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The film is based on the Battle of Dunkirk and Operation Dynamo in May 1940. Operation Dynamo was the all out effort to evacuate the British Expeditionary Force from France. Hitler’s army had launched its Blitzkrieg across western Europe and had conquered the Low Countries and France. The German army and especially its Panzer tanks had proven too strong for the allies. They have managed to drive a large force of British and French troops into an area around the port of Dunkirk. The British and the French, numbering over 300,000 were surrounded and under constant aerial bombardment.
However, the British Royal Navy with the assistance of many merchant navy and civilian craft evacuated most of the Anglo-French army, in a plan codenamed Operation Dynamo. The British hailed this as a major success and Churchill described it as the ‘miracle of Dunkirk.’<ref>Taylor, A.J.P. and S.L. Mayer, Eds. A History of World War Two. London: Octopus Books, 1974, p. 57</ref> It was widely believed that if the British has not been able to evacuate their forces from Dunkirk that the country would have been defenseless in the face of Germany and could have lost the war. The evacuation of Dunkirk was a major boost for British morale at a time when they had failed to effectively to fight the Nazis Germans and their allies on their own. It is widely believed that Hitler did not order a final and all-out attack on Dunkirk because he was overconfident. He ordered his Panzers to halt their advance.<ref>Frieser, Karl-Heinz. The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 2005), p. 145</ref> He probably did not think that the British could evacuate their forces from Dunkirk. There has been some controversy regarding the accuracy of the movie. This article will discuss how historically accurate is Christopher Nolan’s movie.
====The aerial battle over Dunkirk====
====The Maritime aspect of Dunkirk====
[[File: DUNKIRK1940.jpg|300px|left|thumbnail|British soldiers being evacuated from Dunkirk]]
Operation Dynamo sought to get as many troops off the beaches and back to England. In 1940, the British Royal Navy and merchant fleet were the biggest in the world. In the movie ,the German navy is not shown and this was the case. The German battle fleet, would not have stood a chance against the Royal Navyavoided battle. The bravery of the Royal Navy is very well-shown in the movie as well as their crucial role in the success of the evacuation. The film also correctly shows how the Royal Navy commandeered civilian ships for use in the operation to rescue the members of the British Expeditionary Force.
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.
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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 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.
==== What about the other countries?====
[[File: Dunkirksoldier1.jpg|300px|left|thumbnail| British soldiers fighting at Dunkirk]]
The movie has been criticized for focusing too much on the British involvement. Dunkirk has a special place in British history and the success of Operation Dynamo helped to save the country from a Nazi German invasion. However, while the British were the main protagonists in Operation Dynamo other countries were also involved. In fact, there were many nationalities who were also present at the fighting and the evacuation of Dunkirk. There were tens of thousands of French and Belgian soldiers who had retreated with the British to the area. They also wanted to be evacuated and they wanted to avoid capture by the Germans. Many of these wanted to escape to England to continue the fight for their nation’s freedom, none of the French and Belgium contingents at Dunkirk are shown.<ref> MacDonald, p. 213</ref> Thousands of French soldiers also sacrificed their lives in an effort to protect the British troops in Dunkirk. There are also no Canadians soldiers shown in the movie. There was also a sizable contingent of men from the Royal Canadian Army serving with the British Expeditionary Force.
In <i>Dunkirk</i> all the servicemen in the film are white. This was not the case at the time, the British and the French had vast colonial Empires in Asia and Africa. The British has numerous Indian units and the French had several African units at Dunkirk.<ref> Atkin, p. 115</ref> The film has caused some controversy in India as it failed the Indian soldiers who served alongside the British at Dunkirk or the numerous French colonial troops, mainly African, who were also present at the battle. Nolan should have shown the sacrifices of these troops along with the British.
