Ceremony marks 70th anniversary of Dunkirk evacuation

Helicopter tour of key Dunkirk sites

A ceremony has taken place to mark the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk.

Veterans attended the event at the Allied Memorial on Dunkirk seafront, with 50 of the original "little ships" offshore.

A bike ride for forces charity Help for Heroes from Portsmouth ended in the town and laid wreaths at a memorial.

Thousands of Allied troops were rescued from Dunkirk in the mass evacuation in the early stages of World War II.

Veterans at the ceremony were joined by crews of Navy vessels, while the 43rd French Infantry Regiment and the 110th French Infantry Regiment were to parade in the town centre in the afternoon.

Driven back

As British and French national anthems were played on the beach, off-shore a crane ship lifted from the seabed the anchor of one of the ships that sank during the evacuation 70 years ago.

Once lifted from the sea, the anchor will be returned to the Isle of Mann to be turned into a comemorative monument.

At low-tide along the French seashore, the wreckage of other ships lost in the evacuation can still be seen on the seabed.

I'm immensely proud of the decision that my grandfather made which was to withdraw from Dunkirk at the critical time

Philip De Lisle

The ceremony was also attended by children, many of whom got autographs from the veterans.

Earlier this week, a fleet of about 64 "little ships" commemorated the anniversary of Operation Dynamo by sailing from Ramsgate in Kent to Dunkirk.

The man who made the decision to evacuate at the time was British General John Gort, despite pressure to carry on fighting by Winston Churchill.

General Gort's grandson Philip De Lisle has made his first trip to Dunkirk.

He told BBC News: "I've always wanted to come in a little ship to Dunkirk, so now that I'm an old age pensioner, finally I've managed to achieve it.

"I'm immensely proud of the decision that my grandfather made which was to withdraw from Dunkirk at the critical time.

During the ceremony a French schoolgirl read a poignant reflection on events

"He made the solitary decision himself to withdraw from Dunkirk and he created a corridor and created extra forces so that the Germans couldn't hit his flanks as he withdrew down the corridor.

"Sadly that meant some soldiers were left behind and were taken prisoner for the remainder of the war, and he always felt incredibly bad about that, and actually he told the prime minister that he wanted to stay until the last soldier had been evacuated.

"But Mr Churchill said that he understood that the articles of war said that when two thirds of a force had been withdrawn, the commander in chief had to be withdrawn too, so he sent a fast patrol boat and brought my grandfather back."

About 338,000 troops were evacuated from Dunkirk's beaches after they had been driven back to the coast of northern France by the German army.

British, French, Canadian and Belgian soldiers were rescued between 26 May and 4 June, 1940.