Timeline: Survival of The Battle of Dunkirk

May 10, 1940

"Phony War"

Germany invades Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in a "Lighting war" attack

May 22, 1940

The Wait

Hitler held off for 48 hours allowing British to have some time to escape and surround them at the harbor. Nobody knows why Hitler didn't just go and attack and win the Battle right then and there.

May 26, 1940

Operation Dynamo ordered

German forces head towards Dunkirk on the invading side. Winston Churchill ordered the army be rescued by see and called this Operation Dynamo. Thousands of troops waited on the beach waiting to be saved.

May 27, 1940

Luftwaffe destroys Dunkirk Harbor

First Full day

May 28, 1940

Belgian troops surrenders

17,804 troops rescued

May 29, 1940

French Army joins evacuation effort

47,310 troops rescued

May 30, 1940

German Panzers withdraw from Dunkirk

53,823 troops rescued
Bad weather makes it hard for Luffwaffe to fly

May 31, 1940

35,000 troops captured at Lille

68,014 troops rescued

Jun 1, 1940

Big Day for Luffwaffe

27 vessels and 4 destroyers sunk. German bombs and torpedoes hit and sunk boats from under the water. 200 small life boats sunk. Many lives lost and sunk that day.

Jun 2, 1940

BEF Evacuation completed

British Expeditionary Forces were helping defend France from a German attack. They had to leave all their tanks, ammo and weapons on the beach.

Jun 4, 1940

Last night of Dynamo

Great Britain sent a fleet of 850 boats to cross the English Channel to get to Dunkirk to rescue the army. Any ship joined to help the fleet. Motor boat, Navy ships, yachts, life boats and steam boats were just a couple of the many types of boats that helped. 338,000 troops carried to safety by the end of the battle.

May 10, 2021