Dunkirk has gone into British history as a myth, with its patient queuing on the beaches, its ferry boats and stew in cocktail glasses. We have forgotten the blood, thirst and desperation, and the extraordinary feat of organisation. This day-by-day account puts the story back in context. It records those crucial nine days in summer, looking not just at the beaches, the rearguard, the naval operation and the little ships, but at what was happening in the military headquarters, in the cabinets in London and Paris, and how people felt at the time about what was taking place - events that were to change Europe and the UK forever. It reveals not just a miracle, but an amazing feat of administration and endurance, that made the reputation of one man in particular - Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay.