in Dunkirk." "precisely, and an entire army apparently bIundering back towards it." "It is just two weeks ago, hitler invaded Western Europe." "After months of phoney war, the allies were unprepared for the speed and ferocity of the Nazi attack." "blitzkrieg, lightning war has forced the" "British and French Army's into chaotic retreat." "In just sixteen days fast-moving Panzers have trapped the allies against the coast whilst dive-bombing" "Stukers drive refugees into the path of retreating troops." "half of this lot don't have a clue where they are going, you know." "And you reckon we do?" "More than haIf-a-miIIion allied troops are trapped in a shrinking pocket and making for the coast." "Their only hope of survival is to keep open a corridor down which the army's can escape." "At the western end of this corridor the French town of Wormhoudt." "Five days ago D Company, Second battalion," "royal Warwicks, lost all their officers and half their men in battle." "They have marched all night." "They are low on ammunition." "Many, many good men have died, friends, good friends." "I'II think about them for the rest of my Iife." "That's what I think about." "AII right you lazy bastards, Iet's be having you, come on, come on, come on." "Go on Garside, get a move on." "AII right gill the boy heard you." "Must be bloody well stirring." "Are we on the move again." "No we are stopping here." "Says who." "Just a rumour." "Just from one minute to the next." "I hope we are staying here." "I am sick of retreating." "Just defend this place." "Dig in and defend it." "Just survival you know." "I am going to get home." "I made a promise so I'm going home." "That's it." "In Britain, the public are unaware of the depth of the crisis but in the admiralty an emergency operation is under preparation to rescue the British Army from France." "The operation is codenamed 'Dynamo'." "Forty five thousand are within reach of the coast and could reasonably be expected to arrive at Dunkirk over the next forty eight hours." "Yes." "Under way sir." "Under way." "In the lap of the gods." "Ramsay needs someone over at Dunkirk, bill, someone to be his man on the ground, someone who can deal with a bit of pressure." "Who knows the channel like the back of his hand." "exactly I suggested you." "I know how attached to that desk you have become, bill." "Not so attached that I want to spend the rest of the war here, sir." "well I wouldn't get too excited," "I think you will be back by Wednesday." "What we can't do by then, we can't do at all." "Oh, bugger, a bloody balls up." "Army should have seen this coming." "Yes sir." "At the other end of WhitehaII, ministers and chiefs of staff gather for a crisis meeting of the War Cabinet." "Prime Minister Winston churchill has invited Anthony Eden," "Secretary of State for War, to brief them on the military situation." "churchill became Prime Minister just sixteen days ago when Labour ministers refused to serve under NeviIIe ChamberIain in a coalition government." "The new Prime Minister may be popular with his country but some of his Cabinet colleagues regard him as a reckless war monger." "Among them, foreign secretary Lord halifax." "We are engaged in a war of attrition between the German Panzers, with their communications cut, and the British and belgian Army's fallen back on Dunkirk and Ostand for supplies." "At worst the fate of the British," "belgian and French first army's is already settled." "The alternatives we are here to consider today are these:" "what can be done to enable the BEF to carry on?" "What shall be done to evacuate the BEF if the worst happens?" "That's madness, we can't..." "There is another alternative." "We could try for peace." "Last night I met the italian Ambassador Senior Bastianini who made clear soundings as to the prospect of our agreeing to a peace conference." "I have agreed to meet him this morning to discuss the proposal." "If you will forgive me." "Two days ago, hitler overruled his High Command and halted the advancing Panzers." "The success of blitzkrieg has taken even the" "Fuhrer by surprise and he wants his forces to consolidate." "It proves to be a tactical mistake that allows the" "British expeditionary force to regroup." "On the outskirts of Wormhoudt the Warwicks are improvising defences." "Come on you two." "Get back to your positions." "CO is on his way to inspect us." "well he'II see we're doing our bloody best won't he?" "Do you reckon?" "Yeah, I do, gill." "unlike some, he knows there's more to rank than bullying other people." "You're only saying that because you've been stuck as a private for years, Tombs." "Is that right?" "Or is it because, unlike some of these kids, I know bollocks when I hear it?" "I will take that from you Tombs just about." "If anyone else tries it..." "AIf, mate, we're in luck." "Got some ammo?" "Yeah." "Thank Christ for that." "What's a mortar platoon supposed to do without any fucking bombs?" "I wouldn't get too excited, corporal." "How's