All language subtitles for Battle.Of.Dunkirk.From.Disaster.To.Triumph.2018.PROPER.1080p.WEBRip.x264-RARBG

In the spring of 1940,

Britain faced a
military disaster.

Trapped on the
beaches of Dunkirk,

the British Expeditionary Force

faced an impossible situation,

as Hitler's army closed in.

- We went through hell,
because the bleeding

and the men being
blown to pieces

and the machine gunners
shootin' them down

by the hundreds.

It was absolutely dreadful.

- These Stukers was
fitted with sirens

and they screamed
as they came down

to frighten you, and they did.

- We were dive
bombed all day long.

Dead bodies and you just prayed

you were in the right queue.

- One of my friends got hit
in the head by shrapnel.

Both of his eyes were blown
clean out of his head.

He died almost instantly,
which was a good thing.

- They came diving down
on us, the soldiers.

Said what the devil are
you doin' here, missus?

They piggy backed
me along the beach.

- It looked as
though, potentially,

for Britain the war was over
before it had even begun.

The core of the British Army

was on the brink of
being eliminated.

There seemed no escape.

We was on
the beach for 48 hours,

no food, no water, nowhere
to go, nowhere to hide.

You just hoped that
they would miss you.

Operation Dynamo
was the climactic moment

of one of the greatest
escapes of all time.

Hundreds of British ship crews,

many in private boats,
crossed the Channel,

bravely plunging into
the thick of battle.

- The water was up to my chest.

Over came the Luftwaffe so
we were like sitting ducks

in the water.

- My overcoat was
permanently wet

from the waist down.

- I could hardly swim
but it's surprising,

when you've got to you do it.

This is after our
ship got blown,

this bomb went right
down the funnel

and it blew to smithereens
and there was dead

and dying boys all
over in the water

and the captain said, we
cannot stop, gentlemen,

we cannot stop.

And then suddenly we
got into the Channel

and there was relief,
relief, relief.

We got to Dover and then
we kissed the ground

and cried our eyes out.

In celebration of the courage

of the soldiers and
those who saved them,

this is the story
of an epic escape

that must never be
forgotten, told by those

who were actually there.

- I have been to hell.

I think I dream of it
every night, every day,

of the days when I went
through so much to live

and now 99.4, he's still here.

- Every morning, wake
up, and there it is.

It's amazing I'm still alive.

- I can dream every
night about it.

- I'm the only known
living survivor

of my battalion.

I mean, I was only one
of a million wasn't I?

- They're so forgetful today.

I talk to some people, they
said what war was that?

That's the attitude of today.

- I mean I go to the
schools, the kids

have never heard of Dunkirk.

Nor have the teachers.

- Dunkirk is so
important in a global,

military, political
sense that it's amazing

to me that people
don't remember it.

Certainly until
the film came along

people had no idea at
all what Dunkirk was.

And even those who knew
thought about it as,

you know that little British bit

that happened before
America got involved

and saved the day.

It's a hell of a lot
more important than that.

It's a universal
story of survival.

It was a miracle in the sense

that so many troops
got home when,

on the face of it,
it didn't seem likely

that very many would at all.

The fact that the
British got home

meant that Britain
didn't have to make

a peace treaty with Hitler.

Britain didn't
have to surrender.

If the troops had
been destroyed,

the was would have been over

and the consequences would
still be with us today.

- There is no glory in war.

It is just survival.

- I was born in 1918,
a pretty poor family.

My mother wasn't a lovey lady

and they couldn't control me

so they said he will go
to Doc Bradada's Home.

So I went when I was
five 'til I was eight

and then from there I went
to Norwood Children's Homes

for two years and I
went to Soukup Homes

and that was my early years.

And believe you me, you
can't understand life

in those days, it was pretty,
pretty rough, pretty rough.

- I joined the Territorial
Army at the age of 18.

Well I joined it because
cheap beer in the canteen

and the girls like
men in uniform.

I didn't really join
it to become a solider.

- We joined Territorial
Army at Brixton.

I was in front of the infantry.

My job as an anti-tank gunner
was to shoot the tanks.

- I was cycling
along with my friend

and women would come,
recruiting sergeants,

doctors, and said would
you like to join the army?

We said yes.

He said, how old are you?

And I told him 16.

Oh, he says, you're
not old enough.

I said hang on a
minute, no I'm 17.

So he signed me on.

Kid that age,
they think it's marvelous,

the uniform.

- We tried again and
again to prevent this war

but now we are at war and
we are going to make war

and persevere in making
war until the other side

have had enough of it.

- I was born in
Belgium, Antwerp,

then the war came, of
course we had to get out.

The Germans smashed
our house to bits

and, of course, we had to
leave everything behind.

I was only nine.

- War was declared
September 3, 1939.

In the end of September,
I was called up,

so I was in pretty quick.

I was conscripted.

- I saw a war was comin'
and my father advised me

to get out of the army
and join the air force.

We had a medical for air crew.

I was wearing glasses,
I failed the medical,

and saved my life because
the majority of my class

didn't live out the war, so
havin' glasses saved my life.

- You looked upon it as
an adventure at first.

We never realized
what it was gonna be.

- Well nobody could
really, really know

like what would happen.

World War II was the most savage

and destructive global
conflict in history.

In the wake of the German
invasion of Poland,

in September 1939, the
British Expeditionary Force

were dispatched to Europe.

The very
beginning of the war in 1939,

you had the British
Expeditionary Force

traveling out to France.

These were young men who'd never

been abroad before so it
was an incredible experience

for these people.

They were going out
on the boats across

and then train
traveling across France

just clamoring to
get to the windows

to see what a foreign
country was like.

