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May, 1940...
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On the beaches of Dunkirk,
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Hitler's army surrounds
more than 400,000 Allied troops.
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On the other side of the Channel,
in England,
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Navy planners race to assemble
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a fleet of ships
to launch a rescue mission.
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Luftwaffe fighter planes
circle above the beaches,
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targeting their easy prey
on the sand below.
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As the Nazi noose tightens,
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hundreds of civilian vessels
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join the largest military evacuation
in history.
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In this series,
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we investigate the most
extraordinary events of World War II
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from a brand new perspective,
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matching rarely-seen archive film,
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photography from the front line,
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and remarkable
aerial reconnaissance images
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to their original locations.
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We reconstruct the crucial battles,
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daring bombing raids,
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and deadly terror weapons
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that changed the course of history.
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Soaring over the battlefields,
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we reveal the secrets of World War II...
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from above.
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April, 1940. Dunkirk, in northern France.
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All is quiet along this sprawling beach.
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But not far to the south
of this small coastal town,
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the Allied armies are spreading out
for hundreds of kilometers
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along the Belgium border
to set up a defensive front.
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Since the war broke out
in September, 1939,
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almost 400,000 British soldiers
have arrived in France.
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They've been working
with the French forces
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to set up World War I style defenses
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to ward off potential attacks
from the Nazis.
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But on the 10th of May,
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Hitler's army launches
a sudden and massive invasion
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on the neighboring countries of Belgium,
Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
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They use a tactic known as "blitzkrieg,"
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which combines vast numbers of tanks,
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infantry, artillery, and aircraft
to stage highly concentrated attacks.
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This allows Hitler to overwhelm even
the most organized of Allied defenses.
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As the Nazis steamroller to the west,
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Allied forces surge forward
to stop the advance.
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Hitler's blitzkrieg tactics
allow his armies to move
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at astonishing speeds
and create a pincer move.
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This onslaught completely
takes the Allies by surprise,
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creating panic and triggering
a mass withdrawal towards the coast.
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Almost half-a-million Allied soldiers
retreat to the beaches
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between Dunkirk and La Panne,
in Belgium, to try to escape.
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Most are British, but there are also
Belgians, Dutch and French.
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Many have been split up from their units
as they race towards the coast.
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One of the soldiers
that reaches the vast shoreline
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is private Ronald Mott
of the Queen's Royal Regiment.
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I had hit the beach at La Panne.
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There were so many men coming down
all roads to get to the beach
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that you got pushed and shoved
and you got parted and you got lost.
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We were all scared.
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There was no Navy.
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We didn't know what was going on.
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It was complete chaos.
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Thousands upon thousands of men
in the beach.
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And nobody's getting off.
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Former Royal Marine Arthur Williams
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explores the beach at Dunkirk
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to understand the dire situation
the Allies face.
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Arriving on the beach
must have been terrifying for the troops
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because thereafter,
you've got nowhere to go.
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In the military,
we train to be on the offensive.
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We're trained how to attack.
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We train to always be moving forward.
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We never really do any training
on how to withdraw safely
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or how to withdraw effectively.
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This is a battered army
that's been defeated,
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not really knowing where they're going,
what they're doing and why.
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One thing that strikes me
is the scale of the beach here at Dunkirk.
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Right over there on the far horizon,
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you can literally see
into another country.
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That's Belgium over there and then
down there's the harbor town
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of Dunkirk itself.
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Imagine how terrifying it would have been.
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If somebody decides to come
and try and have a go at you,
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there's nothing you can do about it.
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The Luftwaffe is quick
to exploit this vulnerability
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with one of its most
potent aircraft, the Stuka.
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These are extremely accurate
precision dive bombers,
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armed with three
7.9 millimeter machine guns
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and five bombs.
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It's also mounted with an instrument
that produces a terrifying sound.
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Its sole purpose is to strike fear
into the Allied forces below
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as the plane dives towards its targets.
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These aircraft were fitted
with what's called a "trumpet of Jericho."
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It's a siren that makes a horrendous noise
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when the aircraft starts its dive,
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and these sirens don't do anything
for the airplanes' operation.
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It's just purely to terrify those
on the ground who it's about to kill.
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The soldiers are easy targets.
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The only way they can defend themselves
is with their rifles.
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But they stand little chance
against the Stukas.
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The Stuka dive bombers overhead
were like vultures circling around,
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waiting to just come down
and pick off their prey.
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They had a choice of targets.
