Their sacrifice had brought the salvation of the British nation. They had fought the battles to ensure the successful evacuation of over 300,000 fellow soldiers. As noted by Longden: “These dreadful days were never forgotten by those who endured them. They were forced to drink ditch water and eat putrid food. To lower officer morale, the Nazis told British officers that they would lose their rank and be sent to the salt mines to work. The POWs were denied food and medical treatment. As described in Dunkirk: The Men They Left Behind, by Sean Longden, some were summarily executed. Theirs is a story that is often overlooked, but for the next five years, until the war’s end, large numbers of these POWs would be mistreated and abused in violation of Geneva Convention guidelines governing the sick, wounded, prisoners of war and civilians. The following is an excerpt from TIME-LIFE’s new special edition, World War II: Dunkirk, available on Amazon.Īfter the last rescue boats left Dunkirk harbor on June 4, 1940, the Germans captured some 40,000 French troops who’d been left behind as well as at least 40,000 British soldiers in the Dunkirk vicinity. However, for many troops, Dunkirk was only the beginning. The 1940 evacuation at Dunkirk - the subject of Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed new film - remains one of World War II’s most striking episodes.
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