Not much was happening
and they ended up

meeting French people,
eating French food,

doing all sorts of things
that they'd never done before.

And being away from
home, it was kind

of an adventure for
these young people.

Britain is slow to anger

and certainly never
wanted this war.

But since it's been
forced upon her,

she's fully determined
to see it through,

no matter what
sacrifices are demanded.

And those who are making
the biggest sacrifice,

the fighting men, are
the most cheerful.

- We sailed across
on Christmas Day,

landed in Cherbourg in
France on Boxing Day,

so that was our Christmas.

- We went to a place
called Gandicore

up near the Belgian
border and I was in

a machine gun
battalion, lot different

than bein' at home
with your mum, ya know?

- As I was able to
drive, I was put

into the Royal Army Service
Corps which is all transport.

That winter of 1939 was
a very severe winter,

deep snow, we were
so short of supplies

and that was the trouble.

You were sleeping in hidey-offs

and you were given one
blanket between two

and it was freezing.

In fact my pal and
I got up one night

and had a jog in the
snow, we run as fast

as we could to try and get warm,

we were that frozen.

Soldiers were issued

with food rations,
designed to meet

their nutritional requirements.

- You're given a
tin of bully beef,

like a corned beef,
a packet of biscuits,

like dough biscuits, and that
was your meals for the day.

These army biscuits,
you couldn't bite 'em,

you had to break
'em with something

and make 'em soft
and swallow 'em

so I said yes, I'll
have another one

and I nearly broke
my teeth bitin' it.

- They were so hard.

They say the biscuits
have got a lot

of energy in it so I'll
take their word for that.

- Sometimes the cook gave
us what he called stew

but best not to
ask what was in it.

The BEF that
went to Europe in 1939

was a totally mechanized army.

But with scandalously
inadequate training,

they were ill-equipped to fight

a superior German Army.

A lot of the
troops weren't trained

because they weren't
really soldiers.

- Virtually all of them
it was the first time

they'd seen action.

It's amazing
fact, a lot of these people

had never fired a gun.

Literally never fired a gun.

- By the time we went to France

we just about knew which
end of the machine gun

the bullet came out of.

I mean all
we did was march about.

You're given
a bit of basic drill,

given a rifle, little
bit of target practice,

and the I was allocated a lorry

and that lorry you
kept all the time.

- Well James seems to be having

a pretty exciting time at sea.

There's no doubt he's
doing his bit, all right.

Here we are at home,
nice and comfortable,

sitting 'round the
fireside, do you know

it makes me feel I'm not
pullin' my weight in this war.

By May 1940,
things looked bleak in Europe.

As Hitler's army unleashed
devastating attacks

on France, Belgium,
and the Netherlands.

In May, the action really began.

The Germans moved
forward and so did

the British Expeditionary Force

move forward to meet them

at a pre-arranged
point in Belgium.

They hadn't been allowed into
Belgium up to this point.

The idea was Belgium
was staying neutral

and would only get involved
if it was attacked,

so once the Germans
moved into Belgium,

so the British
Expeditionary Force

and the French moved
forward from their lines

in France forward into
Belgium to meet them.

- First place we
went to was Brussels

and the street we
were in was empty,

it had been
completely evacuated,

the civilians had just gone.

- We got on a train in Antwerp

and it wouldn't
move so we got off

and we walked from
Belgium to France.

We walked all that way.

- It was a beautiful
day, lovely, sunny sky,

little white clouds, and we
was in this French village,

and I walked across the square

and out of a white cloud
came this German fighter,

swooped down and
machine gunning me.

But he was a rotten
shot, he missed me.

When Germany
started the Blitzkrieg,

the 10th of May,
that's when we first

met up with the Germans.

- We went all the way
along the River Dyle

and the Germans were
on the other side

firing at our guns and we
were firing at their guns

so we had a Lysander up
there sending the information

to me and I informed the army

so eventually got their
targeting shot there

aircraft down.

- What was expected
really was a stand-off

like the first world
war, a war of attrition,

a war of very little movement,

people thought they
would be ending up

in their own trenches facing
the German in their trenches.

Because that's what
they were used to.

But that's not what happened.

Because the Germans mounted
this incredibly audacious attack

through the Ardennes,
using their Panzer tanks

and it just cut
through the defenses.

People didn't think
they could get

through a forested
area to attack

but the fact was they did.

And there were virtually
no defenses behind

so they drove straight through

and in a matter of days,
they had reached the coast.

- We found ourselves at
a town called Wyvern.

These Stukers would circle up

and then pick their
target and the lead in one

used to be divin' down,
well we discovered

that if you fired,
those who were circling

could see the flashes of guns

and they would
probably bomb you,

so in the end we used to
wait until the last one

was in his dive, they used
to come almost vertically,

and he couldn't alter
it, and that's the one

we used to shoot at.

Shot one down, anyway, that
was quite satisfactory.

- I heard that the Germans
are four miles away

and I suddenly saw a roadblock,

soldiers coming through,
it was the Guard's Brigade,

I said what are
you buggers doing?

He said, we've been told
to retire to the hill.

I said well I've just left there

and he said well, you
better hang about,

see what's goin' on.

So my officer, he
went and found out

that we've got to move too.

So from there we went
to Ariste, Amiens

and fought the
Germans down there.

The Allied armies were hampered

by poor communications.

With no common leader,
they often operated

solely with their own
objectives in mind.

- We didn't know
where we were going

or what we were doing.

- The lack
of communication
between the British

and the French in the
build-up to Dunkirk,

neither side really knew
what the other was doing.

