The German Blitzkrieg ("lightning war") drove British, French and Belgian forces west and northward toward the English Channel. In all, around 90,000 Allied soldiers were either wounded, killed or taken prisoner. The Germans dropped propaganda leaflets on the Allied soldiers who were cornered at Dunkirk.

Of course, in many cases the Germans did execute their captives.In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland by way of a blitzkrieg to start WW2, and the British Empire and France declared war on Germany. He embraced director Werner Herzog's idea of "ecstatic truth" in fiction. From the war-time romance of We’d be hard pressed to make a list of classic war movies and not include at least one John Wayne title (despite the fact that he never actually served in the armed forces). Director John Ford had just returned from filming World War II itself, working as a documentarian embedded with various armed forces, making acclaimed films like Choosing to focus on the psychology of war and emotional drama rather than spectacle, Based on a real mass escape from Stalag Luft III prison in Nazi occupied Poland, Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.

Home Wars are not won by evacuations."Yes.

The filmmakers appear to have dramatized it a little for the screen but the overall look is fairly close (minus the color).

On a side note, the closest point across the English channel is 20.7 miles and is just south of Dunkirk at Cap Gris Nez, a cape near Calais in the French département of Pas-de-Calais. This led the stranded soldiers, who were being strafed and bombed while awaiting rescue, to believe that the RAF wasn't doing enough to help. However, most men accepted their own limitations and opted to stay on the beach and wait for the "little ships. This allowed British rescue vessels, including private boats and yachts, to reach France in less time.

"It's the idea that fiction can communicate something more truthful to audiences about actual events than documentary," said Nolan. In discussing the movie, Christopher Nolan explained why it's sometimes better to not adhere fervently to the facts. Twelve boats used in the filming had actually taken part in the real Dunkirk evacuation. It was released in 1958 and is a British black and white film directed by Leslie Norman.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described it as "a miracle of deliverance," inspiring him to declare to the House of Commons of Parliament on June 4, 1940, "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.