Harry Leigh-Dunmore listened to waves strike the shore and gulls shriek overhead. A year ago, he mused, I’d have considered this a lark, sitting on the beach under a sunny sky.
But this was May 25, 1940, and Harry found himself waiting on the French coast for rescue while dozens of German panzer tanks barreled westward toward him and more than 300,000 others of the British Expeditionary Forces gathering at this beach.
The Germans had blitzed through Belgium, Holland, and southern France, surrounding the Allied forces and leaving them stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk.
Rumors spread that ships from Britain would soon rescue them, but how could such an effort be mounted in time and for so many? Harry dared hope they’d find a way.
In the distance, he and every other soldier heard the rumble of the Luftwaffe (the German air force) approaching again from the east.
Quickly they spread out and hunched down small and tight, to make themselves difficult targets. There wasn’t enough cover to protect them all.
Meanwhile in England, in spite of predictions that only 20,000 to 30,000 men could be rescued, Prime Minister Winston Churchill had sanctioned Operation Dynamo on May 20, to begin on Sunday May 26.
Vice Admiral Ramsay called for every boat or ship owner willing to participate in the dangerous mission, to gather their crafts around Dover on the southwestern coast. More than eight hundred began to assemble [1].
The plan called for smaller boats to shuttle the soldiers from the shallow waters of Dunkirk to larger vessels and naval ships anchored further out, that would then transport the men back to Dover. French ground forces and the RAF would provide cover.
King George VI, a man of strong faith, received briefing of the plan and the dire predictions. On May 24th he called for a National Day of Prayer to occur as evacuations would begin May 26.
Within hours of that call to prayer, Hitler halted that western-bound panzer assault, just ten miles or so from Dunkirk [2], in order to give the German infantry time to catch up [3].
German General Göring assured Hitler the Luftwaffe could decimate the beach-stranded soldiers, even though only one run per day was possible. (They had to fly from Germany and attack quickly in order to conserve fuel for the return trip [4]).
On Sunday May 26th as the rescue mission began, millions of Britons overflowed the churches into the streets, praying for God’s intervention on behalf of their boys.
On Tuesday, more stormy weather grounded the Luftwaffe. Wednesday brought uncommonly calm waters in the English Channel, making it possible for the smallest of boats to participate in the rescue and make the crossings quickly.
When the storms subsided, fog rolled in. The Luftwaffe still couldn’t fly. In fact, for the ten days boats and ships crisscrossed the English Channel, the German pilots only had two and a half days of good weather for attack.
Even then their efforts were often stymied. One group of about four hundred men suffered machine-gun fire and bombing from about sixty aircraft. Not a single man was killed [5].
Another soldier related that many of his comrades knew Psalm 91 by heart. During the Luftwaffe attacks they shouted the verses together [6].
When each Luftwaffe attack subsided, the scattered men would return in orderly fashion to their places in the lines [7].
Meanwhile, a breeze took the smoke from the German bombs and protected from view the soldiers loading onto boats [8].
By June 4, the mission was complete. Yes, there were casualties, but the British had evacuated 338,226 soldiers, including approximately 140,000 French, Belgian, Dutch, and Polish troops [9].
“Battle of Dunkirk” (1940) by Charles Ernest Cundall
Harry Leigh-Dunmore was among them. After a three-hour crossing, he and hundreds of other soldiers were loaded onto a train. Harry promptly fell asleep; he awoke in Wales [10].
In fact, trains took the Dunkirk evacuees all over Britain. Women’s organizations provided food and drink at railway stations as the trains passed through.
Once each train arrived at its destination, the men were taken to barracks made ready to house and feed them—another feat of staggering proportions.
God had answered their prayers; he’d brought about the “the miracle of Dunkirk.”
King George designated the next Sunday, June 9, a Day of Thanksgiving. Citizens and rescued soldiers stood side-by-side in churches across Britain and sang together Psalm 124 [11]:
[1] https://www.godreports.com/2017/07/dunkirk-god-answered-prayers-in-miraculous-ways/
[2] https://www.christianstogether.net/Articles/200052/Christians_Together_in/Christian_Life/The_Miracle_of.aspx
[3] https://the-past.com/feature/was-dunkirk-really-a-miracle/
[4] tij.tv/shows/the-miracle-of-dunkirk
[5] https://www.standingforfreedom.com/2025/05/26/this-week-in-history-gods-miracle-at-dunkirk/
[6] https://kinshipradio.org/home/psalm-91-and-the-miracle-of-dunkirk/
[7] https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/stories/remembering-dunkirk
[8] https://guideposts.org/articles/angels-and-miracles/miracles/gods-grace/the-four-miracles-of-dunkirk/
[9] https://www.standingforfreedom.com
[10] https://www.britishlegion.org.uk
[11] https://www.christianstogether.net
Image credits: http://www.pickpik.com; http://www.picryl.com (5); http://www.jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net; http://www.picryl.com; http://www.canva.com.
Do sign up below for the monthly newsletter that includes a THANK YOU GIFT: Thirty ways to stretch and enhance our gratitude to God.
Scroll to the end of the newsletter to access this resource!
From the Inside Out 