Graham Tutthill visits a new exhibition in the secret wartime tunnel at Dover Castle that shines new light on the Dunkirk evacuation.

The full extent of the fear, horror and desperation experienced by the soldiers trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940 can never be recreated. But a new multi-million pound exhibition that has just been launched in the secret wartime tunnels at Dover Castle gives visitors the chance to get a glimpse, and a feel, for what it was like not knowing if they would live or die.

Although it has since become known as the miracle of Dunkirk, it seemed like a defeat at the time, far from having a certain outcome.

Following two years of detailed research and the discovery of additional film footage, some of it shot by the Germans, people can see, hear and feel the dangers and risks that were taken to save hundreds of thousands of troops.

The result is a technically complicated piece of work which has planes flying along almost the entire wall of a gun emplacement or casemate.

There’s bombs going off right in front of you and the military might of the Germans and the Allies listed in ever-changing detail as the advance and retreat of the opposing forces is graphically plotted on moving maps, leading to a fiery climax. The wartime personnel who manned the various operations rooms appear to be all around you as shadowy figures, going about their duties, receiving intelligence, plotting the approaching aircraft and issuing instructions to the coastal gun batteries.

It was here that Vice-Admiral Bertram Home Ramsay masterminded the operation. And among those who visited the exhibition last week was his son, Major General Charles Ramsay, who was impressed with how the whole atmosphere had been recreated.

The command and plotting rooms have been altered, taking account of photos that are held at the Imperial War Museum and accounts from veterans who worked there, to ensure they now appear almost exactly as they were then.

Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said helping people understand the history of the nation through historic buildings was at the heart of English Heritage’s work.

“There is no better place in England to learn about the Dunkirk evacuation than Dover Castle,” he said.

“With Operation Dynamo, visitors step into the tunnels and onto the beaches, boats and command centre during one of our darkest yet greatest hours.”

English Heritage historian Paul Pattison and senior curator Rowena Willard Wight have both been much involved in ensuring that what people see is as accurate as possible.

“We have taken the opportunity to talk to a lot more veterans and to do more research and interpret it in a new way,” said Rowena Willard Wight.

“It is now a 3D film experience taking you to stand on the Dunkirk beaches with the soldiers, waiting for the Little Ships to arrive, to experience their fear and desperation as well as their hope.”