- When Sergeant
Grover said hurry,

you put on that spot
there with your gun

and if any tanks come in to you

with their guns pointing
forward, they're enemy,

if the guns are reversed,
they are friendly.

So I said, okay Sarge.

So I sat there with
my gun and I said

there's tanks coming, Sarge.

He said well shoot
the bastards then.

I said well I can't see 'em.

Oh, right, get on.

So I carried on and suddenly
they started firing at us.

Guns were blowin' us to pieces.

I thought, this is
terrible, this is terrible.

And then suddenly my gun was hit

and we were knocked out
for a couple of minutes.

And suddenly we're so sorry,

we thought you were the Germans.

These are bloody
Frenchmen in this tank.

As big as a house but we got
about 17 causalities then.

- The lesson that was learned
was that communication

with their allies would
have to be far, far better

in the future and not only that,

their communication
amongst themselves

would have to be better.

The Allied defenders were unable

to match the sheer
might and ferocity

of the German Blitzkrieg attack.

Faced with superior air power

and a more unified command,

they were a poor match
for the German Wehrmacht.

The German
Army was better equipped.

It was most certainly better
trained and more experienced.

All their armaments
were better than ours.

Their machine guns were better.

Their anti-tank
guns were better.

Their tanks were better.

Always one step
ahead of what we got.

They always had bigger tanks

that could fire
farther distances.

They just stood out
of range of ours

and just knocked 'em out.

- We had rifles but
they weren't good.

- My weapon was a Webley 38.

When it was time to fire them

it was time to get out of it

'cause you couldn't
hit a barn door

at ten feet with them.

The
defenses of Paris are airtight.

Enemy planes will find a barrier

of steel guarding the
throbbing heart of France.

The bitter lesson
of 1914 has resulted

in the famous Maginot Line.

For mile after mile
along France's eastern

and northeastern
frontier are lines

of steel and
concrete gun turrets,

connected underground by
vast subterranean chambers.

Here, entire armies
can be quartered

in comfortable and air
conditioned surroundings.

They shall not pass is
the historic war cry

of the French solider and
the scissor-like crossfire

of the Maginot Line
makes doubly sure

that the new world war will
not be fought in France.

The Allies could do little

to stem the advance
of the enemy.

In the town of Wormhout,
17 miles from Dunkirk,

British troops were overrun
by advancing German forces.

- I saw the best and
the worst of war.

I had some wonderful friends

and my colleagues were so brave.

There was 100 soldiers put
in a barn as prisoners.

So the Nazis came
through one evening

and they machine-gunned and shot

every soldier in there.

And these men were
murdered but fortunately,

Pulli and Callahan
were still alive

under their bodies
of their mates.

And they stayed there
with all their dead

and dying and those dear
ladies, farmers' wives,

put them in the grave.

- I'll tell ya one thing,
not all Germans were bad.

Although we was trying
to kill each other.

And I don't suppose
a lot of them wanted

to be where they were
any more than we did.

- The funny thing is that
I liked the German people.

They're a lovely lot of people.

It was just these Nazi troops.

I saw plenty of
Germans do, you might say,

acts of mercy to
wounded soldiers.

They would always
attend them according

to severity to their wound.

Regardless of what uniform,
whether it was gray

or whether it was khaki.

And we used to do the same.

You know the
ordinary German person

doesn't want a fight.

- I always used
to say to my men,

if you take any
prisoners, treat them

as you would wish to be treated

if the situation was reversed.

I mean, after all,
they were human beings.

As Hitler's forces moved

through France at
lightning speed,

the Allies found
themselves fighting

against overwhelming odds.

- You had to be dissident.

I didn't see any cowards.

- Well I only had
one, he was a driver,

I'm not gonna tell
you what his name was,

but he was a proper ladies' man

of curly hair with
a little mustache

and his sidecap on
the side of his hat.

And he was a boaster.

We couldn't find this fella.

He went missin' and
I found him lyin'

in our split trench.

I said, where have you been?

He said I got lost.

And I said, how'd you get lost?

Walkin' up in broad daylight
behind someone else?

But anyway, that
was it, so I used

to give him the
least responsible job

which I thought
wasn't quite fair,

ya know, the least
dangerous job.

I know he had a
wife and daughter.

I said what would
your family think

when you're branded a coward?

He said to me, I don't
care what you say

or do to me, I'm not drivin'
this carrier up that road.

Well the only thing you could do

was to stop their pay, not
that we got much anyway.

And I wouldn'tve mind if
he wasn't such a boaster

when he was out, oh we
did this, we did that.

I said, you did nothing
except crap your pants.

I don't know whether you
call that trauma or what.

It would be several years

after the events at Dunkirk
that military psychiatry

became an essential element
of medical provision.

- Those soldiers that
come back from the front,

I know exactly how they feel.

I used to have a
lot of flashbacks

but I never had any
treatment or anything.

We never bothered
about counselin'.

You had to get on with it.

- I didn't need counseling.

Might I say, the
men of those days

were a lot different
than the men today.

- Counseling?

Kick up the backside.

Bloody counseling,
that's a load of rubbish.

There wasn't anyone to
give 'em counseling.

Well, not officially.

Outnumbered, outgunned

and outmaneuvered,
the Allied defenders

fought a desperate retreat

as the Nazi war
machine closed in.

The Blitzkrieg
operations for the Germans

have effectively
encircled the British Army

in northern France.

- The speed meant
that they almost got

to the point of
cutting off any exit.

- The effect of these
tanks streaking through

and reaching the
coast meant that

the British Expeditionary Force
was effectively outflanked.

It meant that even
before the fighting

had begun in any real
sense, they already

were on the back foot
and they were going

to have to retreat.

- The British, from
purely pragmatic view,

saw that the battle
was lost, they knew

it was gonna end badly.

And they thought the only way

we can stay in the war
is to get our men away.

Then we can carry on the fight.

- We knew things
were boiling up.

- And the Germans had
circled us around.

It happened so quickly.

The only way out was by water.

- And by that time,
the word was Dunkirk.

That was the only escape
for the British soldier.

- Along this road, came
this German staff car.

Patrol shot the
driver and the officer

in the back jumped
out and ran away.

But he left behind in
the car his helmet,

his belt with his
Luger, and a briefcase.

That was immediately taken to
the divisional headquarters

and I realized this
briefcase contained the plans

for the German corps that
was to attack Dunkirk.

- There were two days
grace which allowed

the French citizens to
get of Dunkirk itself

'cause it had been
bombed heavily

and the French soldiers
to barricade it

so that they could defend it.

The situation was
rapidly becoming desperate.

German tanks had reached
the Channel Coast.

The Maginot Line
had been outflanked.

With the French
and Belgian armies

retreating on each side,
there was only one option

for the BEF.

Withdrawal to Dunkirk.

- I was driving along
this very twisty road

and there was a bridge
that had been hit

and rather completely blocked,
you couldn't get through.

So I was stopped and while
I was lookin' at a map,

I suddenly saw someone comin' up

with a revolver in his hand.

So I grabbed my
rifle ready to shoot

and then realized it
was a British officer.

He said where are
you making for?

And I said that little village.

He said well good job for
you but the bridge is down

because the Germans are
in charge of that village.

And he said in case
you don't know,

you're encircled, so
make for the beach.

So I drove back to where my
company was but they'd gone.

- Montgomery was able
to shift my division

to fill out the gap
where the German Panzers

were gonna come through.

And so we got to
the Commes Canal

where we took up
position just in time

before the Germans
arrived the other side.

We were there for about
five days holdin' 'em back

while the rest were
gettin' away from Dunkirk.

On the last night, the
Germans got around us,

so it was decided
someone had to go back

to our headquarters and
tell 'em what was happening.

So I volunteered.

So I ran up to this farm
and on guard outside

was a friend of mine and
he shot me from a few feet.

But it wasn't serious, it went

through my shoulder,
right shoulder.

He thought I was a German.

And he said, I'm sorry,
I aimed for your head.

Well he was only
a few feet from me

and I said it's
a bloody good job

you're a rotten shot
then, isn't it John?

Defeated and humiliated,

the Allies were
backed into a corner.

Surrender seemed inevitable.

The war for Europe
was assumed to be won.

- This incredible defeat,
because that's what it was,

it was a huge defeat,
looked as though

it would wipe out
the British Army.

If the army was
outflanked already,

all the Germans had to
do was to curve round

and it would be
completely surrounded.

And if it was
completely surrounded,

how on earth could it possibly

do anything but surrender?

- We heard from the general
that they could not help us.

I knew we'd lost the war.

- And you thought
well they're going

to invade Britain
now and that's it.

- I didn't know how we could
possibly win at that stage.

We'd lost everything.

The whole British Army,
all its equipment.

Amid the unfolding chaos,

the BEF headed for Dunkirk.

- As the British Army moved back

it became fairly
clear to Lord Gort,

he was the commander-in-chief
of the British Army,

that if Britain was
going to survive

in the war, there
would have to be

some kind of evacuation
and it became very clear

that evacuation could only
take place through Dunkirk.

Because bit by bit
all the other ports

came into German hands.

The only one that was still
in Allied hands was Dunkirk.

Now the British soldiers,
they didn't know

why they were retreating.

They were sent into the retreat,

thinking maybe my unit's
done something wrong

and we're being punished
and we're being sent back.

They didn't realize
for a long time

that they had been completely
outflanked themselves.

And so back they came.

- We got through and I said,
aw come on kid, jump up.

I've got a lovely big horse
that I'm puttin' on board,

I said we're gonna have a
ride to Dunkirk on this.

We start the ride I said,
no, we can't do that,

that poor horse is
gonna get killed.

Come on, off ya
get, let's go back.

Then we walked, walked,
and that was it.

- We handed over
to French troops,

to hold the Germans
back while we got away

so we drove to the
outskirts of La Plagne

and we were told there
was someone there

that would meet us and
tell us where to go.

Of course we got there
was no one there.

So we walked into the
sea, I remember the water

was about up to my chest.

Over came the Luftwaffe machine
gunners along the beach.

There were no ships,
no boats at all there.

So they took us out the water

and decided that
each machine gun crew

would find their own way.

- We came across a farm
and the farmer came out

and said are you
stayin', and we said

well we're moving
slowly and he said,

well here's the key of my house,

he said look after
it as long as you can

because I'm going and
leaving everything behind.

And then the signal
came through, evacuate,

so we evacuated and that
was the end of that.

- We were three
weeks on the road.

We were in the farmyard
with all the animals.

We could help ourselves.

Went into the nest boxes but
we couldn't drink the water,

we couldn't drink
nothing, we couldn't

have nothing to drink.

- Hadn't got any food,
no water, nothing.

And I said, oh Ebbie,
what we gonna do?

He said, Henry, there's
an old bullet there,

he said we're
gonna shoot him up.

He's goin' I could hear
him moanin', poor old thing.

So we shot him and
we cut some joints

of beef off him and we had
steak that thick, my God.

- We did eventually
meet the soldiers.

We were the Chesire regiment.

