The Dunkirk evacuation sometimes called Operation Dynamo or The Miracle at Dunkirk was a British mission to rescue Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk France , from 26 May and 4 June 1940 . The Allied soldiers were trapped in Dunkirk by the German army after the Battle of Dunkirk . The Dunkirk evacuation , code-named Operation Dynamo by the British , was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk , France , between 26 May and the early hours of 3 June 1940 , when British , French and Belgian troops were cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk in the Second World War .