A gripping account, this tale reveals the British Expeditionary Force's (BEF) brave stand against the German army and dramatic rescue of 338,000 British troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in World War II. In May 1940, the small BEF was sent to help the Belgians and French against the advancing German army. Ill-equipped and under-trained, they conducted a fighting withdrawal in the face of the formidable German army. Churchill feared that nearly all of the BEF would be killed or captured, but most were rescued and a defeat was turned into a victory. Drawing on previously unpublished and rare material, General Julian Thompson recreates the action—from the misunderstandings between the British and French generals which continue to resonate to this day, to the experiences of the ordinary soldier. Unlike other books on the subject, this account gives full weight to the fighting inland as the BEF found itself in mortal danger thanks to the collapse of the Belgian army on one flank and the failure of the French on the other, and corrects popular myths about the evacuation.