TNA ADM 199 790

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APPENDIX I.
ACTIVITY OF ENEMY AIRCRAFT.
As the enemy aircraft seemed to work in distinct
phases, I think it will be as well to devote an Appendix
to their operations.
On our arrival, they were chiefly occupied in
wrecking Dunkirk and the port. It was quite out of the
question to use the harbour at all, and my first reaction
was that evacuation would have to be done from the beaches.
It soon became obvious, however, that they were not
including the pier in their attentions. At times they
were held off by & fine morning mist which sometimes
persisted until afternoon. At them times, when the wind
was favourable, a heavy pall of smoke from burning oil tanks,
to the westward, largely obscured the pier. During the
morning they made attempts to machine gun the beaches, but
were held off by anti-aircraft fire. The beaches were also
bombed but only for a brief period. Had they persisted,
they would have inflicted terrific losses on us, for there
were seldom less than 10,000 troops on the beaches. They
later attacked the pier, with dive bombers, sunk three ships
and damaged the pier. Had they persisted in these
successful attacks on the pier and ships alongside, the
evacuation could never have been achieved. They soon,
however, turned their attention to ships lying off the
beaches, and on one day (31st), no less than 100 bombing
attacks were made on ships within two miles of the pier.
Happily, at least 24 bombs were dropped on one large wreck
and many bombs on other wrecks. By this time also, Bofors
guns were being collected and this seemed to make them more
any of attacking the pier. The heavy attacks on ships at
sea compelled me to stop all sailings and arrivals during
daylight.
On the last day, they appeared once more to
return to the bombing of Dunkirk and its port and bastion.
Enemy fighters were occasionally in evidence
escorting their bombers. At times our own fighters gave
us a great measure of relief, but the aky is a big place and
it was often difficult to know if our aircraft were present
or not. When our aircraft did arrive the French, and less
frequently the British, opened fire on them.