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This was necessary because not even the powerful Royal Navy had enough suitable ships to land at Dunkirk. Most of the Royal Navy's ships were too large to approach the beaches. If they had tried, they would have run aground. This led them to commandeer every suitable private ship, these became known as the ‘Little Boats’ of Dunkirk. Many private individuals sailed to what was effectively a battle-zone. In the movie Mr Dawson, played by Mark Rylance is ordered to give his boat to the Royal Navy. He agrees to this request but only if he can sail it himself to Dunkirk. This was common during the operation at Dunkirk and a small armada of private boats, including yachts and fishing boats helped to evacuate many soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk and saved them from capture or possible death at the hands of the Germans.
One of the most significant inaccuracies of the movie is that it overstates the role of the ‘Little Ships of Dunkirk.’<ref> MacDonald, p. 156</ref> The role of the private ships in Operation Dynamo was overstated at the time and has been since. This does not discount the bravery of the civilian sailors who ferried troops back from Dunkirk. Historians has proven that only one in twenty of the soldiers rescued at Dunkirk was taken onboard one of the ‘Little Ships’. The clear majority of those saved from the Nazis Germans on the French beaches were taken to safety by the Royal Navy. Nolan’s movie does overstate the role of the ‘Little Ships.' Still, it makes sense why Nolan would want to focus on this part of the Dunkirk evacuation because it is an incredibly compelling story that civilians risked their lives to save their countrymen and allies.
The movie shows the evacuation as a great success and this is factually correct. The British had been taken aback by the collapse of France and they had no plans to evacuate their troops. They had to improvise to save the British Expeditionary Force and their allies. In the planning stages of the evacuation they Royal Navy had believed that they could only save about one tenth of the men, approximately 30,000. Thanks to the efforts of the Royal Navy, Merchant fleet and private ships some 300,000 men were taken back to Britain.<ref> MacDonald, p. 213</ref> This in effect meant that the core of the British army had been saved. The movie shows very accurately and how what was essentially a defeat was turned into a triumph.
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