that." "These are smoke bombs look." "Serge." "Yeah?" "The ammo they sent from HQ it is just smoke bombs." "Oh, you're bloody joking me." "Sir, we still haven't got any mortar bombs." "I will see what I can do but look, bombs or no bombs, when the German infantry come on us we must hold to the Iast man and the Iast round." "We have friends and we have rifles and we have bayonets." "We must hold them for as long as possible." "Every hour we can keep them back matters." "Do you understand?" "Yes sir." "Good luck." "Sergeant with me." "Yes, Sir." "Bayonets?" "What did you expect him to say let's all roll over and lie belly up for him?" "It'II be all right it's where you aim, I reckon." "Shut up Garside." "Hey don't mind the boy he is just showing a bit of enthusiasm." "Is that what you call it." "Look at this shorty." "Message from Gerry." "British soldiers you are surrounded by Germans," "German troops have captured Courtray, Tournay the Lenzience and Omar," "CaIais will soon be taken, why go on fighting." "Do you believe the rumours that Germans kill their prisoners, the opposite is true." "The match is over, the decent enemy will be treated decently." "If my aunty could piss standing up she'd be my uncle." "In London the cabinet is in its third meeting of the day and there is only one issue that preoccupies them." "If we pursue peace now I admit we may lose our army but we will very likely lose them anyway." "If we negotiate before we are beaten we may have a chance to save ourselves and even to save France from the wreck." "I would not Iike to see France subjected to the Gestapo." "I do not think it will come to that." "I am not so sure." "If it were as simple as giving up GibraItar or malta I would seize the chance" "but I cannot imagine Heir HitIer offering any terms that we might be able to accept." "Can anyone else." "No." "Let us hold our nerve and see how many troops we can get away." "As the Army makes it's way towards the coast a mobile wireless unit is traveling against the flow of traffic." "SignaImen CIive TonIy and WiIf Saunders had already reached the channel port of Dunkirk but now they are being sent back to support the front lines." "Their destination the Chateau at Wormhoudt, headquarters of the 144th Brigade." "slow down will you." "This is hopeless." "Right this has just come down from Brigade." "You'II have to take this one yourself Corp." "Whatever it is it is going too fast for me." "You are not saying your morse is even worse than I thought are you." "whole source seems to be collapsing." "They are jamming." "How close?" "Don't think about it." "I wanted to avoid the bloody infantry." "Didn't think that was for me, not after what I had heard anyway." "Hasn't done us much good though." "Everyone's on half rations, been living off food from deserted houses and shops." "Anyway they said on the news we're doing all right." "Operation Dynamo is conducted from a network of tunnels deep inside the chalk cliffs above" "Dover where a staff of sixteen is massing ships for the improvised evacuation." "We are down here bill." "Captain bill Tennant arrives in Dover on the morning of the 27th May." "Much enemy fire." "Yes." "The Biarritz the archangel and the" "Sequacity have all been hit this morning." "Extent of damage." "None are expected to take any further part in the operation." "Some of our ships aren't even getting through so we are abandoning the usual routes and having the new ones swept for use via the" "Dick whistle Boy and the Zoyd Good Pass." "well that will take twice as long." "I know but..." "How long will it take to clear." "Some time, for now we will have to use a somewhat shorter route via the Wrightingham Pass." "The invincible and the Minesweeper's skip Jackenhausen and we will get to work on it this morning." "In charge of operations are Captain michael Denny and Vice admiral Bertram Ramsay." "Sir." "Lieutenant, I am glad you are available to do this." "As I am sir." "clear about the job." "Embark as many as possible as... advise you from over there how best to be achieved." "precisely." "I have assembled a team of twelve officers, a hundred and sixty ratings plus communications staff." "Good." "You sail for Dunkirk on HMS WoIfhound this afternoon." "Sir." "You can see the oil refinery here, to the west of the port." "To the east are the beaches, they are big they are very shallow, any work here will involve throwing men out in waves, the ships will have to stand off for about a mile." "Conway, take a look at the beaches as soon as we arrive." "Sir." "Now the bulk of our work will be here at the port, there are five miles of keys to load up from and seven deep water basins so our destroyers will be able to come right in." "The trick will be getting them out again quickly." "And what sort of state is the army in sir." "AII divisions are making their way to the port that is all I know." "well, we should have a decent view of things any time now." "gentlemen, shall we take