'Dynamo' was the code name chosen for the evacuation from Dunkirk of as many soldiers as possible. On May 26 it was expected that 45,000 men could be taken off in the two days which were seen as the maximum that would be available. As Hitler and von Rundstedt had agreed, the German Air Force struck with all its strength to make the evacuation impossible. But the pilots of Fighter Command, Britons, Canadians and Poles among them, were equally determined to keep the skies above the beaches clear enough to evacuate the maximum number of troops. In the nine days of evacuation, 176 German aircraft were shot down over the beaches, for a loss of 106 British aircraft. The battle in the sky had helped to avert disaster.
From: Martin Gilbert, The Second World War, A Complete History, Herry Holt and Company, Inc., New York, 1989, p. 75.
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