The Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk was the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and allied troops from Dunkirk, in the north of France, from May 26th to June 4th, 1940. For a period of nine days, over 400, 000 men were stranded on the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk. In the evening of May 26, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made the order for Operation Dynamo to take effect. Operation Dynamo was the mass evacuation that saved 338, 226 allied soldiers from the beaches, harbour and mole (a wooden breakwater protecting the harbour) of Dunkirk. The original plan was to evacuate at least 30, 000 men, possibly 45, 000 and take them back to England to defend the homeland.