Admiralty records concerning Operation Dynamo and the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, dating from 1940.
Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 199/790. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
1 matching pages. OCR may contain transcription errors.
| Page | Image | OCR text | OCR tags |
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| 788 |
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REPORT OF 'BOUNTY' (Contd). |
Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 788.
REPORT OF 'BOUNTY' (Contd). of, I should Petty Officer like to T.Jones draw special throughout attention operations. to the magnificent work 295 2 The following officers, Lieut.D.A.Dawson, Sub.Lieuts. Godman and Potter-Irwin ships accompanied and me and reported to .O.Ramsgate, volunteering services on the following day if required. Our names were accordingly entered on the Volunteer's List. June 2. Having reported to S.N.O.Ramsgate, we were informed that only fast and shallow draft vessels were required. During course of day, found M.T.B.101. lying idle and requested use of same, but were informed that the vessel was R.A.F. property and we were unable to obtain permission to use her. Received instructions to stand by and later to return to own Base. Throughout twenty seven hours spent at Dunkirk and adjacent beaches, were under continuous bombardment from the air and shelling from the land. 306 REPORT OF INNER PATROL YACHT "EILA II". - 285 Commanding Officer, Lieut. E.H.Batt, R.N.V.R. y 29. 1750. Left Hamble. y 30. 0600. Arrived Dover. 2130. Left Dover. LV 31. 0545. Arrived alongside destroyer "KEITH" off Bray and embarked officer to assist in organisation. Ordered to La Panne beach to assist in transporting troops to destroyers "KEITH" & "EMERALD" and sloop "HEBE". Several trips were made between La Panne & Bray;when shelling and bombing became too severe, I was ordered to proceed to sea- ward. I afterwards returned to La Panne and embarked more troops. 1100 Observed Dover Patrol Vessel "BLUE BIRD" well aground and in a precarious position with both her propellom foul; I lowered my dinghy and ran a tow to her, and succeeded in getting her off. I was under frequent shellfire during the whole operation. I estimate that the amount of troops taken off did not exceed 200, as it was some time after arrival before I disembarked the Naval Officer and wass able to start embarking troops. Although I anchored close in at both places I found that the troops seemed unable to man the boats. The wind was blowing onshore which made it extremly difficult to get off to us. I called for volunteers to man the motor launch and Engr, T.M.Weir and A.B. Tozer responded but were unable to make the beach owing to the heavy sea and the launch was eventually lost. Special mention may be made of Engr. Weir who rowed in a small dinghy and rescued three soldiers under fire. Later on in the day the Engr. XXX reported a serious leak in the "EILA II" and at one time the water was level with the engine room floor. I reported the matter to a destroyer who ordered me to proceed to seaward and 2130. The Naval Officer in charge of operations on to the locate the damage. continue but from my Engr's report of the leak doubtful and as my "ANKH" asked if my vessel was in a fit condition port was out of commission, I was then if she reverse would gear survive further operations. I was ordered to proceed to Dover and arrived the 1 0700. From theis time until 5th. June lying in Dover Harbour. me 5 Folkestone Yachts, Gate observed a small ship's boat 1130. Being left Dover for Hamble and while passing about through 2 unable to locate the other Inner Patrol (continued)