31 BBC Bernard Stubbs Troops From Dunkirk

But there's nights, ships of all kinds, have applied to and fro across the channel, under the fierce onslaught of the enemy's bombers, utterly regardless of the perils, to bring out as many as possible of the trapped B.E.F.

There was every kind of ship that I saw coming in this morning, and every one of them was crammed full of tired, battle-stained, and blood-stained British soldiers. Soon after dawn this morning, I watched two warships steaming in, one listing heavily to port under the enormous load of men she carried on her decks.

In a few minutes her tired commander had her alongside and a gangway was thrown from her decks to the key. Transport officers counted the men as they came ashore. No question of units, no question of regiments, no question of nationality, for there were French and Belgian soldiers who had fought side by side with the British and the Battle of Flanders.

All of them were tired, some were completely exhausted, but the most amazing thing was that practically every man was reasonably cheerful and most often managed a smile. Even when a man was obviously on the verge of collapse from chauffeur teig, you could still tell by his eyes that his spirit was irrepressible. And that is a thing that all the bombs in

Germany will never crush.