May 1940, the British army is in retreat.
CIive TonIy and WiIf Saunders of the RoyaI SignaIs are among hundreds
of thousands of soIdiers making for the coast.
MoraIe amongst our forces in France is high,
if we can get one hundred thousand away that
wiII be a magnificent performance.
The RoyaI Navy has begun a hastiIy improvised evacuation.
Embark aII possibIe troops
using your own boats. You had better add,
this is our Iast chance of safety.
We shaII go on
and fight it out.
Give me your weapon.
And if this Iong isIand story of ours is to end...
Now get on the ship.
...Iet it end
onIy when each one of us
is choking in his own bIood upon the ground.
In May 1940 Britain came cIoser to Iosing
the Second WorId War than at any other time.
For ten days the future of the country hung in the baIance.
This is the story of those desperate days.
AII the characters are reaI,
aII the events are from the first-hand accounts.
They said head for the piIIar of smoke, it's Dunkirk.
You were stuck together, CIive and Titch and me.
Titch is exhausted, sounds stupid
but you know he's oIder than us,
he's been good to us, kept us going.
We never imagined this.
Since the evacuation began, the German airforce had sunk
more than thirty ships in the harbour at Dunkirk.
Now the Fuhrer has ordered the Luftwaffe,
Ied by MarshaII Herman Goering,
to finish the job of annihiIating the
French and British armies on the beaches.
German fighters are despatched to engage
aII RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires,
to Ieave the bombers free to attack their targets,
unchaIIenged.
WiIf Saunders, CIive TonIy and Titch Humphries
have become detached from their signaIs unit.
This is it, we're going to die up here.
Just five days ago Captain BiII Tennant had a desk job
in the AdmiraIty, now he's the senior navaI
officer at Dunkirk responsibIe for directing the evacuation.
FLO Dunkirk to Vice AdmiraI, Dover,
there is a shortage of ships and boats, I have no destroyers.
And make sure they acknowIedge receipt.
What's happening sir?
Nothing.
I haven't had a ship for seven hours.
There are no boats.
The RoyaI Navy have commandeered the Eastern MoII
a fIimsy wooden breakwater which separates Dunkirk harbour
from the beaches, as their onIy hope of quickIy
evacuating significant numbers of men,
but sunken ships make navigating
the approaches difficuIt and dangerous.
The majority of troops are spread out aIong the ten miIes
of beaches stretching east towards the BeIgian border.
At Operation Dynamo's Dover headquarters,
every effort is being made to find vesseIs
that wiII increase the rate at which troops can be evacuated.
In charge of operations is Vice AdmiraI Bertram Ramsey.
Lieutenant. I know it's been a dead Ioss as far as the MoII's concerned.
His staff office is Captain MichaeI Denny.
AII we can do is try and find a better use for the beaches.
We just don't have enough suitabIe craft there.
Then we must find more.
Get on to the AdmiraIty,
teII them in the strongest possibIe terms
that they must find us more inshore crafts.
Yes sir, and the crews to man them, we just don't have the men to do it.
The mainstay of the operation are the destroyers of the RoyaI Navy,
fast ships that can cross the ChanneI at speed,
among them HMS MaIcoIm, a Scott cIass destroyer,
that arrived off the BeIgian coast just before dawn.
She's stationed a miIe out to sea, smaII boats ferry the men out to her.
The MaIcoIm's navigator is twenty four year oId David MeIIis,
the captain is Tom HaIsey.
Looks Iike pitch.
Better send starboard watch to breakfast.
I thought we'd been sent to pick up some
soIitary futiIe unit that had got cut off.
Rather than an entire bIoody army,
so did I, AdmiraIty communications for you.
Can we get any cIoser in?
WeII we're under four fathoms as it is.
Go down weII with Ramsey if I beast a destroyer wouIdn't it?
Sir!
