In May 1940, the combined British and French armies were thoroughly beaten by the advancing German army. A plan was devised to rescue the British Army from France but most of the ports were in German hands, so it was decided to evacuate them from the beaches near Dunkirk in northern France. The problem was that the water was too shallow for larger ships to get inshore so hundreds of small boats were sent over to France from southern England to ferry the soldiers from the beaches to the waiting ships off-shore. While this was happening, they were under constant air attack from the German Luftwaffe. By the end of 'Operation Dynamo' around 338,000 British and French troops had been saved - 10 times more than had been expected, but all of their equipment had to be left behind. Because of this, it became known as 'the miracle' of Dunkirk.
I think the Maginot line was entirely staffed by the French. It was. Before the British retreated to Dunkirk, the Maginot Line had already fallen.
The Dunkirk evacuation was code-named "Operation Dynamo" .
The mass evacuation of Dunkirk was conducted from 26 May 1940 to 4 June 1940. Over these nine days, 338,226 French and British soldiers were taken from Dunkirk, France and the surrounding beaches by a fleet of about seven hundred vessels, including the Little Ships of Dunkirk, a mixture of merchant marine vessels, fishing boats, pleasure craft and RNLI lifeboats, whose civilian crews were called into service for the emergency.
The Dunkirk rescue, also known as Operation Dynamo, took place between May 26 and June 4, 1940, during World War II. It involved the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, France, as German forces advanced. Approximately 338,000 troops were successfully evacuated to Britain in a remarkable operation involving military and civilian vessels.
Soldiers abandoned their weapons at Dunkirk primarily due to the desperate situation during the evacuation in May 1940. As Allied forces faced encirclement by German troops, the urgency to escape outweighed the need to carry heavy equipment. With limited time and resources, many soldiers prioritized saving their lives and retreating to safety over retaining their weapons. This led to a chaotic evacuation, where thousands of men left their gear behind on the beaches.
The Dunkirk evacuation, was codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British.
The nation of France capitulates after the Dunkirk evacuation of French and British forces .
After the Dunkirk evacuation , France capitulates .
The evacuation from Dunkirk
Dunkirk, the evacuation of the British from capture by the Germans in WW2.
Between 27 May and 4 June 1940, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was forced to retreat to Dunkirk by German forces. The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, was the evacuation back to Britain from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France,
France capitulates after the Dunkirk evacuation .
If you are referring to the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, the total number was around 338,000.
The evacuation from Dunkirk saved 338,226 soldiers [British & French].
Dunkirk
Coastline of Northern France
Dunkirk.