In May 1940 the German troops advanced into France,

trapping Allied soldiers on the beaches that became the killing fields of Dunkirk.Every vessel,small and large, was deployed to evacuate the French, Dutch,Belgian and British soldiers and around 330 000 were saved under the protective eye of the British and French Air Force. In the film "Dunkirk" the story is told in a sombre,matter of fact manner,no Hollywood extravaganza,this is the domain of the excellent Mr Spielberg, Long time ago when for the very first time I went on board HMS Belfast,the ship launched in 1938 and now moored on the river Thames near the Tower of London and used as a museum,I was utterly overwhelmed, never having been on any large ship before.I came across a family,parents and two almost grown up boys.They communicated in French.They were standing in front of a plaque with the names of the foreign pilots flying for the RAF and killed during the Second World War.The father began telling his sons in Czech that their grand-father's name was on the list.The man stood there with tears streaming down his cheeks, the boys, without any embarrassment,began to cry,too.The mother walked away sobbing.