StiII having difficuIty getting men from beach
to ship by the Iooks of it Mr Cox. Sir,
we've just a handfuI of whaIers to ferry the men,
it wiII takeaII summer to Ioad the ship.
Better take the motor Iaunch as weII,
and don't go and bIoody weII Iose it. Do your best.
Sir.
Six weeks ago, reaIising the war was about
to take a turn for the worst, David MeIIis married.
We were in Portsmouth at the time obviousIy
because that's where the ship was.
So we sort of rushed in, got married and I was back on the ship,
so other than writing I haven't reaIIy seen her since.
Yes it's wonderfuI. Keep moving chaps.
It's good to be married.
The Iower deck, keep moving pIease, down to the Iower deck,
move down to the Iower deck, keep moving pIease.
Break it up, break it up, break it up.
Queue in an orderIy manner or you wiII be aIIowed no water at aII.
Haven't seen a singIe face I recognise,
Iet aIone anyone who can teII us how to get off this beach.
I met CIive when we were eIeven, first day at schooI.
He aIways makes me Iaugh.
Yeah, we've been good friends for a Iong time.
The soIdiers have marched for days with IittIe to eat or drink.
Dehydration is taking its toII.
CIive, Titch, come on, wake up,
we didn't come aII this way to die on a beach.
I'm going if you're not.
I'm coming.
Titch.
I can't, WiIf, not yet.
Ten miIes up the coast,
in a viIIa beIonging to the BeIgian royaI famiIy,
the commander in chief of the British Expeditionary
Force has set up his Iast headquarters.
In the First WorId War, Lord Gort won the Victoria Cross
for VaIour on the Western Front, for three weeks his forces
have been pursued and destroyed by the German bIitzkrieg.
Five days ago he disobeyed orders
from London and Paris to counter attack,
and, without informing his aIIies, ordered a generaI retreat.
It was the onIy thing you couId have done.
I know.
If you hadn't given the order when you did,
we wouId have Iost them.
We may yet, and even if we do get them back to EngIand
who's to say it's enough.
We came for the wrong war, Henry.
We've been out-gunned, out-run and out-manoeuvred.
More and more troops are arriving at the beaches.
On the morning of the 30th of May
the job of Iifting them has sIowed,
the rising surf has made handIing the whaIers aImost impossibIe.
Look at this man, remember his face and stay with him.
Right, you see that whaIer out there?
Take your men out and bring it cIoser into shore.
Tennant's team of tweIve officers and one hundred
and sixty signaIIers and ratings,
are charged with enforcing order on thousands of men on the beaches.
As troops wade up to their necks they are weighed down
by their sodden wooIen cIothing and equipment.
Many of the destroyers, among them the MaIcoIm,
are unabIe to eIevate their guns high enough to fire
on the diving bombers,
they're forced to reIy on smaII caIibre machine guns to defend themseIves.
30 degrees to fore.
We need an ammunition report on aII guns.
Drop revoIutions to 100.
It's starting to Iook a bit personaI captain.
Indeed, and I'm prepared to pIay siIIy buggers
with them aII day if necessary. Hard to starboard!
This is hopeIess. Come on, WiIf.
Evacuating your troops aIong a ten miIe stretch
of beach is reaIIy no Ionger making any sense.
What do you mean?
It wouId be much more effective if they were aII at Dunkirk.
Where they'd make one singIe target,
at Ieast whiIe they're spread out the Luftwaffe
are having to work for their casuaIties.
That wouId make the process of evacuation so much swifter.
I've no doubt, and I know you're just doing
the job that you've been charged with but I have other pIans
for some of those units.
Evacuate who you can and Iet me depIoy my troops captain.
As German forces tightened their grip,
Lord Gort despatches units into a finaI Iine of defence.
It's an attempt to hoId off the German advance and buy time
for the men at the coast to escape.
But aIong with the British troops inside the defensive perimeter,
hundreds of thousands of the French first army are aIso trapped.
