0:00:02 > 0:00:07*
0:00:20 > 0:00:28Nearly 60 years ago, thousands of men waited on this beach for days, under repeated attack from the air.
0:00:28 > 0:00:34They were members of the British Expeditionary Force, now surrounded by the German army.
0:00:34 > 0:00:41Most of their guns and their few tanks had been destroyed in battle or smashed to prevent capture.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46They were running short of food and even drinking water was scarce.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51Their only hope lay in rescue from the sea.
0:00:51 > 0:00:58For the British, evacuation would be a miracle. For their French allies, it would seem like a betrayal.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03For the men who were there,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06soldiers and rescuers alike,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09Dunkirk was an unforgettable experience.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14I can remember very vividly, at that time, that the beach...
0:01:14 > 0:01:20- all those sand dunes were black. - Those...?- All along there.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Totally black.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27And at intervals, a black line came down to the water,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31which was, sort of... four-abreast soldiers coming down.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36It was a most amazing sight. And the boats were taking them off...
0:01:36 > 0:01:40It was patently obvious to me at that stage
0:01:40 > 0:01:46that we hadn't a hope in hell of getting a pennyworth of those chaps off.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56# Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye... #
0:01:56 > 0:02:00The men who ended up on the beaches at Dunkirk
0:02:00 > 0:02:05had set off for France in September, 1939, full of naive optimism.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09"To our shame," said Montgomery, then a divisional commander,
0:02:09 > 0:02:14"we have sent our army into that most modern of wars
0:02:14 > 0:02:19"with weapons and equipment that are quite inadequate."
0:02:19 > 0:02:25For nine months, the BEF - the British Expeditionary Force -
0:02:25 > 0:02:32settled into life in northern France - a life which, in retrospect, was a fool's paradise.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37The German invasion began May 10, 1940, in the Netherlands and Belgium.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41But the decisive breakthrough was at Sedan,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46tearing a hole in Allied defences, and heading straight for the Channel.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51This road crosses the Somme battlefield of 1916.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55In those days, advances were measured in yards,
0:02:55 > 0:03:00and their human cost is still counted in the cemeteries all around.
0:03:00 > 0:03:06In 1940, the Germans broke through the gap like water through a dam
0:03:06 > 0:03:11and surged down these long, straight roads of northern France
0:03:11 > 0:03:14past memorials to another war.
0:03:14 > 0:03:20The Germans had developed a new technique of warfare - Blitzkrieg.
0:03:20 > 0:03:26Their tanks moved swiftly ahead of the infantry, supported by aircraft,
0:03:26 > 0:03:32clearing a narrow path and moving faster than the Allies could react.
0:03:34 > 0:03:40The German advance was relentless. The Allies collapsed before it.
0:03:43 > 0:03:50On the 20th of May, the Germans reached the Channel coast here, just beyond Abbeville.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56They'd advanced 40 miles in 14 hours and were astonished by their achievement.
0:03:56 > 0:04:01One German commander wrote to his wife, "A blazing success.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07"Now the hunt is up against 60 encircled British, French and Belgian divisions.
0:04:07 > 0:04:14"Don't worry about me. As I see it, the war in France will be over in a fortnight."
0:04:14 > 0:04:19The Allies were in chaos. Lord Gort was responsible for the BEF,
0:04:19 > 0:04:24but was under French command, who'd just sacked a Commander-in-Chief.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29On the 21st of May, the new French Commander-in-Chief, General Weygand,
0:04:29 > 0:04:36called a meeting to coordinate a counter-attack. Nobody told Gort, who arrived only after Weygand left.
0:04:36 > 0:04:43Gort had earlier written that the BEF was making "that retreat with which all British campaigns start."
0:04:43 > 0:04:48He must now have wondered whether that retreat was becoming a rout.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Just over 20 miles away,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55 across the Channel in Dover,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59they were also beginning to anticipate disaster.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04These tunnels under Dover Castle were dug during the Napoleonic Wars.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09In 1940, they were the headquarters of Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13By the time of Gort's aborted meeting,
0:05:13 > 0:05:19Ramsay was already beginning to plan the evacuation of non-combatants from France.
0:05:19 > 0:05:26Over the days that followed, this plan would swell into the rescue of an entire army from Dunkirk.
0:05:26 > 0:05:32Its code name was inspired by one of these underground chambers - Operation Dynamo.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36At this stage, Ramsay and the Prime Minister, Churchill,
0:05:36 > 0:05:41only planned to evacuate maybe 20,000 men, a tenth of the force.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46The British must not be seen to be running out on their allies.
