Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture

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Lord’s in-the-weeds perspective, while vivid, has one serious drawback: it doesn’t give you the overall context in which Dunkirk unfolded. There may be books with more updated statistical data about the Miracle of Dunkirk but for pure readability I would highly recommend this one.

Having survived the retreat to and evacuation from Dunkirk, he volunteered for the newly formed Commandos and took part in their first major operation, the raid on the Lofoten Islands.

This summer will see the release of Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, a big-budget, big screen (it was shot in IMAX) retelling of the BEF’s remarkable escape. It was interesting to see what really happened in those few days and even with the crazy lack of communication how they were able to get so many men out. Lord does a superb job describing British resiliency as they tried to block the German advance at the same time they instituted a massive withdrawal to save the BEF.

There are several nonfiction works available, and I chose Walter Lord's version because I had so enjoyed his book A Night to Remember, which was about the sinking of the Titanic.As Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Lancers and the daughter of a 12th Royal Lancer, I am enormously proud of the Regiment’s long and illustrious history. The French were less enchanted as they felt that "perfidious Albion" deserted the French troops on the beaches, although the number of poilus who didn't make it to the boats ranges from 20,00 - 50,00.

Instead, as Lord makes clear, it was the mole – the long, narrow pier jutting into the channel – that allowed so many men to be evacuated. However, despite the awful circumstances of that first year of the second world war, there are incredible moments of light in this brilliant book. Churchill and company were concerned that the losses were too much in light of what they thought would be a long war. Unfortunately, for me, I was never able to really connect to any one of the individual stories shared.His son packs 80 men belowdecks, all of them laying down so they'll take up less room and not coincidentally lower the center of the Sundowner's gravity, and Lightoller packs the deck with 50 more, at which point Lightoller "could feel Sundowner getting tender.