1864 – Montana is organized as a United States territory.
1940 – The British and Allied Forces Escape at Dunkirk. On this day in 1940, during World War II, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) began its evacuation of British and Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk. Adolf Hitler’s baffling order to halt forces near a line of canals some 15 miles from the city provided a window of opportunity for Allied troops to escape via the English Channel. Nearly 8,000 troops were evacuated in the first 24 hours, and the tempo increased dramatically over subsequent days. While the Royal Air Force patrolled the skies, some 700 civilian craft—the “little ships” of Dunkirk—joined the rescue effort. In the end, 338,226 Allied troops were ferried to safety in England.
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