0:05:46 > 0:05:52At Calais, 3,000 troops under Brigadier Claude Nicholson,
0:05:52 > 0:05:57were holding on to the town under constant bombardment.
0:05:58 > 0:06:04By the 23rd of May, they were effectively under siege in the ancient citadel.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06On the 24th of May,
0:06:06 > 0:06:14Nicholson was told that they might be evacuated. Then he was ordered to hold on for Allied solidarity.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19Churchill was determined to show his confidence in the Alliance.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Nicholson's men fought on, completely surrounded,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28hopelessly outnumbered, but refusing to surrender.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34Finally, the Germans forced their way into the citadel and captured Nicholson.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37That evening, a message was sent from Dover:
0:06:37 > 0:06:42"To officer commanding troops, Calais, from Secretary of State.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46"I'm filled with admiration for your magnificent stand,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51"which is worthy of the highest traditions of the British Army."
0:06:51 > 0:06:54There was no-one here to receive it.
0:06:57 > 0:07:03Gort's command post was in a little chateau at Premesques, west of Lille.
0:07:06 > 0:07:13This was his own office. On the 25th of May, he was standing here studying the map.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17The Germans had cut the Allied armies in half.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25On his left, the Belgians had been fought to the very edge of collapse.
0:07:25 > 0:07:32The French, on his right, were pressing him to participate in a counter-attack...
0:07:33 > 0:07:37in which he had very little confidence.
0:07:40 > 0:07:47A staff officer, Lt-Colonel Gerald Templer, had to walk through Gort's office to get to another room.
0:07:47 > 0:07:54He described: "I walked in to see Gort in a very typical attitude, legs apart and hands behind his back,
0:07:54 > 0:07:59"wrestling with his God and his duty at a moment of destiny."
0:08:01 > 0:08:05By 6.30 that evening, Gort's mind was made up.
0:08:05 > 0:08:12He cancelled the British contribution to the attack and ordered a retreat on Dunkirk.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15The rout had begun.
0:08:15 > 0:08:22Thousands of troops were retreating, abandoning and destroying their equipment as they went.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24There was no way out except by sea.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29The fall of Calais left Dunkirk the only point for an evacuation.
0:08:29 > 0:08:37It was the third largest port in France a fortress in its own right, with a French Admiral in command.
0:08:37 > 0:08:44But its fortifications were hopelessly obsolete, and were built to resist attack from land or sea.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49This attack came from the air and left these docks in pieces,
0:08:49 > 0:08:55their oil tanks blazing, casting a pall of smoke over the scene.
0:08:58 > 0:09:05Dunkirk itself was in ruins. The plume of black smoke could be seen from Dover.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10Troops could not be evacuated from the ruined harbour.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15The only hope lay in the ten miles of beaches to the east of the town.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21The BEF fell back on the beaches of Dunkirk like a balloon slowly losing air.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26But it was very difficult actually getting men off from here.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31The sand shelves so gently that big ships couldn't get in shore
0:09:31 > 0:09:36but had to use their lifeboats, cutters or whalers to ferry men out.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Less than 8,000 men were rescued that first day.
0:09:40 > 0:09:47At this rate, most of the BEF would be captured before it could be rescued.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51On the beaches, queues of men stretched into the water,
0:09:51 > 0:09:57those at the head already standing up to their chests in the sea.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02A rowing boat would appear and the head of the queue would clamber in,
0:10:02 > 0:10:09leaving those behind praying that another one would appear, and fearing that it would not.
0:10:09 > 0:10:16Head and shoulders only above the surface - fixed, immovable, as if chained there.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Then a boat would appear,
0:10:19 > 0:10:25but the men were too exhausted and weighed down by sodden clothing to clamber in unaided.
0:10:25 > 0:10:33Once hauled aboard, there was a marvellous feeling of relief. What remained was the Navy's business.
0:10:33 > 0:10:40One of the early arrivals at the beach was Bob Brooks, then a 20-year-old gunner.
0:10:40 > 0:10:46I remember there was a NAAFI wagon on the beach. I was very thirsty.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52And I drank two tins of evaporated milk.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57And I was probably very sick! Which taught me a lesson.
0:10:57 > 0:11:03Um... There were, well... a few senior officers doing their best - I must say that.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07And they were organising people into lines.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12And we remained there until the Stukas came over.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14 And then we all sort of, eh...
0:11:14 > 0:11:19burrowed into the dunes, tried to make ourselves invisible.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24And when the Stukas went we went back into line.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30There was a long interval when no-one was being picked up,
0:11:30 > 0:11:38and we were told that if we could swim, we should try and swim out to boats, which were quite a way out.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43I did, and tried to climb a rope. I hadn't done that since school!
0:11:43 > 0:11:46In the gym.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50And I suppose the combination of tiredness
0:11:50 > 0:11:55and the fact that we hadn't eaten anything for two or three days,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58and the drag of the water...
0:11:58 > 0:12:04I just about got myself out of the water and I couldn't climb any higher.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09And so we had to drop off and come back to the beach.
0:12:09 > 0:12:15When one got back to the beach, one had to go to the end of the queue.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27The evacuation itself might be painfully slow,
0:12:27 > 0:12:34but for men to have even a chance of reaching Dunkirk, others must keep fighting to hold the Germans back.
0:12:34 > 0:12:40In fields and farmhouses, beside canals and in blockhouses,
0:12:40 > 0:12:46small groups of men stood their ground to keep the Germans from Dunkirk.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51The little town of Cassel, behind me, overlooks the Flanders plain.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56It was held by a scratch force of British and French troops.
0:12:56 > 0:13:03This bunker, part of a pre-war French defence line, was garrisoned by a platoon of the Gloucesters -
0:13:03 > 0:13:0713 men under a young second lieutenant, Roy Cresswell.
0:13:16 > 0:13:23They held out under constant attack for three whole days with no food and little water.
0:13:23 > 0:13:30It was only when an ominous silence from Cassel told them that they were on their own that they gave up.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34By that stage, the Germans were on the roof.
0:13:34 > 0:13:40Roy Cresswell and his men spent the rest of the war in captivity. In a way, they were lucky.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45In other cases, the old rules of war no longer applied.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Wormhoudt, about 12 miles from Dunkirk, was stoutly held.
0:13:50 > 0:13:58Some of its defenders, most of them Royal Warwickshires, eventually surrendered to SS troops.
0:13:58 > 0:14:04They were herded into a barn just behind them. The Germans threw grenades in...
0:14:04 > 0:14:06and shot the survivors.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09We don't know how many were killed
0:14:09 > 0:14:15because the Germans scattered the bodies to conceal evidence of the massacre,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17but at least 60 men died.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24The journey to Dunkirk itself was fraught with danger.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Men were retreating, sometimes in disorder,
0:14:28 > 0:14:35often without rations and with no orders other than "Make for Dunkirk. Every man for himself."
0:14:35 > 0:14:38They were constantly under fire.
0:14:38 > 0:14:45Even here, yards from the beaches, are the marks of the shell splinters that spattered the fleeing troops.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51The ships answering the call to France also faced a dangerous journey.
0:14:51 > 0:14:57They suffered repeated attack by air and were at the mercy of mines and torpedoes by sea.
0:14:57 > 0:15:04Over 220 of them were sunk during Dunkirk, many with rescued soldiers on board.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09Among the ships arriving at Dunkirk
0:15:09 > 0:15:16was MTB - Motor Torpedo Boat - 102, then the fastest ship in the Royal Navy.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21MTP 102 was the prototype of a new breed of small warship.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24She was commanded by Lt Christopher Dreyer.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28The soldiers were all desperately tired,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30demoralised, frightened...
0:15:30 > 0:15:34At intervals, ME-109s - the German fighters -
0:15:34 > 0:15:41used to come flying along the beach and shoot up everything in sight.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46And three Stuka bombers just set about us,
0:15:46 > 0:15:52going back to Dunkirk, along here - just about where we are now. We were belting along.
0:15:52 > 0:15:59Flat out. And she was very fast, this boat, in those days. She could do about 48 knots flat out.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04If you did the telegraphs "full ahead" three times,
0:16:04 > 0:16:11- it meant, like... "I really mean it."- "Go like smoke." - "Give everything." And he did.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16But even so, a stick of three bombs disappeared from sight
0:16:16 > 0:16:19under the transom there.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21And that was very frightening.
0:16:25 > 0:16:31The 22-year-old Lt Dreyer was shocked by the chaos he saw on the beaches.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34One major problem for everybody
0:16:34 > 0:16:39was that the soldiers piled on to the side of the boat...
0:16:39 > 0:16:44crazy keen to get in and get away from this ghastly place,
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and, em...tipped a lot of them over.
0:16:48 > 0:16:55And there was, you know... an awfully sadly indisciplined performance, the whole thing.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57And very slow and very inefficient.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Em... So that it was...it was...
0:17:01 > 0:17:07To my mind, it was AWFULLY clear at the beginning
0:17:07 > 0:17:11that that was no way to conduct the operation!