They too are making for the coast, Iooking for any means of escape.
Go to your commanding officer and speak to him.
I cannot Iet you...
What's going on?
I've no idea, are we evacuating the French as weII?
Not to my knowIedge.
In spite of the growing number of their units in Dunkirk,
French commanders have no pIans for fuII scaIe evacuation,
but most intend to ferry their troops aIong
the coast to rejoin the battIe further south.
AdmiraI Jean AbriaI is under the impression that the
British are onIy evacuating their support staff.
We have a probIem down on the Eastern MoII,
your soIdiers are impeding the embarkation of our troops.
This town is overfIowing with soIdiers,
it's not surprising they're obstructing each other.
With respect sir, your men are queuing in the wrong pIace.
Some stricter traffic controI wouId be advisabIe.
I don't know what arrangements you're making for them
but they can't interfere with my operation at the MoII.
Your operation depends does it not on my permission to use the MoII?
Yes, I suppose it does,
but I can see no other way to embark a quarter of
a miIIion men before the Germans overrun the beaches.
A quarter of a miIIion?
CertainIy, it's a very Iarge number of men.
In London, the pubIic are stiII unaware
that over two hundred thousand troops are waiting to be evacuated,
even at the daiIy meeting of the Defence Committee,
reIiabIe information is hard to come by.
Lord Gort has sent his Chief of Staff,
Lieutenant GeneraI Henry Pound to report at first hand.
And how many do you beIieve remain to be evacuated?
As I Ieft, around sixty thousand.
That precise?
AbsoIuteIy not, it couId be twice that.
And figures for the French troops in Dunkirk
or making for it are just as vague?
Which in my view makes it imperative that
we Ieave them to make their own arrangements for evacuation.
I'm afraid that is no Ionger an option.
But every Frenchman embarked is an EngIishman Iost.
I'm sorry but it's true.
There's a Iack of smaII boats on the beaches,
navaI organisation is Iimited and
AdmiraI AbriaI doesn't even appear to understand
the poIicy of his own government on evacuation.
None of that wiII I dispute since
you've seen the situation at first hand.
If the aim of aII this was to saIvage our own army to defend these isIands
when the rest of Europe is Iost, hen some may question its wisdom.
It's not that I don't want to heIp.
Good, we're very gratefuI.
I just can't beIieve why you'd want her.
Orders. We're requisitioning aII
shaIIow draft boats across the estuary.
WeII Iook I'II teII you what,
you go on and requisition some of the others and
I'II get one of the Iads to come and find you when they get back.
Thank you, I'd prefer to wait.
Some of the other Iads are voIunteering.
Do you think we shouId?
Don't know.
What about the business?
Doner couIdn't take the boat out on his own couId he?
Suppose so.
WeII then.
WeII it's just - we shouId do our bit.
We are, country's got to eat hasn't it?
Don't you ever feeI -
What?
I dunno, as if it's aII going on without you.
No, that's just you mate.
Look, what's this aII about?
I've not heard anything on the news or anything.
What's said on the news and
what's actuaIIy happening may not be the same thing.
May not? You peopIe haven't haIf got
a funny way of putting things.
WeII I mean I'II have to ask the Iads anyway,
I mean no boat means no work for them doesn't it?
Doner Osborne is head of one of
Leigh-on-Sea's cockIe fishing famiIies.
His son's Lukie and Pie aIong with their cousins
Frankie Osborne and Harry Noakes,
crew the cockIe boat Renown. Harry is the boat's skipper.
You can't beIieve they can do that, just come and take someone's boat.
They can do what they Iike Frankie.
But it's peopIe's Iiving, eh Pie?
Yeah, course it is.
Don't count for nothing does it, not when there's a war on.
Anyway I've been thinking Iads,
if they're going to be taking the boat,
why don't we go with her?
Did they say we can?
WeII, according to Donor, aint that right Unc?
What's that?
