Dunkirk Evacuation, Operation Dynamo: Nine Days that Saved an Army
By John Grehan and Alexander Nicoll
()
About this ebook
The “miracle” of Dunkirk is one of the most inspiring stories of all time. The British Expeditionary Force had been all but surrounded, and, with the French armies collapsing on all sides, it appeared that Britain was about to suffer the heaviest defeat in its history.
When Winston Churchill’s War Cabinet finally accepted that the Battle of France had been lost, preparations were made to try and rescue as many soldiers as possible from one of the few ports left open to the British Expeditionary Force—Dunkirk.
So rushed and chaotic was the retreat to the Channel coast, with thousands of guns, vehicles and tanks being abandoned, there was little time for soldiers to consider taking photographs of the shocking scenes of death and destruction which surrounded them. Yet images do exist of the ships and boats of all descriptions which braved the bombs and guns of the German Air Force to rescue Britain’s only field army from the clutches of Hitler’s panzer divisions.
One man in particular, Sub-Lieutenant John Rutherford Crosby, a member of the crew of the minesweeper, and converted Clyde paddle steamer, HMS Oriole, left a legacy of dramatic images. These include the never-to-be-forgotten scenes of long lines of tired and anxious troops stretching into the sea and of bombs exploding on the packed beaches—all with his own personal little camera.
Other images in this book paint a vivid and memorable picture, as no words ever could, of the greatest evacuation of troops under fire.
John Grehan
JOHN GREHAN has written, edited or contributed to more than 300 books and magazine articles covering a wide span of military history from the Iron Age to the recent conflict in Afghanistan. John has also appeared on local and national radio and television to advise on military history topics. He was employed as the Assistant Editor of Britain at War Magazine from its inception until 2014. John now devotes his time to writing and editing books.
Read more from John Grehan
Dunkirk: Nine Days That Saved An Army: A Day-by-Day Account of the Greatest Evacuation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of Hastings 1066: The Uncomfortable Truth: Revealing the True Location of England's Most Famous Battle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Berlin Airlift: The World's Largest Ever Air Supply Operation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Naval Battles of the Pacific War: The Official Admiralty Accounts: Midway, Coral Sea, Java Sea, Guadalcanal & Leyte Gulf Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Royal Navy and the War at Sea, 1914–1919 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Burma Campaign: The Japanese Conquest of 1942 By Those Who Were There Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hitler Assassination Attempts: The Plots, Places and People that Almost Changed History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lines of Torres Vedras: The Cornerstone of Wellington's Strategy in the Peninsular War 1809-12 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's V-Weapons: The Battle Against the V-1 and V-2 Written at the Time, An Official History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Doolittle Raid: The First Air Attack Against Japan, April 1942 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler’s Wolfsschanze: The Wolf’s Lair Headquarters on the Eastern Front – An Illustrated Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRAF and the SOE: Special Duty Operations in Europe During WW2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChurchill's Secret Invasion: Britains First Large Scale Combined Offensive 1942 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boer War, 1899–1902: Ladysmith, Megersfontein, Spion Kop, Kimberley and Mafeking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slaughter on the Somme 1 July 1916: The Complete War Diaries of the British Army's Worst Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMedical Officers on the Infamous Burma Railway: Accounts of Life, Death & War Crimes by Those Who Were There With F-Force Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBomber Harris: Sir Arthur Harris' Despatches on War Operations 1942–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOkinawa: The Last Naval Battle of WW2: The Official Admiralty Account of Operation Iceberg Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Barrosa: Forgotten Battle of the Peninsular War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting with the Fourteenth Army in Burma: Original War Summaries of the Battle Against Japan 1943–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattleground Sussex: A Military History of Sussex From the Iron Age to the Present Day Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Waterloo Campaign in 100 Locations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Hunt for Moore's Gold: Investigating the Loss of the British Army's Military Chest During the Retreat to Corunna Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Allied Assault on Hitler's Channel Island Fortress: The Planned Operation to Eject the Germans in 1943 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWestern Front, 1914–1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCombined Operations: An Official History of Amphibious Warfare Against Hitler’s Third Reich, 1940-1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Dunkirk Evacuation, Operation Dynamo
Titles in the series (100)
Adolf Hitler Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Chiang Kai-shek Versus Mao Tse-tung: The Battle for China, 1946–1949 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in Northwest Europe, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in the Battle for Normandy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5T-34: The Red Army's Legendary Medium Tank Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Armoured Warfare in the Korean War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Germans on the Somme Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in the Italian Campaign, 1943–1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hitler's Panzers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Allied POWs in German Hands 1914–1918 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5D-Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Mountain Troops, 1939–1945: The Gebirgsjager Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHitler's Defeat on the Eastern Front Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in the North African Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in the Battle of the Bulge, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Germans at Arras Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crushing of Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front, 1941–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare and the Waffen-SS, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsB-17 Memphis Belle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great War Fighter Aces, 1916–1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare and Hitler's Allies, 1941–1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Joseph Stalin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5German Guns of the Third Reich Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Armoured Warfare on the Eastern Front Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHimmler's Nazi Concentration Camp Guards Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fallschirmjager: Elite German Paratroops in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle for the Caucasus, 1942–1943 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Blitzkrieg Poland Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Auschwitz Death Camp Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related ebooks
Panzer III at War, 1939–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe British on the Somme 1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArmoured Warfare in Northwest Europe, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Germans on the Somme Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare from the Riviera to the Rhine, 1944–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAllied Armies in Sicily and Italy 1943–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlitzkrieg in the West Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/51918: The German Offensives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Armoured Warfare in the Battle for Normandy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mont Pinçon: Normandy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5German Halftracks at War, 1939–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Falaise Pocket: Normandy, August 1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle for Arnhem 1944–1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Normandy 1944: The Battle of the Hedgerows: Photographs From Wartime Archives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNarvik and the Norwegian Campaign 1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Germans at Arras Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLuftwaffe Flak and Field Divisions, 1939–1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWestern Front, 1914–1916 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWestern Front, 1917–1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAir Battle for Dunkirk, 26 May–3 June 1940 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lorraine Campaign: An Overview, September-December 1944 [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCarnage: The German Front in World War One Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The British at First and Second Ypres Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The French Army at Verdun Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Falaise Gap Battles: Normandy 1944 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aftermath of Dunkirk: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Torpedo Bombers Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5M12 Gun Motor Carriage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe German Army on Campaign, 1914–1918 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Combat History of German Tiger Tank Battalion 503 in World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America's First Nuclear Accident Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wager Disaster: Mayem, Mutiny and Murder in the South Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Dunkirk Evacuation, Operation Dynamo
0 ratings0 reviews