We reveal the little-known stories of heroism that helped to inspire Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster movie Dunkirk
NEW blockbuster Dunkirk recreates the evacuation of 340,000 troops from the beaches of Northern France – described by Winston Churchill as a “miracle of deliverance”.
The retreat over nine days in May and June 1940 turned out to be a pivotal event in the Second World War as it allowed the Allied forces to fight another day.
Writer and director Christopher Nolan has previously told how he was inspired by the accounts of the brave men who lived through the terror and chaos.
But he infuriated the family of one Dunkirk hero by changing the name of the pier master who was the inspiration for Kenneth Branagh‘s character.
The film tells the story through the eyes of fictional characters – a British soldier awaiting evacuation, a Spitfire pilot protecting the beach from bombers, and a pleasure boat captain who joined a flotilla of hundreds of civilian boats helping to bring Allied troops home.
Here are some of the real-life heroes whose little known stories deserve the big screen treatment.
Thomas Wells
Royal Army Medical Corps soldier Thomas Wells risked his life under enemy fire to save the lives of wounded troops in the evacuation from Dunkirk.
He used his helmet as a paddle in a rowing boat, going back and forth between the beach and rescue ships for four days under heavy shell fire.
He also gave medical care to French and Belgian civilians caught up in the battle.
The medic, from Newcastle, had reached the French port after a gruelling eight-day walk from Brussels with the 149 Northumbrian Field Ambulance service.
He later said: “‘It was the civilians I felt sorry for. They had to leave their homes with all with their bags on their backs and they were at risk of being gunned down too, and many were.”
When he finally made it on board a merchant ship himself, a German bomb killed the man next to him.
Two years later he was taken prisoner in North Africa, before escaping a German POW camp on a bicycle in 1945.
In 2014 he was awarded the French Legion d’Honeure at the age of 94.
Marcus Ervine-Andrews
Irish-born Marcus Ervine-Andrews was awarded the first Victoria Cross of Dunkirk for leading a remarkable rearguard action to buy time for his fellow soldiers to be evacuated from the beaches nearby.
He was a 28-year-old captain in the East Lancashire Regiment when he was put in charge of a 1,000 yard section of defences along the Canal de Bergues.
His heavily outnumbered men came under intense artillery, mortar and machine gun fire for over ten hours as Nazi troops closed in.
At one point the officer climbed on top of a straw-roofed barn and opened fire – personally taking out 17 enemy soldiers with his rifle and “many more” with a Bren light machine gun as mortars and armour-piercing bullets tore through the roof he was standing on.
Then as the building was shattered and set alight he sent his wounded back in a vehicle before leading the rest of his men to safety by wading for more than a mile through neck-deep water.
He survived the war and died in Cornwall aged 83 in 1995.
‘Sailor’ Malan
Some soldiers who were at Dunkirk accused the RAF of being “absent” when they were bombed and strafed by the Luftwaffe.
In fact the RAF flew more than 3,500 sorties in the dangerous skies around Dunkirk, losing 145 planes as they battled to stop the German bombers getting through.
One of those called into action was Spitfire ace Adolph “Sailor” Malan, who was credited with shooting down five German planes and damaging five more.
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his leadership and bravery at Dunkirk, and went on to lead a Spitfire squadron at the Battle of Britain later that summer.
Group Captain Malan later ran the famous Biggin Hill air base. As a pilot he destroyed a total of 27 Luftwaffe planes and damaged or shared another 26 “kills” during the war.
Afterwards he retired to his native South Africa where he campaigned against Apartheid.
Dickie Furness
Welsh Guards Lieutenant Christopher Furness, known as Dickie, sacrificed his life to take out a German machine gunner attacking British patrols at Arras in May 1940.
The battle was part of the counter-attack against German forces that were pushing north towards Dunkirk where hundreds of thousands of British troops were awaiting rescue.
Eton-educated Furness, a renowned maverick, flipped a coin with a colleague to decide who would command the fateful mission to attack the German gun emplacement while the rest of the unit pulled back.
Furness led a mission of ten men – only one of whom came back unscathed.
When his armoured car could go no further he charged on foot with only a light firearm.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously in 1946.
The crew of the Medway Queen
The paddle steamer Medway Queen, a former Thames pleasure cruiser, was recommissioned as a minesweeper at the start of the war.
She was among the first vessels to sail to Dunkirk during the evacuation and the last to leave on the last day of operations after steaming into the war zone a total of seven times.
The crew dodged bombing raids on each perilous 60-mile Channel crossing and had to put out a fire in the funnel.
Historian Richard Halton said the crew “went into extreme danger seven nights out of eight” to go back for more Allied troops.
One the final trip she was damaged in a collision with another vessel that was hit by shelling, but still made it back to a siren salute from all the ships in Dover Harbour.
It is believed the lightly armed Medway Queen transported 7,000 men from Dunkirk and shot down three aircraft.
Several crew were given medals including the skipper, Lieutenant A.T. Cook, and Sub-lieutenant J.D. Graves, who both received the Distinguished Service Cross.
The vessel returned to service as a pleasure boat after the war and is now a museum.
Trevor Gibbens
Medical officer Lieutenant Gibbens of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry set up his aid post in the basement of a girls’ school as Germans reduced the four-storey building floor by floor with shells.
His battalion had been ordered to fight in the rearguard ring around Dunkirk, caring for the wounded and protecting the beach as troops were evacuated.
Permission was granted for anyone who was able to withdraw, but Gibbens chose to stay on, saying the wounded were “my responsibility”.
Lt Gibbens and his 50 wounded were taken prisoner by the German forces. Most would stay imprisoned until Europe was liberated in mid-1945.
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