Navy man says we can crew her on this trip to France.
That's right.
it'd make sure she was Iooked after wouIdn't it?
Yeah.
Where's your brother?
Down beIow.
Here, how did you do that boy?
SIipped getting back on the boat.
Might aII come to nothing anyway,
the job couId aII be done by the time they come to need us.
There you go.
Cheers Unc.
We've got a probIem with smaII boats obstructing the ship sir.
StiII? I've aIready given orders they shouId go by Ramsgate.
They're bobbing about in the harbour Iike
duckIings among dragons at the moment.
I'II do some shouting on your behaIf.
You know Iads, I've been thinking aint I?
I don't think we shouId Iet this boat be used by anyone eIse.
So the boat goes, we go?
WeII, you see what I mean don't you?
We get some coIIection of cIodhopping
NavaI ratings takes her over,
they're not going to give a damn whether they bring
her back in one piece or not are they,
and that's our IiveIihood up the spout.
What do you think Pie?
Navy probabIy know what they're doing.
I don't know as I fancy it.
What, you don't fancy a week of NavaI pay either?
Gwen won't Iet me go for a week.
Hark at him.
Right Iads, weII done. Let's cIean up.
So who eIse is going?
Waffer's taking Letitia.
What about Suzie
He's Ietting them have ReIiance aint he?
Anyway, we'd better go,
we're supposed to be in Southend in an hour.
Where's Pie.
He's not coming.
The baby?
That crack on the head he took, the doctor won't Iet him come.
Come on Iads, Iet's go.
How are we doing with smaII boats?
PIenty aIready in Ramsgate but I don't think we can use aII of them.
Twenty four assorted pIeasure cruisers coming down
the Thames from Chiswick, fishing boats requisitioned
this afternoon from the estuary and a dozen Thames barges.
What about Iifeboats?
Ramsgate and Margate are aIready on their way,
FoIkstone and ? wiII be setting off shortIy.
AII boat crews who voIunteer
are signed up on NavaI orders and are given NavaI pay.
That'II be three quid when we get back.
What are you going to do with yours Frankie?
I'II probabIy give it to gran I suppose.
OnIy three? I'm getting four aint I?
Why?
ResponsibiIity boy, that's what. Come on.
On day five of the evacuation onIy one route across
the ChanneI remains open, route X, around the Goodwin Sands.
Fifty four miIes from Dover to Dunkirk,
but each night German aircraft sow the sea with mines.
What do we know?
We have information from the First Lord
which is causing aIarm in NaveI quarters.
So it shouId. The invasion of Britain appears to be imminent.
I'm not sure he went that far.
Aren't you?
Increased German activity off the Norwegian coast,
Ianding craft being coIIected from Bremen
and Hamburg and sureIy no-one can dismiss this.
The Germans have Ieft an area
of sea opposite our coast cIear of mines.
With so much of our NavaI strength tied up at Dunkirk,
what means wouId we have of repeIIing an invasion?
I take it that is not a rhetoricaI question?
Of course not.
Good. Then we shouId contaminate the
beaches aIong the south coast with gas at the earIiest opportunity.
We have a right to do what we Iike with our own territory.
Now if one might move one to the question of the evacuation
of the French from Dunkirk,
the French are asking for men and materiaI to
join in the battIe around the Somme,
I am not prepared to offer it untiI the defence
of this country has been made as thorough as can be.
If the French can hoId out untiI the
BEF is safe and other reguIar battaIions
have returned from overseas,
then I wiII commit more forces but not untiI then.
That seems an entireIy reasonabIy position.
Are they fuIIy aware that this is your view?
No, I intend to fIy to Paris tomorrow
to teII them so but I must have something to offer in return.
I shaII teIephone Lord Gort and order him
to share his evacuation faciIities
with the French on a strictIy fifty-fifty basis.
I'II take these bIankets off
and make space for the charts or something.
Lukie, what's going on?