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They were spoiled for choice.
They could have gone for anything.
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From a soldier's point of view,
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I think that they would have tried
to stay in the dunes as much as they could
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because they offer you relative safety.
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You can dig in there
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and you've got a bit of cover
from bomb explosions and shell explosions.
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It's not just the Luftwaffe circling above
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that threatens the lives
of all these soldiers.
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If the Allies can't find a way to slow
the advancing German ground troops,
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almost all the British Army
could be wiped out.
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The retreating soldiers
set explosives on sluice locks,
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bridges and all critical infrastructure.
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They build rudimentary defenses
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and barricades on roads
to set up a defensive front.
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The local canals and rivers
can also be harnessed as obstacles
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to slow the Nazi tanks and infantry.
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The men raced to use these waterways
as part of a defensive perimeter
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to hold back the German advance
and buy some precious time.
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But on the 25th of May,
the nearest of the Nazis' forces
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are only 27 kilometers away
from the Allied beaches
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between Dunkirk and La Panne.
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The rearguard is ordered
to fight to the last man.
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This should buy the Allies some time.
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But it won't hold
the rampaging German forces for long.
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Time is running out
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and the Nazis' noose is ever-tightening.
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The Allied commanders must find a way
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to rescue their men from the dunes
and get them off Dunkirk's beaches.
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If they fail,
it will almost certainly mean
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total domination for Hitler across Europe.
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These guys know that their area
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is just being squeezed smaller
and smaller and smaller.
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By the day, by the hour, by the minute,
the Germans are getting closer.
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This is make-or-break.
This is do-or-die right here.
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In Britain, evacuation planning has begun.
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Since the start of the war,
Dover Castle has been set up
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as a top-secret command center
for the Navy.
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In May, 1940,
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it's on the front line of one of the most
pivotal moments of the millennium.
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Beneath the castle lies
a network of secret tunnels,
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many of which were excavated into
the chalk during the Napoleonic wars.
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In these tunnels,
a team of 20 senior officers
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has just days to coordinate
one of the biggest evacuations in history,
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code-named "Operation Dynamo."
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Dr. Lynette Nusbacher investigates
why these tunnels have been chosen
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to be the crucial nerve center
of operations for the Navy planners.
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The naval staff is here,
bunkered up in the tunnels
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underneath Dover Castle
because this enables them
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to communicate directly
with the senior naval officers
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running the ports along the coast here.
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These guys are used to serving at sea,
and so the cramped quarters
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that these guys are used
to working in aboard ship
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are just being replicated
here underground.
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You're gonna have a room here
for communications,
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a room for logistics, a room
for each of the functions of the staff.
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The people down under Dover Castle
are innovating.
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They're making it up as they go along.
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They are working around the clock.
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Nobody expected the Germans
to encircle the British Army.
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Nobody expected the Germans
to be winning the war so quickly.
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The only way to prevent
a German victory in May of 1940
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is to get the British Army
off the beach in France,
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and bring it back to England.
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One of the Navy's top commanders,
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Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay,
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is commander-in-chief
for this herculean operation.
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Ramsay is just the right man for the job.
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He is able to bring his keen intellect
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and a technical orientation
to solving this problem.
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Bertram Ramsay's task here in Dover
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is to coordinate things on a scale
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that nobody has ever done before.
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So Ramsay's staff has got to figure out
how to get enough ships to France
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to load up that whole British Army
and get it back to Britain.
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00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,800
Ramsay has a fleet of more than
200 ships at his disposal,
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including destroyers,
minesweepers and passenger ferries.
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But even with all these vessels,
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they face formidable logistical challenges
when they arrive in France.
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German bombers have been
targeting Dunkirk's harbor.
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There's no way the British Navy ships
can use these docks for the evacuation.
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Naval officer Captain William Tennant
devises an ingenious plan.
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He proposes to use Dunkirk's
kilometer-long breakwater wall,
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known as "the mole," as a makeshift dock.
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Tennant and the officers in charge here
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managed to maintain
a cool head under pressure.
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With the situation
they found themselves in here,
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it would have been easy
to dwell on what they didn't have.
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They didn't have the infrastructure
that they needed
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to get hundreds of thousands of troops
off the beach.
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So what they had to do
was think outside the box
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and look at what they did have
and adapt to that, and work with it.
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But there's a problem with Tennant's plan.
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The mole was not designed
for ships to be able to dock at.
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It's less than three meters wide and
is exposed to the rapidly shifting tides.
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It's a breakwater.
It's just a sea defense.
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It's not built to have large ships
moor up alongside it,
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and troops and supplies
shipped on and off.
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It's a risk, but it's the only option.
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On the 27th of May, the Navy's vessels
begin docking alongside the breakwater.
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But with limited space,
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some of the destroyers are forced
to drop anchor off the beaches.
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They must remain
almost one kilometer offshore
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to avoid running aground
on the shallow beach.
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00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,120
With the Luftwaffe
continuing to circle above,
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the warships are tantalizingly close.
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The thousands of soldiers on the beaches
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are desperate to board the Navy vessels
so they can escape,
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so they leave
the relative safety of the dunes
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and wade out towards the ships
anchored offshore.
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But here they are completely exposed.
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With the water up to their necks,
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they form queues and wait for hours.
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But their hopes of salvation
are mercilessly dashed.
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The huge Navy destroyers prove easy prey
for the Luftwaffe Stuka bombers.
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One of the men submerged in the water
is Royal Artillery gunner James Bradley.
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The dive bombers were, you know,
knocking the ships here
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and there were terrible things happening.
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I saw a destroyer
actually packed with men on board hit,
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and it just went on its side
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and hundreds of men went into the sea,
thrashing about.
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Many of them couldn't swim on shore.
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The attacks forced the men on
the beach to retreat back into the dunes.
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Out of a force of almost 400,000,
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the Navy planners estimate that, at best,
they'll only be able to rescue 45,000.
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Barely one in ten men.
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Back in Dover, the Allied planners
scramble to find ways
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to evacuate more of their men
from Dunkirk's beaches.
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If they fail, Britain itself
will be left all but defenseless.
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00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:12,240
In desperation,
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Vice Admiral Ramsay and the Navy
requisition smaller civilian vessels.
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00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:23,920
The Medway Queen is one of the many boats
being sent to Dunkirk.
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It's a 55-meter-long paddle steamer.
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Built in 1924,
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it's designed for pleasure cruises
up and down river estuaries.
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00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:42,840
To prepare the ship for war,
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engineers have fitted two antiaircraft
machine guns in the middle of the deck.
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00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:54,440
They've also extended the bridge
and enclosed it for protection,
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00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:01,720
and installed a huge gun on its bow that
fires shells weighing over five kilos.
241
00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:10,480
On the 27th of May,
the ship sets sail for Dunkirk.
242
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:14,640
Trustee Pamela Bathurst
243
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:18,560
investigates the challenges
the crew of the Medway Queen faces
244
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,840
on such a treacherous mission
across the Channel.
245
00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:25,720
The Medway Queen
is an estuary paddle steamer
246
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:27,560
and should never go to sea.
247
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,320
She's not big enough to go to sea.
248
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,720
But of course, in times of war,
all sorts of things happen
249
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,120
and, you know,
rules and regulations are forgotten.
250
00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,080
The crew is led by Royal Navy
officers and reserves,
251
00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,880
but it also includes 14 merchant seamen.
252
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:51,320
The crew were extremely brave.
253
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,240
Some of them were Cornish
and Devon fishermen,
254
00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,200
so had no experience of fighting a war.
255
00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,000
The English Channel
is a tough crossing to make
256
00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:03,960
because you've got fast-flowing water
through the Channel.
257
00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:08,920
You had mines, you had German planes
dive bombing them.
258
00:21:09,120 --> 00:21:10,920
So it was a very dangerous time.
259
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,320
Vice Admiral Ramsay and his advisors
260
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:20,600
believe that smaller vessels like this
261
00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,520
could be the key
to speeding up the evacuation.
262
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,560
All the paddle steamers
had very shallow drafts,
263
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,080
so could get very close up into the beach.
264
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:34,480
Not quite to the beach,
but get very close.
265
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,960
Mercifully for the men stuck in France,
266
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:44,120
the Medway Queen isn't the only
merchant vessel to set sail for Dunkirk.
267
00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:03,240
Ships of all shapes and sizes depart
from harbors around the coast of Britain.
268
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,280
They include fishing boats from Cornwall,
269
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:12,000
and luxury motor yachts
commandeered from their wealthy owners.
270
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,720
More than 600 civilian vessels
join the flotilla,
271
00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,120
and begin the perilous voyage
across the Channel.
272
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,760
They are christened the "Little Ships."
273
00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:45,080
One of the motor yachts
that makes the crossing is Mimosa.
