One of the pivotal moments of World War Two was being remembered today as veterans and dignitaries marked the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Dunkirk evacuation.

More than 300,000 Allied troops were rescued from the beaches and harbour of the northern French resort over a nine-day period in 1940.

Described as a “miracle of deliverance” by the Prime Minister of the time Winston Churchill, the evacuation is considered one of the key events which determined the outcome of the war.

London’s Imperial War Museum has brought Operation Dynamo alive with a new public space where anyone can drop in for free and access its 50,000 images, 10,000 sound files and more than 600,000 other items.

Operation Dynamo saw some 338,000 British and French soldiers rescued between May 27 and June 3, by warships and a flotilla of pleasure boats and other small craft.

Dozens of soldiers from Shropshire and Staffordshire, many still in their teens at the time, were involved in the Dunkirk operation.

Despite suffering heavy losses, the operation was very successful and the majority of the British Expeditionary Force on the run from Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht returned to British soil.

One of the nation’s flagship vessel, an improvised MTB 102 motorboat, has begun a journey from Ramsgate back to Dunkirk to celebrate the 70th anniversary. Tomorrow it will form part of a commemorative flotilla parading along the French coast.

A 54-strong convoy of boats is expected to carry officials to a Service of Commemoration which will be held at the Allied Memorial on the beach, on Saturday.

Richard Basey, the chairman of the MTB 102 Trust which has preserved it, said: “This boat was very critical to the whole operation because she was, for the last three days, effectively in command of the evacuation. She’s never been out of use and she hasn’t been restored as such, she has been continually repaired and maintained.”

By Carl Jones