0:17:11 > 0:17:16You'd never get this black horde off the beaches in that way.
0:17:16 > 0:17:23On the 27th of May, less than 8,000 men were rescued and the port itself was still burning.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Then somebody noticed
0:17:25 > 0:17:30that the two moles, or breakwaters, jutting into the sea were undamaged.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35The eastern mole, by far the longer of the two, was especially promising.
0:17:35 > 0:17:41But there were serious practical problems in using it.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43The tide rises and falls by 15 feet.
0:17:43 > 0:17:50It's a long way from the water to the top of the mole, even at high tide.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54This section is modern. The original was flimsier,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58with no guarantee that big ships could use it.
0:17:58 > 0:18:03On the 28th, a passenger steamer, Queen Of The Channel, came alongside.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06She got away with 1,000 men.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11Bombers sank her in the Channel, but she proved the mole would work.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18The mole transformed operations,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22allowing up to 2,000 men an hour to be rescued,
0:18:22 > 0:18:27piling off it directly on to destroyers and other large ships.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31The surprisingly calm spring weather was another blessing.
0:18:31 > 0:18:38The Germans had also inadvertently offered the BEF a crucial stay of execution.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43They'd halted their advance, giving the British an extra two days.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47But by May 28th, the advance had begun again.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52On the same day, the Luftwaffe finally bombed the mole,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57blowing a hole in it and sinking and damaging shipping on both sides.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02For a while it seemed that the mole could no longer be used.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06The beaches would have to play a fuller part,
0:19:06 > 0:19:11and that would require more ships - especially little ones.
0:19:11 > 0:19:18From Ramsay's headquarters, the message went out that the small ships were desperately required.
0:19:18 > 0:19:25Ramsay had already been ordered to withdraw all modern destroyers from Operation Dynamo,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27leaving him with only 15 old ones.
0:19:27 > 0:19:33Churchill now declared that the British and French would be evacuated on equal terms.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38That meant even more troops to be taken off mole and beaches alike.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Big ships, little ships all had their part to play.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47The call for small ships was quickly answered.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Pleasure boats and tugs, fishing smacks and cabin cruisers,
0:19:51 > 0:19:53sailing barges and motor yachts -
0:19:53 > 0:19:58some manned by their owners, others by the Navy.
0:19:58 > 0:20:04They sailed, most of them, up the Thames to Sheerness and on here to Ramsgate.
0:20:04 > 0:20:11Here they were given charts and water before setting sail for France and the beaches of Dunkirk.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16This is Sundowner. She was built in 1912 as an Admiralty steam launch
0:20:16 > 0:20:24and in 1930 was converted into a private motor yacht for her new owner, Commander Charles Lightoller.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31Lightoller had been an officer aboard the Titanic.
0:20:31 > 0:20:38On June 1st, Lightoller, his son Roger, and an 18-year-old Sea Scout called George Ashcroft
0:20:38 > 0:20:40took Sundowner to Dunkirk.
0:20:40 > 0:20:48They stopped to take five men off a burning motor cruiser and went on to the mole under fierce air attack.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53Lightoller got another 122 men aboard and set off for home.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05Like all the ships, large or small, rescuing men from Dunkirk,
0:21:05 > 0:21:11Sundowner was a tempting target for German dive bombers.
0:21:17 > 0:21:25Another son, an RAF pilot shot down the year before, had discussed evasive tactics with his father,
0:21:25 > 0:21:33and as German aircraft dived in to machine-gun Sundowner, Lightoller veered just before they opened fire.
0:21:33 > 0:21:40He got back to Ramsgate safely, but wrote that with so many men aboard, many of them very seasick,
0:21:40 > 0:21:43there was a nice cleaning-up job.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47Not all the small ships arrived home safely.
0:21:47 > 0:21:54The courage shown by their largely civilian crews was a powerful boost to British morale.
0:21:54 > 0:22:01As Dunkirk continued to burn under constant bombing, the German troops came ever closer.
0:22:01 > 0:22:09There were still thousands of men on the beaches and the dunes behind them, waiting to be rescued.
0:22:09 > 0:22:16One Royal Artillery unit halted just behind the dunes and sent an officer forward to whistle up the Navy.
0:22:16 > 0:22:24The officer thought his task was hopeless, but he found "Call to an unknown ship" in his signal manual
0:22:24 > 0:22:29and dutifully stood up here and flashed it out to sea.
0:22:39 > 0:22:46Against all odds, there was an answering flicker in the dark, and a ship duly appeared.
0:22:46 > 0:22:53But time was running out and the Germans were now breathing down their necks.
0:22:53 > 0:23:00This is the last ditch, the canal line that marked the defensive perimeter of Dunkirk.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05By May 31st, it was all that stood between the Germans and the port.
0:23:05 > 0:23:13The canal was filled with abandoned vehicles. The surrounding fields had been flooded to delay German tanks.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16This sector was held by about 70 men
0:23:16 > 0:23:19 of the East Lancashire Regiment.
0:23:20 > 0:23:27On the morning of the 1st of June, the Germans crossed the canal on both sides of them.
0:23:27 > 0:23:35They'd been told to hold to the last round and they did exactly that. Almost half were killed or wounded.
0:23:35 > 0:23:42The survivors escaped by wading up to their necks for over a mile down this side canal.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Actions like this bought time for thousands more to reach the beaches.
0:23:47 > 0:23:54From there, they were ferried to England by men who were themselves feeling the strain of battle.
0:23:56 > 0:24:01Back in Dover, the naval and civilian crews were now exhausted.
0:24:01 > 0:24:08By the first of June, the crews of several passenger steamers were refusing to return to Dunkirk.
0:24:08 > 0:24:16They were civilians and couldn't face another trip across the Channel with its mines, torpedoes and Stukas.
0:24:16 > 0:24:23But they were replaced by Navy men and the stream of vessels across the Channel continued.
0:24:25 > 0:24:32By June 2nd, over a quarter of a million soldiers had been rescued from Dunkirk.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Men arrived here in their thousands,
0:24:35 > 0:24:41wounded on stretchers, French and Belgian soldiers, even German prisoners.
0:24:41 > 0:24:47The shocked, the exhausted, but above all the enormously relieved.
0:24:47 > 0:24:54Most of them landed in those docks and then crossed to the harbour station. And what a welcome they got.
0:24:54 > 0:25:01"I thought we'd be shot for neglect of duty," said a Yorkshire gunner. "It looks like we're bloody heroes."
0:25:10 > 0:25:12- Glad to be back, boys?- > Sure!
0:25:17 > 0:25:24Just before midnight on June 2nd, a signal from senior naval officer, Dunkirk,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28was received here in Ramsay's headquarters.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30It said simply, "BEF evacuated."
0:25:30 > 0:25:37Yet it was not quite over. The French were still fighting around Dunkirk
0:25:37 > 0:25:42and Churchill was anxious that they should not be sacrificed.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46So Ramsay sent some ships back for one last try.
0:25:46 > 0:25:54Among the ships which returned for that last night was MTB 102, still commanded by Lt Dreyer.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56It was his seventh trip.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01I must say, I was desperately tired by that time.
0:26:01 > 0:26:08I kept dropping off and waking up suddenly and finding I was pointing quite in the wrong direction.
0:26:08 > 0:26:18But by the last stages of the night, um... it really was quite a moving thing
0:26:18 > 0:26:20because we were very conscious
0:26:20 > 0:26:27that left behind there was a line of French soldiers who weren't going to get taken off.
0:26:27 > 0:26:33And they didn't. And they just stood there in line, at attention...
0:26:33 > 0:26:36absolutely immovable.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40It was a very moving sight, that one.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45Among the French soldiers waiting in Dunkirk was a young Jean Becaert.
0:27:32 > 0:27:39By the morning of the 4th of June, the Germans had taken Dunkirk. The British had gone.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Behind them they'd left their dead,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44and a France which, within weeks,
0:27:44 > 0:27:48would surrender to the armies of the Third Reich.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52On a clear day,
0:27:52 > 0:27:54you can see France from Dover.
0:27:54 > 0:28:02And in June 1940, Admiral Ramsay could stand on this balcony and glimpse the smoke over Dunkirk.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Operation Dynamo had been an outstanding success -
0:28:06 > 0:28:11338,000 men brought safely across a mine-infested sea.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16The myth of Dunkirk was born - a triumph snatched from the jaws of defeat.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21But it was a triumph born out of disaster and Churchill knew it.
0:28:21 > 0:28:28"We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory," he warned.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31"Wars are not won by evacuations."
0:28:34 > 0:28:38- WINSTON CHURCHILL: - We shall defend our island...
0:28:38 > 0:28:46and with the British Empire around us, we shall fight on, unconquerable,
0:28:46 > 0:28:52until the curse of Hitler is lifted from the brows of men.
0:28:52 > 0:28:58We are sure that, in the end, all will be well.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02Subtitles by Anne Morgan BBC Scotland 1997