Stranded on the beach with the Nazis closing in, the British army managed one of the most unlikely maneuvers in modern military history
In May of 1940, the remnants of the French and British armies, broken by Hitler’s blitzkrieg, retreated to Dunkirk. Hemmed in by overwhelming Nazi strength, the 338,000 men who gathered on that beach were all that stood between Hitler and Western Europe. Crush … and Western Europe. Crush them, and the path to Paris and London was clear. And so, unable to retreat any farther, the Allied soldiers set up defense positions and prayed for deliverance.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered an evacuation on May 26th, expecting to save no more than a handful of his men. But Britain would not let its soldiers down. Hundreds of fishing boats, pleasure yachts, and commercial vessels streamed into the Channel to back up the Royal Navy, and in a week nearly the entire army was ferried safely back to England. Assembled from interviews with hundreds of survivors who witnessed the evacuation, The Miracle of Dunkirk is a striking history of a week when the fate of Britain hung in the balance.
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I decided to read The Miracle of Dunkirk after learning that a movie was being made about this important historical event. Since even the best movies about topics like this are seldom able to be true to historical fact, I wanted to learn more about Dunkirk and its historical context before heading to the movie. Walter Lord’s treatment of this …
I can never get enough on WWII.
After seeing the movie I had to learn more about the evacuation of Dunkirk. The book definitely added more depth and texture to the movie in a very cohesive fashion.
A well written documentation of the events at Dunkurk
Limited viewpoint. author insists it was done just by the Royal Navy. Very incomplete read of a complex repost se to a difficult problem
Very good book. Makes you feel you are right in the action!
Better if shorter. Too much detail.
Very dry reading – recommend only for true history buff.
Shows what the movie could only hint at.
Made the movie so much more interesting. I could actually identify some of the characters. Yes, Dunkirk saved thousand but so much needless death and to die from drowning while in the belly of a ship is unimaginable.
A great historical rendition of what took place at Dunkirk
I read it before going to see the movie
A great depiction of the true story of the evacuation of Dunkirk filled with real-life vignettes of the actual participants and told in an entertaining and action-filled narrative. WWII buffs will thoroughly enjoy this read.
Amazing log of events including details that kept my interest from beginning to end. It is obvious that the author did a lot of research into the lives of those involved. I honestly could not put it down.
Pretty much anything by Walter Lord is guaranteed to be an entertaining read! I learned several things about the British and French forces at Dunkirk that I never knew before, but again, painstaking research and intriguing details are what one expects from a Walter Lord book. 5 stars!
Always knew that Dunkirk was special, but this made me realize just how amazing it was. Small boats,, larger ones, but all afloat together with regular people saving others. Something we should all aspire to – bravery in the face of death.
A little drawn out. This book was written in a way that makes it extremely difficult to see this as a “miracle.” Perhaps more could have been said on the statistical probabilities of the weather behaving as it did and the merchant ships doing what they did to give it more meaning.
Filled in the gaps after watching the movie. Loved it!
Very good, accurate read.
I appreciated the attention to detail and the story lines using various individuals that were actually present.
This is historical storytelling at its finest, a colossal event relived through the unique personal anecdotes of scores who survived it at headquarters, on the water, in the trenches. Beautifully, simply written, letting the individual stories weave themselves into big-picture connective tissue. A page-turner with a bonus – you actually learn …