First published 2017
In May 1940, more than 300,000 Allied soldiers found themselves trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk as Nazi forces closed in. Joshua Levine reconstructs the nine critical days from May 27 to June 4 when an extraordinary seaborne evacuation saved these troops from destruction. Drawing on fresh interviews with veterans and survivors, Levine examines the operation from three perspectives: the soldiers who endured days of bombing and strafing without adequate food or ammunition, the civilian boat owners who risked overloaded vessels to ferry troops to safety, and the airmen who flew dangerous missions to protect the evacuation. The author explores both those who escaped and those who did not, presenting what Winston Churchill called a miracle through the experiences of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances. This account reveals how sailors, airmen, and civilians collaborated in an operation that transformed military disaster into legendary rescue.
Genres: history, 20th-century, world-war-ii, non-fiction, military-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: based-on-true-events, heroic-sacrifice
Setting: Dunkirk
Period: 1940
368 pages · Paperback · MorrowPb
Content warnings: war