World War Two: The forgotten Indian soldiers of Dunkirk

The remarkable evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk was a pivotal moment in World War Two. What is not well known is the story of nearly 300 Indian soldiers who were also part of the contingent.

Over the course of nine days in May 1940, more than 338,000 Allied forces were evacuated from the beach and harbour at the French port city of Dunkirk as the German military bore down on them.

In this sea of European servicemen was Major Mohammad Akbar Khan, an Indian soldier.

On 28 May, he led 300 Indian soldiers and 23 British troops in an orderly column along the bombed-out harbour to the East Mole, the nearly mile-long wooden jetty which featured in Christopher Nolan's epic 2017 film, Dunkirk.