The Miracle of Dunkirk and Flanders Fields. History and Sightseeing tour, starts in Bruges.

In May 1940 the British expeditionary force had to retreat under the pressure of three panzer corps under Rundstedt. The German spearhead reached the French coast and swung along the coast. Large numbers of allied troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops. The evacuation from the beaches of Dunkirk is known as the Miracle of Dunkirk or Operation Dynamo. My tour takes you for a walk in the town, the port, and on the longest beach in Europe where a memorial testifies to the successful evacuation of 330, 000 troops. The Ypres Salient, a front line that projects into an opponent's territory and leaves one surrounded on three sides, was where troops engaged in a lengthy trench warfare with the first use of toxic gas, tunnelling and deep mines, flame throwers, mortiers … to breech the deadlocked trench system know as "The Western Front". The five heroic but futile battles between 1914 and 1918 would ultimately lead to the death of almost 600, 000 troops and the annihilation of the city or Ypres.

The tour is timed to the tide. The shipwrecks on the Dunkirk beach are visible only at low tide. Once I know your travel plan, I can check the tide table and plan the day’s itinerary. Flexible tour planning may be required! Reckon a 2 mi walk on the beach. - The meeting point is the Starbucks coffee shop under the Bruges railway station. * The free option is to drop you off ( at the end of this tour) at the Lille Europe station. - We visit the historic Dunkirk evacuation site for a leisurely walk on the beach and the sea wall. - The relic of HMS Crested Eagle shipwreck is visible at low tide. - The interesting "Operation Dynamo" museum in the old Dunkirk fortification comes next. - The afternoon will bring us to Ypres and the WW1 battlefield known as "Flanders Fields". - Vancouver Corner & The use of toxic gas - Tyne Cot has the largest number of burials contained in any Commonwealth cemetery of either the First or Second World War.