a look." "Captain." "I shall also make it clear gentlemen that everything may not go according to plan." "A degree of improvisation may be called for." "In the Iast four hours the Luftwaffe have dripped thirty thousand incendiary devices and fifteen thousand high explosive bombs." "1000 civilians have dies and the port of Dunkirk is beyond use." "It takes colonel Tennant and his team an hour to cover the half mile to French headquarters." "The early stages of the evacuation have been conducted by a colonel in the supply corps." "He's been working entirely without support." "colonel WebfieId, Captain Tennant." "Captain." "You were advised I was on my way?" "Indeed." "I gather you are to supervise the embarkation." "Vice admiral Ramsay thought it wouId be sensible to have the embarkation supervised by naval personnel." "Yes, it seems bloody sensible to me too." "Just hope he knows what he is letting you in for." "I can see things are difficult." "difficult, yes well I, I don't care for the euphemism," "Captain, it is a bloody shambles." "Order has broken down, hundreds of men arriving every hour adrift from their units, no idea whether they are to stand and defend the town or get on a boat, or just fall into the nearest wine cellar and get blind drunk." "I wish you luck Captain, all the luck in the world, because you are going to need it." "I don't know what you are planning to do with the wounded." "I opened up a hospital at RosenthaI this morning which I think is comparatively safe." "You might want to arrange transport." "Thank you." "Oh, the latest estimates are that German tanks will be rolling down the beach in thirty six hours." "AII right." "Yesterday, you were talking about giving up malta." "Today, you want to fight on but nothing has changed in our favour where is the logic in that." "It is not I who is being illogical." "Divisions between ChurchiII and Lord halifax are deepening." "If the Foreign Secretary resigns, the leadership crisis could spell disaster for the conflict." "The issue between them remains the same:" "should the allies sue for peace using italy as an intermediary." "Monsieur Wano believes that the French may be able to commit ten divisions in the north if italy undertakes to stay out of the war." "And you believe we should join in an approach to the italians in order to achieve this favourable outcome." "I cannot believe anyone shares your opinion." "It can do no harm, the French already appear to believe that we have let them down." "It would be unfortunate if they could claim that we had forbidden them the chance to negotiate." "Without the army of marshal forces as weakened spirit as Monsieur Wano suggests." "Winston this is not Forces army." "But even if it is we should avoid being dragged down the slippery slope with them." "If the worst comes to the worst it wouId be no bad thing for our own sake and for the sake of the other countries already oppressed by Nazi tyranny to go down fighting." "If we are offered terms that would save the country from an avoidable disaster we would be unutterably foolish not to accept them." "They are drinking anything they can find, sir." "There is no water." "Then water better be found." "Get these soldiers out of here and onto the beach and get the wounded to a first aid post." "Any serious disobedience you are authorised to shoot." "We cannot evacuate an army that is hiding in cells." "GaIIant, Vivacious, Windsor, Vimey, calcutta, Anthony, impulsive." "close all beaches one to three miles east of Dunkirk with utmost despatch and embark all possible troops using your own boats." "You had better add, this is our last chance of saving them." "AII right, don't go." "Throw." "The boats carry twenty five men and take an hour to make the round trip." "It takes eight hours for each destroyer to load just 400 men." "45,000 men are expected to reach the beaches in the next thirty six hours." "We are going to be here until Christmas at this rate." "A Iiberty the Nazis are unlikely to grant us." "Look at that." "What do you think." "What am I meant to be looking at." "The Eastern Breakwater." "Do you suppose we could get a ship alongside it." "Yes." "AII right let's try it." "At twenty two thirty Tennant signals for a personnel ship to come alongside the Eastern MoII, a flimsy wood and concrete structure which separates the harbour from the beaches." "Not long now boys." "It's stronger than it looks,." "We hope." "AII right men, it is time to go home." "It takes an hour for the Queen of the channel to board seven hundred men." "That's now five personnel vessels that have completed round trips." "Lifting in the region of what, 4000?" "roughly plus we now have seventeen drifters out of Dover command either at or on their way to MarIow Beach." "Iris." "Six scoots are sent from Southend to help with the evacuation plus a further four with supplies from the army." "What about destroyers." "Everyone from the channel and the east coast command is now afloat the