A piece of wartime history is to be examined tonight as the BBC takes to the sea in Little Ships.

It is on BBC2 on Thursday, 3 June at 9.30pm and will be shown again on Saturday, 5 June at 7.25pm on BBC Two. The programme was made by BBC Northern Ireland for BBC Two.

Around 340,000 allied soldiers were rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk by a flotilla of boats of all sizes between 28 May and 4 June 1940, enabling them to fight another day.

The escape of soldiers from the Royal Ulster Rifles was as miraculous as any in those days.

The regiment formed part of the rearguard tasked with buying time for the soldiers trapped on the beach.

However, at the last minute the Rifles' order to fight to the last man was overturned and they had the chance to try to make it to the beaches and hope for evacuation.

The drama and heroism of the evacuation - Operation Dynamo - is examined in historian Dan Snow's documentary in which Mr Snow retraces the role of the Royal Ulster Rifles through the war diary of one member of the regiment in the documentary.

They were among the last soldiers to leave Dunkirk, with many of them making it onto the ships and safety.

However, the historian also visits a French cemetery where eight of the RUR are buried alongside each other.

After the 'miracle', Britain then stood alone against the might of Hitler's forces, with daily expectation of invasion across the English Channel.

However, the mighty Luftwaffe had first to take control of the skies and so began the epic Battle of Britain, with the RAF finally seeing off the threat of German forces ever stepping onto English soil.

Hitler switched to a bombing campaign of London and other cities while soon also turning his attention to the invasion of his former ally, Russia.

The United Kingdom lived to fight another day - D-Day - on the 6th June 1944 - almost exactly four years later, when the USA joined the other allied forces massed across the entire country for the beginning of the end of the Third Reich.

See: Dunkirk Spirit Recalled

(BMcC/GK)