How many soldiers were SENT to dunkirk at the start and end of the evacuation?
The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo by the British, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France, between May 26 and June 4, 1940, when British, French and Canadian troops were cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk in the Second World War. Winston Churchill called it the greatest military defeat for many centuries, warning that “the whole root, the core, and brain of the British Army” was stranded in Dunkirk. He hailed their subsequent rescue as a “miracle of deliverance.” On the first day only 7,000 men were evacuated but by the ninth day a total of 338,226 soldiers — 198,229 British and 139,997 French were rescued by the hastily assembled fleet of 860 boats. Many of the troops were able to embark from the harbour’s protective mole onto 42 British destroyers and other large ships, while others had to wade from the beaches toward the ships, waiting for hours to board, shoulder deep in water. Others were ferried fr