question is how best to deal with them, Thank you." "Sir." "Six A.M. on the 28th May." "The men of the second Warwicks are dug in on the outskirts of Wormhoudt." "Robert." "AII right son." "What's happened." "The sun is coming up that is what has happened." "AII quiet in the night." "AII quiet." "A mile away in the grounds of Wormude Chateaux the mobile signals unit is operating communications between headquarters and the front line." "clive TonIy and will Saunders were at school together and joined the territorial Army before the war." "At six fifteen A.M. on the 28th May they are among the first to Iearn of the new enemy troop movements." "Panzer divisions are two miles away." "beautiful place anyway Corp." "beautiful target too, will." "3000 men of the SS Liebstandarter AdoIph HitIer, the Furor's personal troop of body guards are making their final preparations for an assault on the allied corridor." "hitler's halt order has been lifted and the German generals are planning a pincer movement to cut off the remaining" "British army off from the coast." "Decent scoff that." "Yeah not bad, what was it." "I don't know, I think it had peas in it." "Anybody know what was in that." "Never ask that Garside you may not want to know the answer." "bloody hell." "Fire." "Come on, Garside." "Come on lads even if we have only got smoke bombs, fire." "The least we can do is make ourselves harder to aim at." "Fire." "Fire." "Fire." "Take these." "bloody hell, Iet's find some cover." "The outhouses." "It's fucking hopeless." "Last man, last round." "That's what we were told and don't pretend you didn't hear him." "Go on Robert try it." "Try what." "This is more like it." "Sir." "Can't get through to HQ." "HQ has been hit sir." "Maybe we need to pull that in that direction and form a section." "Abandon the position Sir." "Yes." "We'II move on over there by the Ditch." "The ground floor of Wormhoudt chateau has been turned into a regimental aid post." "will Saunders and clive TonIy set up their wireless in the cellar." "Nothing at all from division." "Just keep trying." "Jesus, that's close." "Change of plan." "Get the set back on the truck." "I've just seen the Sergeant." "He's had to send some men to support the front line and we have got to take over their positions over there." "Do you hear me." "Come on." "If I got mine, I would try and live," "I would try and get through it." "Better than lying down like a dog and just dying." "I got to hope and count on the people around me that they'II help me." "They'II get me back safely." "I don't know what I would do if I didn't get home in one piece." "Jesus Christ." "Happy as a pig in shit." "WouIdn't go that far but I would say I would rather be doing this than back in a factory back in Brum." "You hear that, Shorty?" "You're mad Garside." "Boys, Iet's move out." "I thought it was bad enough working at the but compared with this." "Oh, Jesus, you shot him?" "Who fired?" "You shot..." "You bloody idiot." "I didn't mean to." "I don't know it just went off." "What happened?" "My gun sir, I don't know, it went off..." "You must have left the safety catch off." "Never mind about that now." "I can't move my legs." "I can't move my legs, sir." "I am afraid we are going to have to leave you." "We'II put you over there in as visible a position as possible until either we or the other side can give you medical help." "Right." "Right." "AII together." "Let's get him out, stand him up." "I am sorry.." "Shorty, come on, come on." "Keep up with me, Shorty." "In a last ditch effort to hold open the escape corridor all support units have been ordered into the front line." "will Saunders and clive TonIy are east of the town of Wormhoudt." "There is no one coming at us." "I know we're going to be all right." "Just got to hang on." "What are you firing at." "I don't know." "When the attack comes, it comes from the south where the SS, frustrated by a lack of progress, have called on the third Panzer regiment for support." "It could have happened to any of us mate." "He'II be all right, he will get found and treated." "Sir look." "Just from one minute to the next, get through the next minute." "Then five minutes have passed." "Get through the next five minutes." "Then an hour has passed." "Everything that I thought was the way it worked has stopped working like that." "For nine hours the Warwicks have held the German advance." "Cease fire." "Cease fire." "alright, up, all of you." "In London the cabinet is in stalemate." "We agreed this two days ago, France is finished." "When the aerodromes fall into German hands ours will be bombed." "And we shall get better terms if we negotiate now than if we wait until we have lost the air force as well as the BEF." "If we let Senor MussoIini mediate between our nations he will exact his price and it is impossible to image Heir HitIer being so foolish as to let us re-arm." "We would be at his mercy." "We will do no worse if we continue fighting." "There are