One of the most dramatic events of World War II was the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the beaches of Dunkirk from May 27 to June 4, 1940. Operation Dynamo, ordered by prime minister Winston Churchill, commanded by vice-admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay and executed by the Royal Navy and a flotilla of fishing trawlers, pleasure craft and other small boats summoned to action because of the desperate situation, successfully collected 338,226 soldiers and transported them to England.