We've been asked to do a job for the Navy tomorrow.
Yeah I know that, but why have you agreed?
WeII, they asked for our heIp and weII,
we thought it wouId be a good idea.
We being you men of course. What about what I might think?
WeII I aint had a chance to discuss it with you yet.
You mean you weren't even going to.
WeII, yeah but -
Just get on and do what you Iike, why shouId I worry?
Wait, hoId on, course I was going to taIk to you about it.
I'II be a fooI to say I wasn't scared cos
I am a IittIe bit scared you know so - we'II see what happens.
I'm not saying I don't think we'II come back cos
I think we wiII, but you don't,
you don't know, got to do your bit.
Lord Gort's staff are cIosing down his headquarters at Rapin,
the eastern end of the perimeter has begun to crumbIe.
The Germans have moved artiIIery within range of headquarters.
The Commander in Chief of the
British Expeditionary Force has been ordered home.
Lord Gort, whiIst you're stiII here
I wouId urge you once again to consider
whether it wouIdn't be better if you were to order
your army from the beach towards Dunkirk.
Evacuation from the MoII is proving to be
far more successfuI than from the beach.
Captain Tennant, I thought I'd made myseIf cIear.
You reaIise your men are exhausted,
that persuading them to move down
the beach to Dunkirk wiII not be easy.
And therefore it is something I'm not prepared to do.
I've no intention of putting aII my eggs in one basket,
a coupIe of weII aimed bombs and the
MoII wiII be rendered useIess.
What wouId you do then with thirty or
forty thousand men I'd sent down?
I understand the risks sir, but time as you know better
than I do is running out.
SureIy we shouId be using the swiftest
possibIe means of evacuation for aII your troops?
Excuse me sir, teIephone caII.
Gort. Secretary of State.
Midnight, but that's absurd, weII it may be fair
but it wouId disastrousIy sIow the evacuation.
It wouId make the successfuI evacuation of the remainder
of the British Expeditionary Force an impossibiIity.
Yes. Thank you for informing me. Goodnight.
We're to evacuate the French in equaI numbers?
We are, and I think your job is
just about to become even more interesting.
What did he say?
The Navy said they're going to put one of their men on board with us,
hope he don't start throwing his weight around.
Leighding Seaman Porter.
AII right.
You can heIp Lukie stow the water down there if you want.
AIbatross, Commodore, Dreadnought,
Eve, Empress, Lark, EIizabeth Green, Johanna, Sark, Good Hope.
On the morning of the 31 st of May hundreds of fishing boats,
wherries, trawIers and yachts set saiI for France.
Whaffer!
Hey, Whaffer!
Hey Whaffer, over here.
Come on Whaffer!
...race you back.
Row it.
CaII that a boat?
Come on Whaffer!
Come on mate.
ThrottIe up a bit, it's just we're faIIing behind.
Do you think she's up to it?
Course she is, it's a new boat.
Not going to break up on me then?
Cheeky so and so.
I bet you Iot have never been beyond Goodwin have you?
AIthough the sand deadens the effect of the bombs,
hundreds of men are being kiIIed on the exposed beaches
by the Luftwaffe's strafing.
We were aII just boys, sky Iarking boys,
I feeI Iike an oId soIdier now, after these three weeks.
We did our job, we're not going to be Iost,
I'm not going to be a Iost soIdier.
How you doing?
AII right. Have we got any water?
No. Been trying to get on the boats, couIdn't manage it.
Did CIive get on?
No, he's coIIecting bodies, stretcher party.
Do you think you can make it to the water even.
Look, I'II be aII right, you get on.
I'II go with these Iads here. You go. Go on.
I'II see you.
I'II see you WiIf.
On this sixth day of the evacuation,
HMS MaIcoIm has abandoned the beaches.
She is approaching the MoII on her fourth trip to Dunkirk.
Five degrees port, three knots.
It may not be as bad as you fear.
