TNA ADM 199 792

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CONFIDENTIAL.
Page 23
142
Operation "DYNAMO" - Narrative of Events,
1/6
Saturday, 1st June, (continued)
machines being noted. During this attack BASILISK was put out
of action off La Panne and later sank while struggling home.
KEITH, SALAMANDER and SKIPJACK, who were moving westward along
the coast as the Bray and La Panne beaches had been emptied,
were heavily bombed, t. e former was hit and set on fire and
the latter sank. KEITH was abandoned and finally sank.
Nearly all troops on board KEITH and the crews of both vessels
were rescued by other ships. A third attack started over
Dunkirk, extending well out along Route X, and occurred between
1000 and 1040, to be again resumed at noon. After that there
was a lull until 1550, when another attack was delivered on
Dunkirk Harbour and all shipping therein for over half an hour.
At 1800 the Vice Admiral received the following signal from
Dunkirk: "Things are getting very hot for ships; over 100
bombers on ships here since 0530, many casualties. Have
directed that no ships sail during daylight. Evacuation by
transports therefore ceases at 0300. If perimeter holds will
complete evacuation tomorrow, Sunday night, including most
French. General concurs." The sense of this message was
passed on to Rear Admiral, Dover, off the coast.
69. In addition to the heavy scale of air attack during
the afternoon the sea traffic was very seriously interrupted by
artillery fire brought to bear on X Route near No.5 buoy. The
fire appeared to be accurate and it is believed some French
ships were sunk. 2 French Destroyers in the vicinity stopped
British ships approaching from England on X Route short of this
point, and it became evident that a very serious threat to
daylight evacuation was in being. Meantime, the toll of
casualties of ships during the day was mounting particularly
amongst the destroyers and shortly after midday the Commander-
in-Chief, Nore, called the attention of the Admiralty to this,
suggesting the discontinuation of the use of destroyers by day
off the French Coast. The summarisation of all these incidents
led to the Admiralty directing the Vice Admiral, Dover, to
suspend evacuation from Dunkirk at 0700, Sunday 2nd June, and
for it to be resumed the following night or from 1730/2,
depending upon the circumstances. From the above it will be
seen that there were to be no ships proceeding to Dunkirk
between 0700/2 and 1730/2. The above Admiralty directions
crossed a message from the Vice Admiral stating that all ships
had been ordered to withdraw from Dunkirk before daylight the
following day, owing to the heavy casualties to shipping.
70. In spite of enemy action more than 60,000 troops
were landed in the United Kingdom during the 24 hours, thanks
to the unremitting determination of Naval vessels who all
executed a succession of round trips, interrupted only by
necessary refuelling. The majority of the surviving vessels
had been operating ceaselessly for at least 5 days, and officers
and men were approaching a condition of complete exhaustion.
the
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