obvious risks in pursuing the battle but there is no doubt Edward that the alternatives to fighting on represent a considerable gamble also." "Nations which go down fighting rise again, those which surrender tameIy are finished." "The chances of our being offered decent terms is a thousand to one against." "Nothing in what I suggest could even be remotely described as surrendering tameIy." "If you will forgive me I must adjourn the meeting for a short time and I have arranged to address the rest of the cabinet at five o'cIock, thank you." "AIf, PauIey's still there." "Keep quiet lad." "Jesus no." "That incident has been noted, that is in clear contravention." "Jesus Christ." "It has taken the SS Liebstandarter AdoIph HitIer a full day to crush the defence of Wormhoudt." "The delay has disrupted German plans." "The SS round up 85 to surround the allies." "The Liebstandarter have taken business." "This is no way to treat prisoners of war." "Why are they doing this, AIf?" "." "As the front line moves back," "WiIf Saunder and clive TonIy are left dangerously exposed." "alright?" "Yeah." "Right lads." "Dunkirk, here we come." "You're joking?" "Come on, every man for himself the sergeant said." "Do you think it wouId be better if we at Ieast stick together." "Yeah." "Come on." "Where do you think they are taking us." "Just do as they say, don't annoy them." "He'II go right." "It's only corporaIs and above they want to kill." "Who says?" "Who says Tombs?" "Someone did back there." "BoIIocks." "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't." "BoIIocks." "What are you doing, corporal." "Ex-corporaI by the looks of it." "Inside." "Inside!" "Why are you doing this." "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm saying." "Men must be treated properly." "My men are tired, they are thirsty." "Why are you doing this." "Don't pretend you can't hear what I'm saying." "What's the matter?" "I demand that you treat my troops properly." "They are thirsty, they are tired." "Fine." "Out." "Out." "Don't move." "Five." "Out." "Don't move." "Don't you bloody move Robert." "Someone has got to go first." "Four more." "Out." "I am making a formal request that these men be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention." "I demand that you answer me." "I demand that you listen to what I am saying." "Oh Jesus." "Oh my God." "Five more, five more." "Let's get out here." "We can't." "Why not they are shooting us anyway, I am getting out of here." "The French Army has been hypnotised by the Mezzano line, standing to paralysis and defeatism by the force of the German breakthrough at Sudan." "I have done all in my power my visits to France to rally them, to stiffen their moral but despite this there is now a grave danger that the British Expeditionary Force will be surrounded before it can fight its way out to Dunkirk." "But moral amongst our forces in France is high." "Lord Gord is doing his utmost to achieve a successful fighting retreat," "we should be able to get fifty thousand troops away." "If we can get one hundred thousand away that would be a magnificent performance." "One thing is very clear if we try to make peace now we would not get better terms than if we were to fight it out to the Iast." "Negotiation with Heir HitIer would turn us into a slave state under a puppet fascist leader like MoseIey." "Our country deserves better." "We shall go on and fight it out here or elsewhere and if this long island story of ours is to end," "let it end only when each one of us is choking in his own blood upon the ground." "Give him an audience and he will fool them into believing anything." "I wonder if they will feel the same when he has taken them into the abyss." "They've gone." "You sure?" "I can't hear nothing." "Where's Stan." "You can't do nothing for him." "Are you alright." "Let's get out of here." "ShouIdn't we wait until night." "What's the difference." "Come on, AIf, Iet's go." "The mobile wireless unit is back on the road to Dunkirk." "So you reckon that's it then." "No more fighting just back to the coast." "That is what they have said, but then they have said that before." "I would rather be here than where we were anyway." "As the corridor collapses three hundred thousand allied troops are pushed into a thin strip of land 25 miles wide and six miles deep." "They are trapped between the enemy and the sea." "gentlemen." "It seems there are hundreds of men arriving on the beaches every hour most of them without officers." "I have just heard there are 5000 at Braydiens alone, they have no idea what to do next." "You and commander Kerr take a party to Braydiens." "Commander CIussen, you and I will take the MoII." "Let's get this show on the road." "As more and more troops arrive at the beaches the job of lifting them is slowed even further." "The boats are impossible to handle in the rising surf." "The only place at which men can now be lifted is the MoII." "A troop carrier is coming in in twenty minutes, destroyers