Miracle of Dunkirk

What happened? Where and When was it?

The Evacuation of Dunkirk as painted by Charles Cundall.

"The stage is undoubtedly overcrowded," said the man. "That is going to be one of our main difficulties. Yet if overcrowded it is finely set for one of the greatest dramas in all history. Don't you think so?"

"Yes, Oh yes," said Miss Brown, and then, still agonised by the thought of the children, she burst out with the question that everyone was always asking everyone else nowadays, "Shall we get through?"

And the stranger gave the usual answer. "Dunquerque."

And they smiled at each other. One could not know . . . But there had been Dunquerque.

🌿 Elizabeth Goudge, The Castle on the Hill

Elizabeth Goudge begins her novel, The Castle on the Hill, with an off the cuff conversation between Miss Brown and the yet mysterious man, Mr Birley. And right away Goudge tells us that the reference a moment that bound all of Britain together in thankful unity in June 1940.

"Shall we get through?"

And the stranger gave the usual answer. "Dunquerque."

Today we are going to learn a bit about the miracle of Dunkirk, why it was in Goudge’s novel — and also how it is spelt?

The Miracle of Dunkirk