TNA ADM 199 792

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CONFIDENTIAL 114
Report on Operation "DYNAMO".
8
Page 3. 11?
7. ENEMY EFFORTS TO FRUSTRATE OPERATION.
consisted
Attempts of the following:- by the enemy to frustrate the operation
(a) Minelaying by aircraft.
(b) Intensive air attack.
(c) Action by Motor Torpedo Boats.
(a) Gunfiro by coast artillery.
(e) Submarine operations.
(a) Minelaying hours by aircraft. Minelaying during the
and was probably commenced during the night 28th-29th, dark
following two nights. Not only were the Dunkirk the Roads
maintained with great intensity during
mined, including the Zuydecoote Pass, but also Route
x and the area round the Kwinte buoy. Folkestone
Dover Harbour entrances were also mined. Considering and
the number of mines laid, it is interesting to note
that only two British ships are known for certain to
have been mined, the personnel vessel MONA's QUEEN
and the F.A.A. Yacht GRIEVE. 1 Hospital Carrier was
damaged at anchor off Dover when a mine was blown up
by a LL. trawler sweeping close at hand. Two A/S
trawlers on patrol to the northward of the operational
area were blown up by what was at first thought to be
a M.T.B., but later evidence suggests they were
victims of moored mines. The impunity with which
degaussed ships were able to operate in this heavily
mined area alone made the operation possible and one
reaches the conclusion that if the enemy on this
occasion had had at hand the means of laying moored
contact mines by aircraft, instead of magnetic mines,
the results would have been very different.
(b) Air Attack. On the evening of the 29th, the first
occasion on which a massed target of ships was
presented in Dunkirk Harbour, the enemy seized the
opportunity for air attack in great strength, and it
was only by good fortune that the vital Dunkirk
Harbour channel was not blocked by sinking ships at
this early date. From then onwards the scale and
vigour of the air attack increased, and during the
1st June all ships in Dunkirk, off the beaches, or in
the approach channels, were subjected every two hours
to an unprecedented scale of air attack by aircraft
in such numbers, that the R.A.F. were unable to deal
with the situation. In this connection experience
appears to indicate that in simil ar circumstances
fighters must be present in such numbers that they
can simultaneously attack both enemy fighting and
bombing formations. Otherwise the enemy bombers
remain undisturbed to continue their bombing attacks.
The scale of enemy air attack on the 31st and
1st was primarily responsible for the suspension of
daylight evacuation from the 2nd June.
(c) Attack by M.T.B.s. These caused 4 casualties, namely, Route
two and two trawlers, while the north 26 miles
Y further was destroyers in use. the When south the westward, middle Route was brought X, some into though use
the to M.T.B. units failed to follow up, the the
continuous stream and the ships lying in Dunkirk Roads Commander. provi-
enemy of unescorted traffic during
ded dark a hours tempting target to any enterprising (a)/