They were very
good, they fed us,

we had a lot of biscuits,
hard crust things.

Horrible

With the enemy on their heels,

the retreating army
continued to the coast.

- We were told that if
you find our forces shot,

just go in and help yourself

because the Germans
will have everything.

So I went in there and
I got some cigarettes

and my co-driver who had
never driven the lorry

he got some whiskey.

He was a Scotchman.

He was in the back
of the lorry, drunk

and that was the
last I saw of 'im

until I got to the beach.

As thousands
of defenseless civilians

fled for their lives, the
soldiers witnessed scenes

of countless horrors.

♪ Oh my God are we
doin' this again ♪

♪ Are we really doin'
this again, oh my God ♪

♪ I just can't believe we
really can be doin' this again ♪

♪ Will we never learn

♪ Will we never, ever learn

♪ Will we ever learn

- There were so many
refugees on the road

and they just wanted
to get out of the way,

so this really hampered
the British retreat

because they were
retreating alongside

hundred of thousands,
millions, of civilians

who were also
trying to get away.

So it's chaos, ya know
the roads are chaos,

the whole atmosphere
is one of chaos.

What is going to happen?

Nobody knew.

- We had to keep going
but the French did suffer.

Oh we saw some terrible
things there, terrible.

'Cause the dead bodies on
the side, it was terrible.

- The terrible
sights we used to see

of hundreds of
people being murdered

and bombed and burnt up.

All these refugees with prams

and horses and carts
and, of course,

the Luftwaffe, they
were machine gunnin'

to cause chaos and
block the roads.

- They'd just bomb anything.

They didn't care.

- We went through so much
death, rotten bodies,

men, soldiers, horses,
cattle, everything.

It was absolutely dreadful.

- We saw an officer laid out.

He was dead, lyin' on.

Oh, I said, and all
his little photographs

were hanging out of his
children, everything.

Despite the horrors,

the soldiers had no
choice but to keep moving.

- People crying
help me, help me.

It was a fiasco,
absolutely a fiasco.

When I saw those poor lads
being blown to pieces,

and you just ignore
it, you just ignore it.

You know it's happened
and it's gone.

It's really
terrible to see these women

and children being
injured and that

but not much we could
do about it like.

- We couldn't save anybody.

When you're going
through all of that.

You despair and
you did your best

but you know you
had a job to do.

- There was a little boy
came home from school

and he found his
house had been bombed

and his mother and
father were killed

and he said, where' my mummy?

Then he followed the
soldiers with us.

- Oh my feet were terrible.

The soldiers kept
puttin' me on their backs

because I couldn't walk anymore.

I was only a little kid.

Oh it was awful.

Well my father gave
up, he didn't want to,

he said I'm not
going any further.

He said the Bosch can have me.

Deep in a complex of tunnels

beneath Dover Castle,
the British began

to formulate Operation Dynamo.

The person
with the overall control

of the evacuation was
Admiral Bertram Ramsey,

who was a trusted old naval hand

and who was put in
an extraordinarily
difficult situation.

He was working
from Dover Castle,

in fact, working
from the Dynamo room.

- And the message
came through here

that Operation Dynamo
was to commence.

- Things had to be
done so quickly.

You hadn't got weeks
to plan what to do,

it had to be done immediately.

The recovery was no

ordinary military operation.

Admiral Ramsey
devised an evacuation

involving over 900 vessels.

The port of Dunkirk

had been almost completely
destroyed by the Luftwaffe.

It was almost unusable.

So all you had was the beaches.

The trouble was,

the ships were too
large to come in

close to the beaches.

The beaches were
very, very shallow.

It was a
flat, vast, duney beach.

Which is great if
you want to sunbathe

but if you're trying
to get large destroyers

up to it and get
men off the beach,

it's impossible and
that is what they found.

- What was needed
were smaller boats

that could actually
ferry the soldiers

from the beaches
to the larger naval

and civilian ships offshore.

The British government appealed

for small civilian craft
to join the rescue mission.

The operation would become
the biggest evacuation

in military history.

Desperate times
call for desperate measures.

- It came out by
radio to begin with

and that was it,
that's all people knew.

- It wasn't until very late on

in the evacuation
that the newspapers

and the radio even reported
that there was an evacuation.

It was kept secret.

- It was all done
in such a rush,

the requirement to
requisition the vessels

sort of came overnight.

It was organized
chaos and everybody

who could lend a
hand, lent a hand.

A lot of the
time the owners had no idea

that their boats
were being taken.

- If the owner
happened to be nearby,

then they could join
in with the project,

if not, the navy basically
went along and just took them.

Arriving at
the outskirts of Dunkirk,

many of the exhausted soldiers
had not eaten for days.

- I drove 48 hours,
kept falling asleep

at the wheel, hittin'
the curb, waking up,

and eventually
arrived at the beach.

- I went into a cafe and asked
if we could have some water

in our bottles because
we had had no drink

and the lady said I'm
sorry, we've got no water

in Dunkirk, the Germans have
blown up the waterworks.

She said but I will fill
it with Van Rogue for me.

So we had Van Rogue
for the beach.

- I said, look at that
warehouse over there,

look, it's empty,
there's nobody there.

I said give me your rifle.

So I got his rifle and
I bang, bang, bang,

about five shots with
it, opened the door,

and when I opened up this door,

you would never believe
this, it was full

of neat Jamaica rum,
loads of Carnation milk,

biscuits, everything you wanted.

It's gonna be left
for the Germans.

Dunkirk was a military disaster.

The loss of equipment to the
British Army was colossal.

