Standing on history

The busy port of Dover as seen from Admiralty lookout in Dover Castle.

In 1940 the British Expeditionary Force was fighting for its survival, across the Channel, in and round the town of Dunkirk. The rescue of our stranded troops was planned and organised in the tunnels that lie deep in the chalk under Dover Castle, beneath where we are standing. This gripping battle against time was won in just ten short days, when Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay pulled off a miracle. With no technology and with pitiful resources he and his team masterminded the rescue and repatriation of over 338,000 troops.