Source E shows the beach with columns of soldiers lining up smartly but it is a photo and although is unbiased due to it not being an opinion and there was no technology at that point to digitally edit, it still only shows the still image of that second in time and so could point to attempted organisation and been scattered by bombers as I know from my own knowledge that there was bombing in some areas of the beach. Also ‘Dunkirk(1958)’ has been used for many photos of the evacuation and could indicate it being staged. It is also too far away to see what any of the soldiers are feeling and therefore does not show whether they believe they are in a victory or not.
Source F pictures two troops firing on German aircraft, as it is a photo you would expect it to be the truth but I talked to a veteran of Dunkirk and he said instantly that photo was staged as it would have been a waste of ammo and they would have been disciplined. Also, it contradicts common sense that when you are being bombed is the time to pick up a camera, if they even had one as they were in retreat and the government had not yet any need for propaganda. The picture in itself however tells us very little apart from the fact we cannot see columns of men waiting to be rescued or any boats close by.
Source G was part of a speech by Anthony Eden, the Minister of War. As it was made after the evacuation it is a secondary source albeit not by much and the fact that he was British and a Minister it is obviously biased. (Conversely, he was high up so will have had access to government archives and therefore has an intelligent opinion on the state of the BEF). Apart from “we have had great losses in equipment” there were no negatives and it was based heavily on improving public morale so would try to be picturing it as a deliverance; it did not mention the thousands of men lost or taken prisoner or any other bad points. The evidence in this source isn't sufficient enough to agree or disagree with the interpretation that "Dunkirk was a great deliverance and a great disaster." Dunkirk, from the evidence of this source alone, could be seen only as 'a great deliverance'. This corroborates loosely with source D as they both admit some defeat but show the triumph in it as well.
Source H is a British newspaper report from the Daily Express on May 31 so is a primary source as it was going on at the time and is therefore not yet secondary proving it to be useful in determining the manner in which news was released to the public in war time censorship, although it is British it would give a British opinion and exaggerate some aspects but it might not necessarily be biased. However even with a slightly one sided view towards the soldiers, which they may have had morale in mind and tried to keep it high, it gives a lot of information such as “An armada of ships – all sizes, shapes” and I know from my own knowledge that many men were rescued with the ‘Mosquito Fleet’ and source D does show ships of different sizes so possibly corroborating, but is not sufficient on it’s own to prove or disprove the question.
Finally Source I is from A.J.P Taylor’s ‘English History, 1914-45’ which was published in 1965 to give a balanced opinion on Dunkirk, so despite him being British it was probably written to be as accurate as possible rather than keep the morale up when the war was won and over long ago. He is also the writer of the quote that the question is based on and supports it with evidence in the source such as “almost the entire BEF was saved” but also put forward the losses such as “Six destroyers had been sunk and nineteen damaged” and “The RAF had lost 474 planes” The source is a balanced view of Dunkirk. It mentions both the negative and positive aspects. Although the writer was the one who made the quote and provides evidence to support it, there is too much evidence providing different information for it to prove the quote right.
In conclusion, Sources D and G both show the good and bad sides of the evacuation and corroborate with Source I which involves both in detail. Whereas, Sources E and F are unreliable as could be staged and neither point towards either deliverance or disaster and Source H agree with Source I in facts and opinion. Therefore the majority of evidence shows it was both a great deliverance and a great disaster because of the circumstances and what we know happened and will happen.