274
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,560
Former owner Jane Percival is on board
275
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,320
the 14-and-a-half-meter long Little Ship.
276
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:04,880
Within a very short space
of time, the Ministry of War Transport
277
00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:08,680
put out a request for any vessels
from 30 feet to 100 feet.
278
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:11,480
And with some boats just like this one,
279
00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:15,120
a note was left on her mooring
that she'd been requisitioned,
280
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,640
and they'd get back in touch
with the owner after the war.
281
00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:21,720
So although it was put out as a request,
282
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:25,160
it was actually an order and you couldn't
stop them taking the boat.
283
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,040
Even though most of these ships
have Navy crews,
284
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,440
they haven't been trained
for an operation like this,
285
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,800
and nothing can prepare
the civilian volunteers on board
286
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,480
for what they are about to experience.
287
00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:56,280
They were going into a war zone.
288
00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,520
And these pleasure boats became warships.
289
00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,680
The majority of the boats
had fully-qualified naval staff
290
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,040
that knew these waters,
291
00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:09,360
but they still had to skirt around
boats that had been sunk,
292
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:10,880
boats that were on fire.
293
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:12,560
They had to worry about the aircraft.
294
00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,400
They had to worry about
whether they might be torpedoed.
295
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:23,760
They had to plan a crossing
where they could avoid all the minefields.
296
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:27,120
So it's a kind of zigzag route,
not a direct route.
297
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:39,160
To negotiate
the Channel's sprawling sandbanks
298
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:40,880
and hazardous minefields,
299
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,360
the Little Ships
take three different routes.
300
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,240
Route Z is the shortest, at 75 kilometers,
301
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:55,040
but is vulnerable to heavy fire
from German gun emplacements near Calais.
302
00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,200
Route X is 101 kilometers,
303
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,480
and runs right through
the shallow sandbanks and minefields.
304
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:12,120
Route Y is 161 kilometers
and relatively free of mines,
305
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,040
but it's twice the distance of Route Z,
306
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:20,480
which heightens the risk of attack
by German bombers and submarines.
307
00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:27,560
All the Little Ships are headed
for the heart of the Allied-held beaches
308
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,080
between Dunkirk and La Panne.
309
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,320
Nearby is the Fort des Dunes,
310
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:39,040
a key stronghold supporting
the shrinking defensive perimeter.
311
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,240
Buried beneath the sand dunes
that surround it,
312
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:52,960
the Fort des Dunes
is designed to be invisible.
313
00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:02,040
Resident specialist Lily Soki
scales the fort to investigate
314
00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:05,840
why it's so valuable
to the retreating Allied forces.
315
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:44,080
In May 1940, soldiers come here
to find their units amongst the chaos.
316
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,440
The fort is being used
to coordinate the French troops
317
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:51,400
holding the defensive perimeter.
318
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:57,960
After receiving fresh orders, they're sent
back out to reinforce the front line.
319
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:07,120
They're instructed
to defend the perimeter to the last man.
320
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:25,080
Twenty-eighth of May,
two days into the evacuation.
321
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:30,160
Nearly 25,000 Allied troops
have now been rescued.
322
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,000
But hundreds of thousands
remain in Dunkirk
323
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,200
as the Luftwaffe air attack continues.
324
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:46,000
The situation is just as dire for
the Allies on the ground further inland.
325
00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:52,840
Their defensive perimeter
is under attack and shrinking fast.
326
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:59,880
The Allied-held area is one-sixth
of what it was just three days earlier.
327
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:11,160
In the harbor,
the Saint-Pol oil refinery is on fire.
328
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,280
It billows smoke that drifts
across the beaches,
329
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:21,680
providing some cover
from the Luftwaffe for the men below.
330
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,480
The scene here would have been
almost apocalyptic.
331
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,320
The sky would have been thick
with black, acrid smoke,
332
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,920
and the smell would have been
equally as menacing.
333
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,080
There would have been signs of death.
334
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,880
I think it would have been
an incredibly scary place to be.
335
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,160
But all is not lost.
336
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,480
As men continue to wade out
into the water,
337
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,320
specks appear on the horizon.
338
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:01,480
The sight of the Little Ships delivers
fresh hope to the desperate soldiers.
339
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,600
But loading thousands of men
onto hundreds of vessels
340
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:12,080
of all shapes and sizes
is a complex and time-consuming exercise.
341
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:18,280
As they reached Dunkirk, it was chaos
and there were ships everywhere.