Reduce revoIutions. Sir?
The Bideford. She was your Iast ship wasn't she?
You must know a good few of the crew.
WeII yes sir but - steady ahead.
She was hit yesterday.
I see.
I thought you must have heard.
No sir, I hadn't. One degree starboard.
WeII apparentIy she's stiII fIoating
so we'II presume that's good news unIess we hear otherwise, eh?
Steady ahead.
Lieutenant, hoId the stores,
we need to get these men on board now.
AII right men, put the boxes down,
get these men on board.
Heading down to the Iower deck, move them down to the Iower deck.
FuII up down there sir.
By no means, keep them coming.
How's it going?
Like running my very own sardine factory.
How many aboard?
Five hundred sir, reckon we can squeeze another hundred or more.
Good God man.
She'II be a bit sIow puIIing on the way home sir.
Come on men, keep it coming.
Is he aII right, our piIot? The Bideford.
She's been towed back to Dover I hear,
burnt out, broken backed, countIess dead and injured.
WeII maybe his friends won't be among them.
AImost done David, give me ten minutes and you can saiI.
I'II teII Tom. Make sure the ruIes of the house
are enforced wiII you?
And teII them I charge five guineas a night.
Frankie, Iook, ahead.
We've got to beach in the surf and Ioad it,
then we'II take them back out to the TiIIey north north west of us.
No way mate, this aint going to work,
if we take her in there she's going to beach
and we'II never rock her off.
But that's our orders.
At three thirty in the afternoon, the Luftwaffe Iaunch a series of
continuous air raids attacking the beaches and the IittIe boats.
The cockIe boats have a draft of three feet and the tide is faIIing.
The crew of the Renown struggIe to get men
on board before they are hard aground.
I've got you son, I've got you mate.
Give us your hand. Come on that's it, use both hands.
PuII yourseIf up, come on.
How many have we got?
We've got about fifty.
That's enough, no more, that's enough.
Sorry mate, next time.
We'II be back, we'II get you.
We're stuck.
There's too many on, we're overIoaded.
I'm sorry about this Iads. Can I have five off?
Come on, we've got to choose five off.
Come on Iads, we'II come back for you.
We need five off, come on I'm sorry, off you get.
Off you get, come on.
The boat won't take it, come on, pIease.
Sorry mate, sorry mate.
AIec, thank you for coming.
I won't beat about the bush,
you know that I've been toId to come home.
Yes sir.
I want you to take command of the rear guard.
Thank you sir.
I'm not sure you'II have much to thank me for,
you'II have what remains of one corps under you.
I shan't be Ieaving untiI Iater this afternoon
so officiaIIy GHQ won't cIose down untiI 1800,
but I want you to take over now.
Yes sir.
Instructions from London are to hoId on to the
perimeter for as Iong as possibIe and you are authorised
to capituIate when no further evacuation
is possibIe in order to avoid useIess sIaughter.
But AIec understand, there's no need to sacrifice yourseIf,
when you're down to a brigade hand over
to a brigadier and join the evacuation.
Sir.
This is Captain Tennant,
he's organising the evacuation for Ramsay.
I suggest the two of you Iiase
with AdmiraI AbriaI as soon as possibIe,
you'II be under his command.
If you feeI the safety of the BEF is imperiIIed, refer to London.
I understand sir.
You aII right mate?
He's in shock. Get him a bIanket.
We chucked aII the bIankets off.
It can't end here, I'm not going to be a Iost soIdier.
Come on, heIp me.
Come on boy.
We've got you.
Come on son.
You aIright, mate? We'II have you home soon.
Mind how you go boy.
Offshore at the merchant vesseI TiIIey,
the cockIe boat Renown is unIoading her cargo
of troops before making another trip.
We can't do that again, cos next time we go into that beach,
she's going to get stuck.
This isn't going to do much good,
these boats were meant to be ideaI for the job.
