Another miracle was Adolf Hitler’s order of May 24, halting his tanks just as they were closing in for the kill. That day Guderian’s panzers had reached Bourbourg, only ten miles southwest of Dunkirk. Nothing stood between them and the port. The bulk of the BEF still lay near Lille, 43 miles to the south. By the time the tanks began rolling again in the predawn hours of May 27, the escape corridor had been established, the BEF was pouring into Dunkirk and Ramsay’s rescue fleet was hard at work.
