Dunkirk evacuation 1940
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 4 June 1940 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1940 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battle of France | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Belgium, Canada, French Third Republic, Nazi Germany, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 51.0575, 2.3575 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
In the Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, more than 338,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk in northern France between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The operation began after large numbers of Belgian, British, and French troops (as well as smaller contingents of Dutch and Polish soldiers) were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the six-week Battle of France.
After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, France and the British Empire declared war on Germany and imposed an economic blockade. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was sent to help defend France. After the Phoney War of October 1939 to April 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and France on 10 May 1940. Three panzer corps attacked through the Ardennes and drove northwest to the English Channel. By 21 May, German forces had trapped the BEF, the remains of the Belgian forces, and three French field armies along the northern coast of France. BEF commander General Viscount Gort immediately saw evacuation across the Channel as the best course of action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest good port.
Late on 23 May, the halt order was issued by Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt, commander of Army Group A.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Dunkirk evacuation (revision 1381204088), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Raid on Dunkirk (1800) 1800 · 0 km
- Battle of Dunkirk 1940 · 2 km
- Siege of Dunkirk (1646) 1646 · 3 km
- Battle of the Dunes (1658) 1658 · 3 km
- Siege of Dunkirk (1793) 1793 · 3 km
- Siege of Dunkirk (1944–1945) 1944 · 3 km
Other battles of the Battle of France
- Battle of Boulogne 1940
- Battle of Dunkirk 1940
- Battle of Sedan (1940) 1940
- Siege of Lille (1940) 1940
All 5 battles of the Battle of France →
Browse more: battles in France · Europe · World War II era battles