in this week in military history we explore the miracle of Dunkirk the Dunkirk evacuation allied troops from northern France took place between May 27th and June 4th 1942 Germany invaded Poland in 1939 France and Britain declared war on Germany and British troops were sent to defend France between September 3rd and May 1940 however little really happened in the West during a period known as the phoney war that all changed however on 10th of May 1940 as Germany turned West attacking France in the Low Countries by the end of May German forces had compelled several hundred thousand British and allied troops to retreat into Belgium and ultimately to the French coastal city of Dunkirk hoping to use Dunkirk support facilities for a large-scale evacuation the Allies were trapped on the beach after finding the Germans had destroyed their best option or escape to save these hundreds of thousands of stranded troops the British government launched Operation Dynamo led by beach master Captain William Tennent he rerouted efforts to the harbours breakwaters coming to aid in the evacuation was the Royal Air Force as well as hundreds of civilian leisure and fishing boats who answered the call for help originally fearing only some 45,000 troops would survive ultimately nearly 300,000 men were rescued had Germany attacked the beaches directly the British and the French would have lost hundreds of thousands of men potentially putting pressure on Prime Minister Winston Churchill to acquiesce to Germany's demands miraculously Adolphe Hitler called off the impending attacks on the beach though Churchill called the evacuation of Dunkirk a colossal military disaster the miracle of Dunkirk became one of the most important symbols of the war and a testament to the determination to fight on join us next time for another segment of this week in military history for the Pritzker Military Museum and Library