Communauté urbaine de Dunkerque

The Battle of Dunkirk (French: Bataille de Dunkerque) was fought around the French port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and other Allied forces to Britain from 26 May to 4 June 1940. After the Phoney War, the Battle of France began in earnest on 10 May 1940. To the east, the German Army Group B invaded the Netherlands and advanced westward. In response, the Supreme Allied Commander, French General Maurice Gamelin, initiated "Plan D" and British and French troops entered Belgium to engage the Germans in the Netherlands. French planning for war relied on the Maginot Line fortifications along the German–French border protecting the region of Lorraine but the line did not cover the Belgian border. German forces had already crossed most of the Netherlands before the French forces had arrived. Gamelin instead committed the forces under his command – three mechanised forces, the French First and Seventh Armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) – to the River Dyle. On 14 May, German Army Group A burst through the Ardennes and advanced rapidly westward toward Sedan, turning northward to the English Channel, using Generalfeldmarschall Erich von Manstein's plan Sichelschnitt (under the German strategy Fall Gelb), effectively flanking the Allied forces. A series of Allied counter-attacks, including the Battle of Arras, failed to sever the German spearhead, which reached the coast on 20 May, separating the BEF near Armentières, the French First Army, and the Belgian Army further to the north from the majority of French troops south of the German penetration. After reaching the Channel, the German forces swung north along the coast, threatening to capture the ports and trap the British and French forces. In one of the most debated decisions of the war, the Germans halted their advance on Dunkirk. What became known as the "Halt Order" did not originate with Adolf Hitler. Generaloberste (Colonel-Generals) Gerd von Rundstedt and Günther von Kluge suggested that the German forces around the Dunkirk pocket should cease their advance on the port and consolidate to avoid an Allied breakout. Hitler sanctioned the order on 24 May with the support of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German high command). The army was to halt for three days, which gave the Allies sufficient time to organise the Dunkirk evacuation and build a defensive line. While more than 330,000 Allied troops were rescued, the British and French sustained heavy casualties and were forced to abandon nearly all their equipment; around 16,000 French and 1,000 British soldiers died during the evacuation. The British Expeditionary Force alone lost some 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign.

The Church of Saint-Éloi (French: église Saint-Éloi), nicknamed the Cathedral of the Sands, is a Roman Catholic church in Dunkirk, France. It was listed as a Historic Monument in 1916, whereas the belfry of the original church across the street was listed in 1840. The belfry is also part of the World Heritage-listed Belfries of Belgium and France.

John De Camborne Paynter, (17 May 1898 – 6 June 1918) was a British flying ace of the First World War, credited with 10 aerial victories while flying with the Royal Naval Air Service. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his valour before being killed in a bombing raid.

Captain Thomas Frederick Le Mesurier DSC & Two Bars (6 February 1897 – 26 May 1918) was a British flying ace of the First World War credited with seven aerial victories. Le Mesurier was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) and Two Bars for his conspicuous service in bombing operations.

Dunkirk (UK: dun-KURK, US: DUN-kurk, French: Dunkerque [dœ̃kɛʁk] , West Flemish: Duunkerke, Dutch: Duinkerke or Duinkerken) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France. It lies 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the Belgian border. It has the third-largest French harbour. The population of the commune in 2019 was 86,279.

The siege of Dunkirk took place in the Autumn of 1793 when British, Hanoverian, Austrian, and Hesse-Kassel troops under the command of Prince Frederick, Duke of York besieged the fortified French border port of Dunkirk, as part as the Flanders campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. Following a Coalition defeat at the Battle of Hondshoote they were forced to raise the siege and withdraw northeast.

The siege of Dunkirk in 1658 was a military operation by France and the Commonwealth of England intended to capture the fortified port city of Dunkirk, Spain's greatest privateering base, from a Spanish garrison strengthened with English Royalists and French Fronduers. Dunkirk (Dutch for 'Church in the dunes') was a strategic port on the southern coast of the English Channel in the Spanish Netherlands that had often been a point of contention previously and had changed hands a number of times. Privateers operating out of Dunkirk and other ports had cost England some 1,500 to 2,000 merchant ships in the past year. The French and their English Commonwealth allies were commanded by Marshal of France Turenne. The siege would last a month and featured numerous sorties by the garrison and a determined relief attempt by the Spanish army under the command of Don Juan of Austria and allied English Royalists led by Duke of York and rebels of the French Fronde under the Great Condé that resulted in the battle of the Dunes.

The Dunkirk Memorial is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial to the missing that commemorates 4,505 missing dead of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), most of whom fell prior to and during the Battle of Dunkirk in 1939 and 1940, in the fall of France during the Second World War. Located in the town cemetery of Dunkirk, France, the design by Commission architect Philip Hepworth features memorial panels, a shrine in the form of a shelter, and an engraved glass pane by John Hutton. Those commemorated include soldiers lost on ships sunk during the evacuation, as well as a recipient of the Victoria Cross. The memorial was completed some 17 years after the events it marks. It was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1957, in front of visiting dignitaries, and hundreds of veterans and relatives of those who died. Later commemorations held here include the 75th anniversary in 2015.

The canton of Dunkerque-1 is an administrative division of the Nord department, northern France. It was created at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Dunkirk. It consists of the following communes: Dunkirk (partly)

Duchesse Anne (formerly called Großherzogin Elisabeth) is the last remaining full-rigged ship under the French flag. She was built in 1901 with a steel hull by the yard of Joh. C. Tecklenborg of Bremerhaven-Geestemünde (Germany) according to plans drawn by Georg W. Claussen. The mainmast is 48 m tall and 25 sails were rigged. She was utilised as a training ship for young aspiring sailors in the German merchant marine.

Dunkirk station (French: Gare de Dunkerque) is a railway station serving the town Dunkirk, Nord department, northern France. This part of French Flanders is near West Flanders in Belgium.

The Stade Marcel-Tribut is a multi-purpose stadium in Dunkirk, France. It is the home ground of Ligue 2 club USL Dunkerque.