article_snippet.sent: The British – and the English-speaking nations of the world – remain fascinated by the victory and the bloody manner in which it was achieved.
article_snippet.sent: Actually, horror-seeking tourists visited the battlefield almost before horror-seeking tourists had finished burying the bodies.
article_snippet.sent: Perhaps the most interesting sight on the battlefield is Hougoumont farm, whose heroic defence by the British is recognised as the pivotal moment of the battle.
article_snippet.sent: The extraordinary rescue, the largest evacuation in military history, saw 338,226 soldiers brought home to England in the face of ferocious bombing from German aircraft.
article_snippet.sent: Walk along the wide beach at Zuydcoote, a 15-minute drive from the centre of Dunkirk, and at first glance there is little to hint at the awful scenes of death and destruction here 75 years ago.
article_snippet.sent: I was there with Bruno Pruvost, a diver who has explored the wrecks on and near the beach –
article_snippet.sent: At low tide you can visit the wreck of the Crested Eagle, a Thames river cruiser that picked up 600 men from the beach but was then bombed by a Stuka.
article_snippet.sent: You can find out more about the Crested Eagle and the other ships at the excellent Memorial du Souvenir at Dunkirk.
article_snippet.sent: Also well worth visiting is the Fort des Dunes, built as part of a grand defensive line against possible German invasion in the 19th Century – and which played German part in the evacuation.