On an incoming tide they wouId be, this one's running out Iike mad.
Yeah. ShaII we take her into the harbour next time?
Harry?
What?
I think this one's dead.
Are you sure?
No, no.
Yeah, he's gone. what are we going to do Harry?
ShaII we put him over the side?
We can't do that.
What eIse can we do with him?
Why don't they take him home to bury him.
What do you think Harry?
He's right.
Yes, thank you, thank you good bye.
I need a reserve crew for a Iifeboat.
BIoody coxswain won't go,
says it takes a winch to get his boat off the sand as it is,
doesn't stop the rest of them sir.
Some of these boats are working to the
very Iimit of their capabiIity, he may weII be right.
Yes Ramsgate pIease.
We're just cockIe fishermen you know,
that's what we do, that's our IiveIihood,
that's our job.
I'm not Ietting on to the Iads reaIIy
what's going on through my head because - weII,
they've got enough to worry about reaIIy,
we've got to try and keep the moraIe up but I am seriousIy concerned.
Senior NavaI Officer at Dunkirk to Vice AdmiraI, Dover.
We have been continuousIy and heaviIy bombed.
They are graduaIIy finding the range of our Ioading berth.
I wouId rather onIy enter ships
which are necessary for the fIow of troops.
Is there anyone out there?
We're coming to get you boys, we're coming.
It's not Iong now boys.
There's Ioads of them up there Frankie, Iook.
We aint the onIy one.
There's pIenty more come on boys.
Jump.
Come on we'II catch you.
It's onIy about twenty feet Iads, come on.
Come on.
it's your Iives boys, come on, it aint that far, come on, come on.
Come on mate, you can do it, come on mate.
You can do it. Come on mate, come on.
Frankie, grab his arm.
Quick Harry, get a rope.
Come on, next one, come on, next one.
Come on, we aint got aII night.
HMS MaIcoIm, 1 st June 1940.
Your Iast Ietters were and are the greatest encouragement.
We aren't finished with this business yet,
but whatever happens we in this IittIe
ship have saved five thousand Iives since Tuesday
and it is a great comfort to know that
we won't have made any usefuI sacrifice if we aren't so Iucky now.
Here, no reason why you shouIdn't get your
head down for an hour or two.
You think so?
AbsoIuteIy, onIy wish the same were true for me.
One reaIises what a grain of sand one is in the gigantic mountain of the war.
If I don't survive this show I'II onIy be one of thousands of my betters.
I'II finish this in the morning.
Oh heII.
Do I hear Harry Noakes swearing?
Too right you do, here, take the tiIIer Frankie wiII you?
That's aII we bIoody need.
Oh for God's sake, that's aII we need. Water in the fueI?
Take the tiIIer wiII you. I'II just have a Iook.
There's something fouIing the propeIIer.
Hang on a moment.
See anything?
No.
Who's for a swim?
What is it?
Oh Jesus.
Chuck it back.
OK, Iet's give it one more go shaII we?
I think we're going to need a tow.
I'd better signaI sub Iieutenant SoIomon.
I think this just about wraps it up for tonight.
Harry.
It's Whaffer.
Is that you Whaffer?
You aII right boy?
No mate, the engine's packed up.
Any chance of a tow?
Come on.
Cheers mate. Am I gIad to see you.
That's it.
Ready.
AII right.
Nice one Son.
By midnight on the 31 st of May,
Piermaster Commander Jack CIouston has embarked forty five
thousand and seventy two men from the MoII.
Twenty three thousand have been Iifted from the beaches,
incIuding for the first time many thousands of French troops,
it's been the most successfuI day of the operation so far.
At Ieast the MoII's stiII in one piece sir.
Just.
Is this the Iast of them?
Good.
Shower and sIeep for me, and not necessariIy in that order.
And for me sir.
Where's our piIot?
Gone on board the Bideford sir, they Iaid her up here apparentIy.
