DUNKIRK 1940 - Operation Dynamo

And yet, a few figures suffice to measure the importance of this chapter in the history of the Battle of France: between 27 May and 4 June, nearly 350,000 British and French soldiers were evacuated from the Dunkirk pocket by a motley fleet of 850 vessels, among them hundreds of fishing boats, pleasure craft, sea rescue vessels and merchant navy ships.

Thanks to the courage of the sailors and the effectiveness of the Royal Air Force pilots, this unprecedented operation was a success that enabled the Allies to continue the war against the Germans, even though they had to leave behind the bulk of their equipment and weaponry. Nearly 80 years later, Jean-Charles Stasi, author of several bestselling books published by Heimdal, revisits this pivotal event of the last world conflict — from its origins to its consequences — in a lively written work illustrated with numerous black-and-white and colour photographs, as well as maps, infographics, aircraft profiles and ship profiles.

This unprecedented military operation and human adventure comes to life again, 77 years later, thanks to British director Christopher Nolan, whose film Dunkirk is an international big-budget co-production to which an entire chapter of this book is dedicated.