As soon as they got to Dunkirk,

the soldiers were
surprised to hear

that they were going to
have to blow up their cars,

their tanks, anything
that they'd traveled in

to get there.

The vast majority

of the equipment
that the British Army

had taken to France
with them was lost.

All their heavy artillery,
virtually all their vehicles,

all those had to be
abandoned in France

because they couldn't
get them back

across the Channel.

- They were told to
put sand into the tanks

so that the engine would
completely seize up.

Because they didn't
want the Germans

to have any of their equipment.

But as every soldier
has drummed into him,

they didn't leave
their rifles behind.

- You could've been charged
if you lose your rifle.

That was more valuable
to them than your life.

- My 1500 weight van
went into the canal

with my kit bag,
camera, with some films

that would be worth
a fortune now.

We smashed up all the lorries,

I mean we couldn't
take 'em to England.

We took our
machine guns out the lorry.

Drove the lorries
over the machine guns

'til they were destroyed.

Then cut all the
pipes on the lorries

and left them running
but they'd seize up.

There was a
big hotel on the seafront.

We went down into the cellar.

We dived in, ya know, and we
saw other people in there.

And this woman she
said, don't bother.

She said, come in, and
there was beds there

and we laid there for a while

and it was all right
but we couldn't go

to the toilet or anything.

We had a machine
gun on the toilet

where they were firing,
keeping the enemy away.

But it didn't seem to
make any difference.

You couldn't do
anything with money.

There was money lying
in the street, useless.

- After we got to the beach,
the lieutenant said to me,

you're air force and
these are all army,

and if they get hold of
you, you'll get beaten up.

Because they could see
no support from the air.

He said but what
you'll have to do,

take your shoes off
and put some boots on,

a mackintosh, and a tin hat.

So I was completely disguised
as an army chaplain.

As tens of thousands of soldiers

congregated on the
sands at Dunkirk,

they were confronted with
scenes of destruction

they would never forget.

It was all
on fire down the beach.

- We got attacked by the bombers

and the Sukers were comin' down

and divebombing on the beach.

People don't realize but my God,

you saw all your mates
bein' blown to pieces,

ships bein' blown apart.

You had big cannons going off.

We just had to lie in the sand.

It was all rather nasty.

Forces and
bombers kept comin' over

machine gunnin' the beach.

No protection at all.

And you just sat on the
beach, nowhere to go,

so you just sat there and
hoped that they'd miss you.

We used to make a
duvat, we would dig up the sand,

put a tin roof on
it, and make a hole

and say you get caught in.

The part of
the beach that I was on

there was no officers at all.

We just had to look
after ourselves.

- There's bodies lying
all over the place.

We had to bury a lot
and where we buried them

they put bottles
and I didn't know

'til, well, recently,
they put the bottles there

to know where they were buried

so that they could
take them up again.

Morale plummeted
to a previously unknown level

as the soldiers waited
without supplies or hope.

And for about four
days, I hadn't got any food,

no water, nothing.

48 hours on the beach.

No food, no water, nothing.

And we couldn't drink the water,

we couldn't drink nothing,
oh it was terrible.

There were people
goin' out their minds.

- Some just, I
suppose, just gave up.

I don't know.

The feeling of despair

was in your mind all the time.

You didn't know what
was gonna happen.

You were just numb.

You couldn't think ahead.

And we did, ya know,
wonder what was gonna happen.

As they waited under a hail

of bombs and machine gun fire,

the defenseless
soldiers felt abandoned

by the Royal Air Force.

There was a
general sense amongst the army

on the beach that they had
been abandoned by the RAF.

The Royal Air Force

and Fighting Command
were being vilified

by the soldiers and
sailors who felt the RAF

weren't defending
them at Dunkirk.

Every time they
looked up in the sky

they only saw Germans.

Where were the RAF?

- We had one RAF Spitfire
come across the beach

and everybody cheered,
a British plane.

And this British plane came down

and machine gunned us.

It was a Spitfire
that had been captured

by the Germans and the
Germans were using it.

- Airmen who had been
downed or who were working

on the ground, who
were trying to get back

on board ships to
go back to Britain,

they were basically turned away

or they were attacked
by people saying,

you're not getting on board,

you haven't helped
us, off you go.

That's how much
they were vilified.

- I thought that was
a bit uncalled for.

- We'd heard when we
came back to England

how the RAF were protecting
the troops on the beach.

Well not on our beach.

Weakened by losses
during the French campaign,

the RAF couldn't stop
the German air assault

but they could hamper it.

The soldiers and the sailors

simply believed that
the RAF weren't there.

The fact is, it
was really unfair,

because the RAF were there.

- The air battles over Dunkirk

were actually quite intense.

They were there,
they just weren't

directly over the beach.

A Spitfire overflying the beach

is going at well over
300 miles an hour

and is gonna be over the beach

for a fraction of a second,
a couple of seconds at most.

The air to air combat
that took place

to try and stop the
Germans from getting

to the beach was
seven miles inland,

so it would've been
out of the line

of sight of the guys
on the beach anyway.

They were there.

Perhaps not over the beaches

but bit farther
inland or out to seas.

- You had this
sort of a standoff

and of course at the time
of the Battle of Britain,

the entire attitude
to the RAF changed

and they became the
nation's heroes.

As Germans divisions pressed in

on the perimeter of Dunkirk,

the BEF were on the
verge of annihilation.

Their fate balanced
on a knife edge.

I'll tell ya something.

When we were under all
that fire on the beach,

I don't think there
were any atheists.

I never stopped praying.

- A lot of 'em mighta
changed their minds

when they got off but
we used to had a saying,

we used to dig
these small trenches

which we called slit trenches

and we used to say
there were no atheists

in a slit trench,
ya know what I mean,

when all this nasty
stuff was comin' up.

