The Dunkirk Evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as The Miracle of Dunkirk, or simply Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the early part of World War II from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the north of France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940.
The operation commenced after large numbers of Belgian, British, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the six-week Battle of France. In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called this "a colossal military disaster", saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to be destroyed or captured.
In his We shall fight on the beaches speech on 4 June, after the operation had successfully ended, he hailed their rescue as "a miracle of deliverance...".
