During the war Dunkirk paid a heavy price. Badly bombed by the German air force during Operation Dynamo, it was in large part destroyed when the German troops invaded it on 4 June.
The town was occupied for longer than any other place in France. It was only liberated on 9 May 1945, one day after the German surrender.
The town was 90% destroyed and the port had become unusable following Allied bombing and its systematic destruction by the occupiers using demolition charges. Basins, channels and locks were all blocked with sunken ships.
‘You won't be seeing posters reminding us that Dunkirk is France's third port, so what? Do you think the French will be in mourning? No one will be worried by seeing it tidied away in a museum or in some cemetery’ said a minister at the time. A year later however, thanks to the determination of the people of Dunkirk, the first ship sailed into port.
Bombing of the Monique Schiaffino, Dunkirk, May 1940.
Oil painting by R. Chapelet. Port Museum Collection
The Watier lock
Diorama. Port Museum Collection
The tugboat Dogue sunk in a basin of the port of Dunkirk.
Photo: Port Museum Collection
The cargo-ship Jupiter, first ship to enter the port after the war, in 1947. Photo: Port Museum Collection