Introduction The Battle of Dunkirk can be classified as one of the defining events of World War II. The Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and allied forces on May 26 to June 4, from France to England. The Battle of Dunkirk World War II was almost over for the Allied forces before it had truly begun. In May 1940 a Nazi Blitzkrieg blazed through Belgium and France, obliterating Allied forces. This was followed by German forces advancing on Allied troops, pushing them back toward the British Channel. Hitler, confident he had 400,000 Allied troops trapped halted his troops, and called in his air force which he would come to realise was his biggest mistake. The German air force was put in place to wipe out the Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk however, this did not go to plan, leading to the largest troop evacuation in military history. On the evening of May 26, Operation Dynamo was hastily planned out and put into effect by the British. It was hoped that evacuation would save at …show more content…
The evacuation at Dunkirk excited the people and gave them hope when they desperately needed it. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had been destroyed and retreated to Dunkirk. The loss of their machinery had greatly cost them, if they had lost all the men at Dunkirk not only would that have greatly impacted their military forces, but it would have shattered the psyche of the British people. On June 4 Churchill went on to give one his most famous speeches in which he vowed that “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!” Churchill’s speech helped restore faith in the British people, providing hope that the Allied forces could win the