342
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,480
The Little Ships' role
was to actually head for the beaches
343
00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:26,080
where they could see the men
in the water waiting to be rescued.
344
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,760
They were avoiding obstacles.
They were avoiding wrecks.
345
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:35,360
They were avoiding fuel
that was on fire in the water.
346
00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:38,560
From the skippers' point of view,
347
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,840
obviously they wanted to be
as effective as possible,
348
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:44,480
so they had to choose a point on the beach
where there was a line of men
349
00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:46,520
and then start to pull them on board.
350
00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:55,720
The skipper would have been very aware of
managing the weight that was in the boat.
351
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,040
To get 70 men on a boat
that should only take 12,
352
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:05,440
you could probably fit about 40
outside on the decks of this boat,
353
00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:07,880
and another 30 down below.
354
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,560
It was a case of just loading
on as many as you could,
355
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:15,360
because every man saved was another man
that could fight another day.
356
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,920
Boat crews haul
the exhausted men on board.
357
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,400
But they're then faced
with heartbreaking decisions.
358
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:34,400
The traumatizing thing
for the skippers and their crew
359
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,000
must have been when to decide
360
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,880
not to pull anyone else
on board and to leave,
361
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,760
and they would have had
to say to them, "No more.
362
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,840
"Someone else will be here to help you.
We'll be back."
363
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:56,840
The soldiers devise innovative ways
364
00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,240
to board the Little Ships
as fast as possible.
365
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,640
Evidence can be seen from above.
366
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:11,600
A super-low tide exposes the remains
of vehicles buried deep in the sand.
367
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:19,320
Local resident Yves Janssen
examines the sunken artifacts.
368
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,120
The soldiers drive trucks
as far as possible into the water,
369
00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,200
and lay planks of wood over them
to create the makeshift jetties.
370
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,480
They assemble multiple pontoons
along the beaches,
371
00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:27,200
which keep the men dry
as they board the small vessels.
372
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,640
Two days into the evacuation,
373
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:38,040
Little Ships are setting off
back to Britain packed to the brim.
374
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,360
Thousands of men
may finally be on their way home.
375
00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:52,640
But on the land, Hitler's tanks
and infantry move ever-closer.
376
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:54,600
And in the air,
377
00:32:55,040 --> 00:33:00,280
his Stuka bombers target the rescue ships
docking alongside the mole.
378
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,720
Twenty-nineth of May, 1940...
379
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:18,720
Allied ships dock alongside the mole,
380
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,480
three days into the evacuation
from Dunkirk.
381
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:28,240
But as the men board the ships,
they are far from safe.
382
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,560
Nazi Stukas continue to attack
the makeshift jetty,
383
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,520
which stretches for a kilometer
along the edge of the harbor.
384
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:44,800
I think being on the mole,
they would have been so vulnerable.
385
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:46,120
It's a perfect target.
386
00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,920
It stands out
like a sore thumb from the air.
387
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,520
It's very linear, so you can strafe it.
You can bomb it.
388
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:56,480
And because the troops
are so tightly confined here,
389
00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:57,880
they'd have been trapped.
390
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,480
They'd have been sitting ducks, really.
391
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:07,960
As the Stukas dive,
392
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,680
the men scramble
onto the ships to try to find cover.
393
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,440
The thing is,
once you get on board one of the ships,
394
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:18,680
you could be forgiven for thinking,
395
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,080
"Great. I'm safe now.
I'm on my way back home."
396
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:24,040
But no, you're not.
You're still vulnerable to air attack.
397
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:28,480
Arguably more so, because you're on
a prime target for enemy aircraft.
398
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,040
One of the ships docked at the mole
399
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,720
is the paddle steamer the Crested Eagle.
400
00:34:38,240 --> 00:34:40,720
It's loading up with 600 men,
401
00:34:41,240 --> 00:34:45,160
but just as it sets sail,
it's targeted by a Stuka.
402
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,440
Four bombs land directly
on the Crested Eagle.
403
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:05,880
Corporal Bob Bloom, a probationary
medical attendant, is on board.
404
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,720
The next thing I heard was,
"Abandon ship!"
405
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:12,200
So I jumped in the water.
406
00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:21,320
And as I came up, somebody else
jumped in and pushed me down under again.
407
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:25,680
Then a whaler came alongside.
408
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:31,120
Two chaps pulled me in board
and they covered me with tarpaulin.
409
00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:40,200
As Bob is hauled out of
the water, the Crested Eagle is ablaze.
