Battle of Dunkirk

The Battle of Dunkirk was a pivotal battle at Dunkirk during World War II, fought between 26 May and 4 June 1940. It was the unintended conclusion to Nazi Germany's Blitzkrieg ("lightning war") against the Allied nations in Western Europe, and proved to be the battle on which the fate of the war ultimately hinged. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)

Origins
After the Invasion of Poland in September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. After the Germans were satisfied by the progress of the Polish campaign, Adolf Hitler began preparing for an onslaught in the West. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus) When the Allies rejected the German offer of an armistice, (PROSE: Just War, AUDIO: Just War, Their Finest Hour) Hitler ordered the launching of the Blitzkrieg against Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)

Denmark, (AUDIO: Human Conflict) Norway, (AUDIO: Their Finest Hour) Holland (PROSE: Just War, AUDIO: Just War) and Belgium and quickly fell to the German forces, aided by Hitler's ability to control the Timewyrm, who had tried to invade his mind. This amplified Hitler's skills and abilities, and he directed his forces with exceptional strategic thinking from his command post in Felsennest, near Aachen. Soon, General Heinz Guderian and his Panzer Division managed to encircle the British and French forces and began squeezing the pocket. Abbeville, Boulogne and Calais were all captured, leading the Allied forces encircled in the one remaining port down at Dunkirk.

The battle
The encircled British Army tried to hold out, awaiting the arrival of Guderian's Panzers. Stuka dive-bombers harassed the besieged men. The situation spelled certain doom for the Allied war effort. However, the fate of the battle, and ultimately the entire war, played out in Hitler's command post at Felsennest.

Hitler was visited and confronted by the Seventh Doctor and Ace, who had won much of his trust while following his timeline seeking to prevent a divergent future from coming to pass. The Doctor challenged the Timewyrm within Hitler's mind and infuriated her enough to allow her to escape, after which he fired her through time. Having lost his amplified abilities, Hitler's confidence was drastically drained. He implored the Doctor to help him decide the outcome of the battle. The Doctor advised: "You must let the British Army go! Even though you are at war with the British, you respect them, you admire their Empire. Let their army go home, postpone your invasion plan and eventually they will make peace with you. They will become your allies against the Bolshevik hordes, your real enemy."

- The Seventh Doctor Hitler accepted the Doctor's reasoning and immediately picked up the field-telephone with a message for Guderian: "There is to be no further advance on Dunkirk. No further advance." The German generals never found out the reason for the order but did not disobey the Führer. The advancing German ground forces stopped outside Dunkirk, giving the British forces crucial time to escape the crisis. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)

Operation Dyanmo
The HMS Grenade was one of the Royal Navy's vessels during the battle. (AUDIO: Fugitives)

Starting 27 May, (AUDIO: Neverland) 338,000 British Army soldiers were evacuated on boats from the area, 100,000 straight from the beach, (TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart) in Operation Dynamo, after they had been cut off from the rest of the army by the Wehrmacht. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus, TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart)

Although the German army could have easily destroyed the British forces, on 29 May the Seventh Doctor had convinced Adolf Hitler, who was unstable and disoriented after the Timewyrm had been banished from his mind, to not advance on Dunkirk. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)

The evacuation was a major source of controversy. Corakinus, king of the Shadow Kin and leader of the War of the Underneath, spoke through April MacLean, saying that those soldiers were cowards, and should have stayed to fight and die. (TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart)

The First Doctor was present at Dunkirk, (PROSE: Just War, PROSE: Byzantium!) as was the Eighth Doctor. (AUDIO: Fugitives)

The Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble prevented a Nemonite from taking possession of those involved in the Dunkirk evacuation. (AUDIO: The Nemonite Invasion)

As a result of the battle, 10,000 were dead, and 40,000 were captured. Also lost were 50,000 vehicles, 9 destroyers, 200 marine vessels and 77 aircraft. (TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart)

Aftermath
The Dunkirk evacuations left British Prime Minister Winston Churchill dispirited. The Doctor spoke to him afterward and was able to lift his mood and convinced him to keep Britain in the war in defiance of Nazi Germany. (AUDIO: The Ultimate Adventure)

In 2009, the Torchwood Three team found the body of a sailor from the Dunkirk evacuation washed up on a beach. (AUDIO: The Sin Eaters)

Legacy
When ATMOS polluted the Earth's air, people in America were forced to take boats out into the Atlantic Ocean in a scene likened to Dunkirk. (TV: The Poison Sky)

The flotilla of the Hydran Navy led by Admiral Jonas Kaan facing the Voord on Hydra reminded Barbara Wright of photographs that she had seen of the Dunkirk evacuation. (AUDIO: Domain of the Voord)

In November 2016, Miss Shah taught about the evacuation of Dunkirk to her sixth form Coal Hill Academy history class. She asked her students to imagine they were one of the soldiers being evacuated to learn about the mind-set of a soldier. (TV: Co-Owner of a Lonely Heart)

Alternate timeline
In an alternate timeline in which Hitler never lost the power of the Timewyrm, he never issued the order for the German forces to halt. The Germans advanced on Dunkirk and totally defeated the British Army. The Luftwaffe defeated the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain and freak storms, summoned by Hitler using the Timewyrm's powers, decimated the Royal Navy. The Germans then launched Operation Sealion, a practically-unopposed cross-Channel invasion of England which lasted only six days. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)