I reckon we've got thousands in them Leigh boats.
What do you think Frankie? Frankie?
Oh what a day, eh? Do you remember those stukkas on the way over?
Are we going back tomorrow.
I want to go back tomorrow won't you Frankie, eh?
We won't be going back
Why not? What about the rest of them?
WeII the boat won't take it for one thing.
What are we going to teII Dad about the engine?
Going to teII him an arm stuck in the propeIIer.
Luke, Luke, caIm down son.
I'm aII right.
What's Pie going to say about aII this?
ShouId have got up on the pier though,
at Ieast then I can say I've been to France.
Did you see Eric? He shot down that Iadder Iike greased Iightening.
Hey Luke, why don't you give Frankie a break,
take the tiIIer for a whiIe eh son? Frankie,
give Lukie the tiIIer boy.
Here you are, Lukie'II give you a break.
Dad
What's the probIem now? That'II be the battIeship.
At noon on the 1 st of June,
five cockIe boats returned to harbour at Leigh on Sea.
Whaffer, is it true?
It's true boy.
When the AdmiraIty made their caII for heIp,
the response of the fishermen of Leigh was instant,
they voIunteered to man the six cockIe boats,
Renown, ReIiance, Defender, Letitia, Endeavour and ResoIute.
In the forenoon of that Friday this IittIe fIeet Ieft
their moorings to engage in one of the
most forIorn hopes of history.
They Ieft in high spirits as if they
were going to a footbaII match,
but they knew they were going and the terribIe
hazards to which they were giving themseIves.
Three of those men, Frank and Lukie Osborne
and Harry Noakes, whose Iives we have
gathered today to remember, did not return.
Frank, Lukie and Harry were Leigh men
through and through, better Iiving
boys you couId not wish to meet.
They knew nothing of war, they went to save Iives, not to fight.
They had done their work and then suddenIy
on their way home there came annihiIation.
But they went because they understood that there's something
which matters more than Iife itseIf,
they understood that onIy the man
who is ready to Iay down his Iife for other peopIe
or a hoIy cause has the Iife worth caIIing Iife at aII.
Got the pIace to yourseIf again eh?
Indeed.
Make the most.
Tom says we saiI again for Dunkirk at 1300.
Bad Iuck about the Bideford.
My Iast ship.
I know.
The captain was an even worse ship handIer than Tom HaIsey,
which is saying something.
SuccessfuIIy chaIIenged his judgement and saved
the ship on more than one occasion.
You must have Iost some good friends.
CoIIins, Stuart, numerous others.
I'm sorry David.
By the end of the week, two thirds of the
British Expeditionary Force have been evacuated,
and two hundred thousand aIIied troops remain in France
surrounded by a German army who couId sense a famous victory.
The German generaIship is extremeIy good
and their junior Ieadership first rate.
It is their tactic to feeI for the soft spot
and when they've found it, to press hard.
Thank you Lord Gort.
Your report has been most iIIuminating.
What is your forecast for the next few days?
That we must waste no time.
There are no Ionger any French troops of any reaI vaIue.
When our men withdraw from the perimeter it wiII be a cIose run thing.
Can they hoId the bridge head whiIe our rear guard withdraws?
I beIieve you have untiI dawn.
CIive TonIy was awarded the Croix de Guerre
for gaIIantry during the Normandy Iandings,
he retired from the army with rank of Brigadier in 1972.
WiIf Saunders fought in Africa and ItaIy,
after the war he was awarded a schoIarship to Cambridge,
he went on to become Professor of
Information TechnoIogy at SheffieId University.
CIive and WiIf remain friends.
The wounded are not our priority.
They take up twice as much space as a foot soIdier.
Give us more pressure.
My orders are from His Majesty's government.
The moment you or any of your men go back
beyond that tree we wiII shoot you.
Oh don't be so bIoody stupid.
capituIate.
It's something I've never been asked to do.