410
00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:46,280
With its engine still running,
it careers out of control along the coast
411
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:51,800
until it beaches on the sand
roughly nine kilometers from the mole.
412
00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:32,080
For the men still stranded on the beaches,
413
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:34,320
it's a traumatic thing to see.
414
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:37,440
But there is hope.
415
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:43,360
Despite the risks that they could meet
the same fate as the Crested Eagle,
416
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:50,280
the other Little Ships continue to ferry
the beleaguered men back to Britain.
417
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,240
Each crossing takes,
on average, six hours.
418
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:02,400
Many of these vessels sail at night
to minimize the threat of enemy attacks.
419
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:07,800
On the front line in France,
420
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:12,840
the number of Allied soldiers
on their defensive perimeter is dwindling.
421
00:38:14,320 --> 00:38:19,840
They're making a last stand to prevent
the Germans finally storming the beaches.
422
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,840
But they won't be able
to hold them for long.
423
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:38,320
The Allied perimeter around Dunkirk
has shrunk even further.
424
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:42,920
By the 31st of May,
425
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:47,800
the Nazis' frontline is only 10 kilometers
from the beaches.
426
00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:51,440
But before Hitler's troops
can go in for the kill,
427
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:57,080
they must capture Fort des Dunes,
the final Allied stronghold.
428
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:05,120
French soldiers desperately try
to hold on to this vantage point
429
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,600
to buy the men on the beaches more time.
430
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:15,320
On the second of June,
the German front line is so close,
431
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:18,200
the Allies can see it from the fort.
432
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:25,000
General Janssen is in charge
of the division here.
433
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,520
Early evening,
German Stukas attack the fort.
434
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,640
Two bombs land in the courtyard.
435
00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:23,400
The Germans continue to bomb
the fort for two days,
436
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:28,280
and kill over 100 soldiers.
437
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:34,320
On the fourth of June,
the surviving troops abandon the fort.
438
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:43,000
As the perimeter crumbles,
the Little Ships continue to collect
439
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,440
as many of the remaining
soldiers as possible
440
00:40:46,240 --> 00:40:48,520
before the beaches are overrun.
441
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:56,000
But more than 200 of these small vessels
are sunk during the operation.
442
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:05,200
The Medway Queen
is one of the last to leave.
443
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:08,400
On the steamer's final trip,
444
00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:12,920
one of its paddle boxes is damaged
whilst moored alongside the mole.
445
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:19,440
But it limps home, carrying hundreds
of members of the French rearguard.
446
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:27,560
The crew and soldiers on board
447
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:31,080
even manage to shoot down
three enemy aircraft.
448
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:39,040
The Medway Queen
makes a total of seven trips,
449
00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:43,080
rescuing over 7,000 Allied troops.
450
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:52,640
But over 80,000 men have been
left behind and taken as prisoners of war.
451
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,840
It's a somber mood on board
as they return to England.
452
00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:05,440
The surviving soldiers are traumatized,
hungry, and feel like cowards.
453
00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:09,280
The sight of home brings some solace,
454
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:12,360
especially for those badly injured.
455
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,000
Somebody would shout out,
"Look, there's the white cliffs!"
456
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:19,880
And the wounded begged to be lifted up
to the window
457
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,000
so that they could see the white cliffs.
458
00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:28,040
They just wanted to see that they were
going home, and they were going home.
459
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:37,600
Thanks to the efforts of
the Navy and these Little Ships,
460
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:42,840
338,000 men escape from Dunkirk.
461
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:50,120
Seven times more than Churchill
and the Admiralty thought was possible.
462
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:59,480
As the soldiers arrive in Britain's ports,
it's then time to treat the wounded.
463
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,480
The men are crestfallen
after defeat by the Germans.
464
00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:11,200
But these men survive
to fight another day.
465
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:18,360
Their courage and determination
in the face of adversity
466
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,760
gives birth to the phrase
"Dunkirk spirit."
467
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,280
Britain will not have to surrender.
468
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:34,680
On the fourth of June, 1940,
the final day of the evacuation,
469
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,120
Churchill addresses Parliament.
470
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:40,800
We shall go on to the end.
471
00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:44,720
We shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be.
472
00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:46,840
We shall fight on the beaches.
473
00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:49,760
We shall fight on the landing grounds.
474
00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:53,360
We shall fight in the fields
and in the streets.
475
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:55,560
We shall fight in the hills.
476
00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:58,040
We shall never surrender.
42307
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