So that's just my
personal opinion.

- It was wonderful to
see so many men praying.

They've probably not prayed
since but I did a lot.

- We were in the
cellar for a week

and they brought out
baskets with the rosaries in

and we all had to have a rosary

and we all stood
there and prayed.

My mother is very courageous.

She said if we get
through Dunkirk,

we'll get through anything,
and she was right.

On the 27th of May, 1940

senior naval officer
Captain William Tennant

arrived at Dunkirk to
coordinate the evacuation.

- Tennant realized, okay
we don't have the port,

but what we do have is
this long breakwater,

this long arm, called the mole.

It was never intended for a ship

to come along
side, never at all,

it was just to stop
the sand running

into the harbor
and silting it up.

He immediately saw the prospect

of tying ships up
along side this mole

and using it as a
keyside from which troops

could then embark
onto the vessels.

- What he did was
to bring one ship

along side the mole
to see will this work.

And it did.

An armada of ships, crewed

by the Royal Navy and
civilian volunteers

sailed through the treacherous
waters of the channel.

Many would face scenes they
had never witnessed before.

And the majority

of the little ships
that came over

were actually commandeered boats

that were taken across by
members of the Royal Navy

and these members of the
Royal Navy very often

didn't even know how
the boats worked.

The purpose of the little ships

was to take people
from the beaches

onto the bigger ships offshore.

So they might do this time
and time and time again.

- We stood on that
mole, oh we waited ages

to get a ship.

They were shooting
at us, oh my God.

We kept wavin' to ships,
askin' them to stop for us.

A lot of them passed.

Mummy had her nightie,
she just kept wavin',

stopping the... I'm British.

The sailors
came under merciless attack

by the Luftwaffe.

Ships were being destroyed

left, right, and
center, so it was hell

that you were going into.

A third of the ships

that took part were destroyed
or put out of action,

so it was a hugely
dangerous undertaking.

- The dangers were many.

For a start, you had to know
where the minefields were.

They were minefields
that had been laid

by Admiral Ramsey but
they were enormous.

You could be run over by a
boat that couldn't see you.

Or you could find that
your sea was afire

because when any of these
large boats go down,

the engines explode
and the diesel ends up

all over the surface.

You could easily be shot.

A lot of the people on the boats

that came back
dead had been shot

by German aircraft or they were
being bombed out the water.

A lot of people didn't
survive the crossing.

As the first boats
started coming in,

they lifted the boom up
and watched a boat come in,

half of whom were dead.

As the battle raged in land,

across the sky,
and into the sea,

all hands worked to
the absolute limits

of their endurance.

- Well I was in full uniform.

I just waded out up
to me neck in water,

'cause I saw this ship, and
it was a paddle steamer.

I got hold of a rope,
was pulled on board,

and that was the last
thing I remember.

I just passed out completely.

When I come to, they'd
carried me downstairs

where the boilers were,
in me uniform soaking wet,

dryin' out per the boilers.

- We saw a coaster
and it was on its side

and it appeared to be on fire,

there was all this
smoke coming from it,

but we saw some
people gettin' on it

and so we went and explored.

They were burnin'
oily rags to make out

it was on fire so
we got on the boat

and this boat must have
been used for taking coal.

It was all coal dust.

Every time a shell
or bomb burst,

all this coal dust came out

and dare I say we
was lookin' like

the black and white minstrels.

- Everybody was tryin'
to get out somehow.

And then the little
ships came over,

picked up a lot of people.

Come on, you blokes,
next stop Dover.

We were absolutely thrilled.

I knew we then prayed
and prayed and prayed

to get back to Dover.

- We got to the mole
and eventually we got

to a fishin' trawler
called The Lord Gray.

And he counted us
on and he said,

that's enough now, off ya go.

So laid down and went
to sleep straight away.

- My mother had
the sense, she said

we're not going
for the big ships

because they were
bombing them like Dilia.

So we got this little oil
tanker called The Sutton.

We had the captain's
cabin and we were told

we could be bombed any
minute, it was so dangerous,

to get through all this
debris and everything.

We had to go through
fire to get out.

The bombs were comin'
down and the machine guns

were bein' fired
at us all through.

Some got sank, some
got away with it.

- Bombin', bombin',
bombin', bombin'.

You cannot believe
hell, least you can be,

if you're in it.

And with all the baloney
in what people are sayin'

about not bein' scared, you
can't help bein' scared.

And you would then prayed
and prayed and prayed

to get back to Dover.

What happened?

We got back to Dover.

It was wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful, Shangri-La.

Daylight, we were shattered,
absolutely shattered,

but what a feeling it was to
know we were back in England.

It gets you to a feelin'.

I can only say it was a miracle

and we're just
happy to be alive.

- Our company was 107 strong

and there was just 31 of
us got back, over 107.

The British Army who had left

the shores of France in
the depths of despair

were welcomed home
as conquering heroes.

We'd just lost
a battle but these people

in England were
treatin' us like heroes.

- The thing that I could
still say to this day,

doesn't sound very much, I know,

but it was amazing, as
we came into Harwich,

there were hundreds
of women on the docks

and they'd all
obviously been told

as soon as the ships
start coming off,

grab a soldier and
look after 'im.

- Standin' on the queues you
have all these lovely ladies

and they all wanted to get
hold of the wounded hero, me.

And I was in more
trouble from these ladies

from the WES than
any bloody German.

They were all tryin' to grab me.

The medical officer said
you'll still warm, you'll do.