every twenty minutes after that." "Got to speed things up." "Can you get them all in at once." "That will make us a hell of a target for the stokers." "We're a hell of a target anyway." "At least the weather is in our favour." "We should get a number in and out under this cloud." "signal from Captain Tennant Sir." "Thank you." "Sir, signal from Captain Tennant." "No enemy interference at present, embarkation going at 2000 an hour, swell prevents use of the beach so all ships to Dunkirk." "Any air attack would be disastrous." "Can you get me the latest weather reports?" "These are the weather reports for 0600." "Wind's due to drop and veer south-westerIy." "well, that will help the surf." "It's probably not good news for the cloud cover." "No sir." "clear skies by 1300." "47 airfields built by the British in northern" "France have fallen into German hands." "The Stukas and Messerschmits of Luftwaffe Air fleet 2 are now in easy reach of the coast." "The British Army has been forced to abandon all of their heavy equipment and artillery on the congested roads leading to Dunkirk." "There is no trucks any more, everyone is going, why don't we just go Corp." "Got a job for you." "What." "Got to destroy the set and the Gym palace." "Why." "Orders, we're moving out a midnight and we don't need them any more." "Move them where." "Dunkirk." "That is miles away." "Why do we have to destroy the truck?" "Orders." "What's the matter with you." "A pair of young lads like you afraid of a bit of a walk I don't think so." "Right who is going to do the honours." "Go on.." "With the situation as it is we must give serious consideration to the strength of our forces should the bulk of the BEF not be brought home." "What I am saying is that we should not succumb to negative thinking." "Winston forgive me but we are not addressing the public, we are in private session and there are certain uncomfortable issues which must be addressed." "The brutal reality is that the quarter million men of the" "BEF could not be replaced in less than a year." "Every man of eighteen or over is already either in service or in training." "well then perhaps we should withdraw to this country the eight battalions currently deployed in palestine." "Indeed the defence of this island must take precedence over our commitments in palestine and elsewhere." "We just stuck together, clive and Titch and me." "I'm hungry and we're tired." "We're due a rest but the rest is the worst bit." "It's hard to start again after." "halt." "What are they doing, why don't they just keep us going." "If you want to carry on I don't think anyone will stop you." "But you won't see me again if you do." "Don't worry Corp. we have put up with you for this long." "It seems there are certain logistical difficulties in evacuating wounded men from the beaches." "No wounded." "inevitably a stretcher will take up more space than fit men." "Give priority to the fighting men." "tell the admiralty." "fall in." "Regiment, pick your guns up." "I don't think I can do this." "Yes you can." "Can't cope." "Up you get." "WiIf, clive and Titch have had no food for three days, no sleep for the Iast four and are still ten miles from Dunkirk." "Sir figures in from the admiralty about number of evacuated, it's not what we had hoped for." "47,000." "still, it's better than yesterday." "On the captured air fields to the south 180 Stukers of FIeiger Corp Eight reinforced by two hundred and twenty Mezerschmidts and Dorniers are arming their payloads." "The low cloud that has grounded them for the" "last twenty four hours is lifting." "halt." "halt." "Stay where you are." "halt!" "Who are you, where do you come from, you were at the barn." "We got detached from our unit." "AII right move on." "Come on." "I can hear the sea." "Keep going." "Stop." "Where are you going." "Away from those bloody bombs." "You're running towards the bombing." "Look, man." "Look." "Give me your weapon, give me your weapon." "Now keep moving forward." "I am not a bad shot but the Lieutenant here is a better one." "Now get on the ships." "Move." "By the fifth day of Operation Dynamo, the royal Navy has lost 26 ships, 73 thousand men have been returned to Britain." "An estimated 400,000 allied soldiers are still trapped at Dunkirk." "How did it come to be, this thing that cost us so much?" "We just stuck together." "I know now what they mean when they say no man is island entire of itself." "Every man is a piece of the compliment, a part of the main." "Any man's death diminishes me." "Never send to know for who the bell tolls." "It tolls for thee." "AIf Tombs spent the next five years as a prisoner of war and was eventually repatriated in 1945." "Anyway I have been thinking Iads if they're going to be taking the boat why don't we go with her." "Let's have another go." "Time as you know better than I do is running out, surely we should be using the swiftest possible means of evacuation for all your troops." "Are you alright mate?"