TNA ADM 199 792

Collection details

TNA ADM 199 792

Admiralty records concerning Operation Dynamo and the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, covering 1940–1941.

Holding archive: TNA
Collection reference: ADM 199 792

View the archive catalogue entry ↗

Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 199/792. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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List page 1 of 1 Showing document pages 292–292 of this collection

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Page	Image	OCR text	OCR tags
292	Log in to enlarge	320 323 " 15 - at 1105 to say:- 31/5 " Dunkirk our only real hope. Can guns cholling pier from Westward be FRID bombed and silenced. 17 The successful use of Dunkirk depended on our being able to put ships alongside the Eastern breakwater and it was my constant fear that this might be so accurately shelled as to render it untenable. I also signalled to the shore urging movement towards Dunkirk and 00 a result troops could be seen moving slowly westward, From seaward, everything that happened on the beach could be clearly seen. Bodies of men marched along - some in good order, others in groups and knots. At one time a battalion in perfect order marched down through a winding road from the dunes to the shore and I was told later that it was the Welsh Guards, but I am not certain that this was no. It must not be thought that embarkation from the beaches coased - all the time slowly men came off and ships filled and left, but the largest numbers came from Dunkirk itself. Commencing the day before and continuing on this Friday the army had been driving lorries down the beach to form a sort of barricade and breakwater. At Brayo the R.E. had planked a. gangway and made D. handrail on these lorries so that motor boats could go alongside. Unfortunately the line ran straight out to sea and as the wind was directly on shore the broakwater gave very little shelter - still it did help. During the forenoon I made contact again with Commodore Stevenson who by now had completely lost his voice. I sent him over to some paddle minesweepers which were off Erayo to got one beached to not 20 a broakwater. This he eventually did and the next day she was high and day at daylight. I do not know to what extent she was of use - the trouble boing that no ship was long enough to cover the distance the tide ran out, and so could only be of value for part of the tide. The "HEBE" returned at 1000 with Captain Hush and the plan for the embarkation that might. Briefly the plan W&B this:- Large numbers of boats were now being sent over in tow of tugo end oll manner of vessels. They vero due to stert arriving at 1500 and these boats	Commodore Hebe Westward Day Little Long

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 292.

320
323
" 15 -
at 1105 to say:-
31/5
" Dunkirk our only real hope. Can guns cholling pier from Westward be
FRID
bombed and silenced. 17
The successful use of Dunkirk depended on our being able to put ships
alongside the Eastern breakwater and it was my constant fear that this might
be so accurately shelled as to render it untenable.
I also signalled to the shore urging movement towards Dunkirk and 00 a
result troops could be seen moving slowly westward,
From seaward, everything that happened on the beach could be clearly
seen. Bodies of men marched along - some in good order, others in groups
and knots. At one time a battalion in perfect order marched down through
a winding road from the dunes to the shore and I was told later that it was
the Welsh Guards, but I am not certain that this was no.
It must not be thought that embarkation from the beaches coased - all
the time slowly men came off and ships filled and left, but the largest
numbers came from Dunkirk itself.
Commencing the day before and continuing on this Friday the army had
been driving lorries down the beach to form a sort of barricade and break-
water. At Brayo the R.E. had planked a. gangway and made D. handrail on these
lorries so that motor boats could go alongside. Unfortunately the line ran
straight out to sea and as the wind was directly on shore the broakwater
gave very little shelter - still it did help.
During the forenoon I made contact again with Commodore Stevenson
who by now had completely lost his voice. I sent him over to some paddle
minesweepers which were off Erayo to got one beached to not 20 a broakwater.
This he eventually did and the next day she was high and day at daylight.
I do not know to what extent she was of use - the trouble boing that no
ship was long enough to cover the distance the tide ran out, and so could
only be of value for part of the tide.
The "HEBE" returned at 1000 with Captain Hush and the plan for the
embarkation that might. Briefly the plan W&B this:-
Large numbers of boats were now being sent over in tow of tugo end oll
manner of vessels. They vero due to stert arriving at 1500 and these boats