- Some lady got ahold of my arm,

took me into a hangar,
gave me some tea

and sandwiches, my
co-driver, he survived,

and he was tellin' everybody
that I saved his life.

Well I didn't really.

I was drivin' the lorry,
he was in the back drunk

and I got him to the beach

and got him out before
we destroyed the lorry.

So in a way I
suppose you could say

I saved him but not really.

When we finally
reassembled I was surprised

at how many of my battalion
had managed to get back.

It was a miracle we got out.

The people were very good
when we got to England.

They helped us out,
gave us clothes,

we had nothing, we
had to be stripped,

and bathed, and fumigated,
and God knows what.

- Dunkirk to me was an
epic of absolute bravery.

I went through hell
to get out of hell.

I got back safe and sound.

That's how I feel.

Operation Dynamo

was the biggest military
evacuation in history.

The campaign narrowly
avoided a surrender to Hitler

and was a major
turning point of WWII.

But, to the soldiers
who returned in 1940,

it represented failure.

- The British soldiers
who were evacuated back

saw themselves as a
sort of battered remnant

of a defeated army.

They'd been part of
a terrible defeat.

They came home ashamed.

- These were heroes
because they'd survived

and it meant that we
had a future in Britain.

What Dunkirk did
was it enabled the British

to stay in the war.

It was a triumph in
that they managed

to get away far, far more people

than they thought they would.

- It was amazing
how many they saved.

- They were only
expected to achieve

a maximum of 45,000 troops.

They managed, in the
end, to reach out

and save over 338,000 men.

The British Army had survived.

A mood of national euphoria

captured the British public.

The smoke of battle

hangs over Dunkirk,
that port just

across the Channel
from which thousands

of men of the BEF
are coming home.

The magnificent
rear guard action

carried out by the
British and French armies

in the north is only
equaled by the splendid work

of the navy in covering
their embarkation

and bringing them home.

The soldiers return
aboard warships

and vessels of all kinds.

They've been fighting
unceasingly for two weeks

and the whole world has marveled

at their tremendous courage
and unshaken discipline

under brilliant leadership.

And never in the whole history

of her defeats and her victories

has Britain been prouder
of her fighting sons.

Are you glad to be back boys?

- Sure, yeah.

It would be a long road

to eventual victory.

World War II would continue
for another five years.

But the events at Dunkirk
made the next step

in that journey possible.

A lot of guys went off on leave

for a few days just to recover.

We were all given three days.

- Station warrant
officer came in

and he said, I'm afraid chaps
reveille here is at 6:00

but seeing that you
were at Dunkirk,

you can get up at half
past seven or 8:00

and have a breakfast
and that's that.

Hip hip!

Hooray!

The men of the BEF

have been enjoying some
respite from danger

after their heroic
withdrawal from Flanders.

Here in a rest camp they
dust themselves down,

sort themselves out, and
indulge in a little music.

♪ Came to the battle

- My pal and I, we were
together all through the war.

We both survived Dunkirk.

But when we went
out to the boat,

we sort of somehow went
in different direction

and I assumed that
he'd got either killed

or taken prisoner.

And he thought
the same about me.

And next morning,
when I was walking

up the street to
get a breakfast,

and walkin' down in
the opposite direction

was my pal Ginger.

And he suddenly
spotted me and come

and put his arms
around me, we was like

long lost lovers.

And we both thought
the other had perished.

I mean the escapes I had
was absolutely amazing.

Ginger and I were in the cinema

and I can't remember
what the film was called,

but we were in there
and got hit by a bomb

and there was over 500
people killed in it

and him and I walked out
just covered in dust.

Operation
Dynamo has been the subject

of multiple films.

The 2017 release of
Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk

focused the world's
attention once again

on the events that changed
the course of World War II.

- I just think it's one
of the great stories

in human history.

I am very excited to have some

of the veterans who
were actually there

participating in the events.

We screened the film for them

and it was one of the
most daunting things

I've faced as a
filmmaker, to stand

in front of those people
who were really there,

who are now well into their 90s,

and show them our
version of their story.

- We went to the first
showing of Dunkirk.

I went on the red carpet up
there at Leicester Square

and they was coming along
givin' out cuddles on me.

- There were hundreds of people

behind the barriers.

Walked up and they were
cheering and waving.

It was outstanding.

- It was a good film.

The only people realize
what the Dunkirk spirit was

was people who were there.

No one else can imagine
what it was like.

- I thought it was very good.

There was a couple of
little minor things

that I could've
faulted but in general

it was pretty accurate.

- I sat on my backside
watchin' the baloney.

- I thought it's gonna be a load

of American rubbish and I was
quite pleasantly surprised.

I thought it was
pretty accurate.

- It wasn't my war.

How can you make
what we went through?

You cannot do it.

- Prince Harry invited
me to the palace.

What a marvelous man that he is

but I was only the
second oldest man there.

That was a shame.

- They treated us like heroes.

- You are heroes.

You were and you still are.

Definitely, I hope
someone gave you a lift

up the hill though.

- This lady, she pushed
me for a little while,

then someone came
up from the palace

and he said to me, do
you know who that was?

I said no.

He said that was Kate.

Well I didn't know
it was 'cause she

was at the back of me.

- He was so charming,
Prince Harry.

He came 'round and
chatted to us all.

And he was very, very nice.

- I couldn't get me shoes
on 'cause my feet swell

and I had to go in my slippers,

so I said to Prince
Harry, I apologize

for havin' my
slippers on, he said

at least they're royal blue.

- Prince Harry thanked
us very much indeed.

I would say we were heroes.

And I thank God that
I was, that's all good.