WITH the newly released film Dunkirk – which I am looking forward to seeing soon – it has sent me back to my studies and it may help others to share the results.

Often the event is referred to as the Miracle of Dunkirk.

The reason for this is simple.

The stark choice of defeat or surrender confronted this Nation as Hitler’s ferocious and rapidly moving Blitzkreig saw first Luxembourg occupied, then the Netherlands invaded with the ruthless bombing of Rotterdam securing the surrender of the Dutch Army, our allies, all in the space of a long weekend.

Our troops and their allies, the Belgians and French were taken by surprise when the Ardennes Forest proved to be no natural obstacle to the German tanks.

They were cut off from the main French force and hemmed into a narrow confine in Northern France with their enemies bent on their destruction.

Churchill, a seasoned soldier himself, realistically anticipated 20-30,000 only could be rescued if an evacuation went ahead.

Yet the Germans were making a bee-line for the ports facing the Channel.

The race against time and tide was on.

In the face of this looming tragedy, King George VI on May 23, 1940, called for the following Sunday, May 26, 1940, to be day of National Prayer.

He is the King featured in The King’s Speech film.

At the time our Nation was overtly Christian in all walks of life in every aspect.

The Nation responded across the land.

What then unfolded was remarkable.

On Friday, 24, just two weeks after Churchill had been sworn in as Prime Minster, Hitler unexpectedly called a three day halt to his forces.

Historians still cannot give satisfactory explanations for this.

It was the blessed breathing space the war Cabinet needed and on Saturday, 25, evening, the order to proceed with the evacuation was given – Operation Dynamo began.

It ran from May 27 to June 4, nine days of grace and salvation.

In all 861 vessels answered the call to assist.

A holding action by five French Units at Lille kept Rommel and seven enemy divisions engaged there enabling the majority of allied troops to make their way to the next major port of Dunkirk forty miles away over the next few days.

Dunkirk harbour was brutally bombed but the Captain in charge of operations seized the Mole, a separate breakwater as an ideal pier.

The rough weather at sea came inland and grounded the Luftwaffe for a full couple of days while a flat calm turned the English Channel into a mill pond helping enormously.

Later a mist came in that hindered the German attempts at strafing the stranded soldiers.

By June 2, the Miracle of Dunkirk was a phrase on the lips of people up and down the land.

Folks knew a remarkable rescue had taken place, prayer answered indeed and a great Thanksgiving Day was held on June 9 1940.

Fresh evidence has recently been revealed from RAF records of deceased personnel that by fighting the Luftwaffe further inland with the newly launched Spitfires in action for the first time, 1,400 enemy planes were stopped from reaching Dunkirk undoubtedly saving many lives.

Sadly many of the soldiers on the beach were not aware of this nor of the sacrifices behind them.

By June 4, when the Royal Navy returned to take off 26,000 French troops the total was of 338,226 men pulled to safety.

Our losses – 68,111 soldiers and 243 rescue vessels - are a sobering reminder of what was at stake, in a word, life.

Nor should we forget those 40,000 plus French soldiers captured as Dunkirk surrendered that morning and 10,000 Scots soldiers a week later at St Valery.

The miracle did not end with Dunkirk.

Despite the worsening situation for France, leading to the fall of Paris on June 14, a second evacuation under the code name of Operation Ariel was launched out of the Ports of Cherbourg and Le Havre.

This ran until June 25, the day the French Government signed an Armistice of humiliation at Hitler’s orders in the very same railway carriage that had witnessed the German capitulation at the close of the Great War back in 1918.

This second operation, despite the fall of Cherbourg on June 18, saw a further 191,870 people lifted out of certain death.

Perhaps the greatest answer to prayer was the intense Cabinet meeting in the midst of that first rescue attempt, on May 30, 1940.

This saw the vote made to keep fighting rather than seek a negotiated surrender.

Otherwise our national story and ultimately, that of Europe too would have been very, very different.

I have recently encountered two folks with significant stories from this time of national prayer and rescue. That raises the question of could the SNJ encourage those stories to be told and heard?

It may help strengthen us for the difficult days ahead.

Elaine Venning

Stroud