TNA ADM 199 795

Collection details

TNA ADM 199 795

Admiralty reports on naval operations off the Dutch, Belgian and French coasts during 1940.

Holding archive: TNA
Collection reference: ADM 199 795

View the archive catalogue entry ↗

Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 199/795. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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Page	Image	OCR text	OCR tags
518	Log in to enlarge	348 322 29/5 Embarkation proceeded at rate of 3 to 4,000 an hour. Troops were now consisting mainly of the Fighting Corps, all the non-combatant troops in the area having been evacuated. The display of this Corps Troops was noticeably superior - previous detachments had reached the embarkation point in a straggling manner with scarcely any semblance of order. The Corps Troops marched in formation along the beaches, quickly scattering during an air raid, and reforming and continuing afterwards. It was this order which enabled such 8 high rate of embarkation to be maintained. At 1200 I proceeded with Brigadier Parminter by Motor Boat to La Panne to G.H.Q. to report on the difficult situation vis-a-vis the French over the evacuation. when on board EXPRESS I made a signal to the Admiralty and to V.A. Dover giving an appreciation of the situation as follows :- "Bombing of beaches and Dunkirk pier has now commenced without opposition from fighters, If they hit Dunkirk pier embarkation will become very jammed. Beach at La Panne covered with troops congregating in large numbers. Very slow embarkation taking place from Restern Beach. The French Staff at Dunkirk feel strongly that they are defending Dunkirk for us to evacuate, which is largely true. To continue evacuation my appreciation is as follows - The perimeter must be strongly hold, food and stores immediately provided, and bombing of Dunkirk pier must be prevented. There is no other alternative evacuation to take off more than a tithe of men now on beach before they are bombed continuously." 1358/29 In Dunkirk itself we were left in comperative peace by enemy aircraft until the evening. V.A. Dover's 1906/29 received, reading:- "Evacuation of British troops to continue at maximum speed during the night. If adequate supply of personnel vessels cannot be maintained	Boat Evening Dover

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 518.

348
322
29/5
Embarkation proceeded at rate of 3 to 4,000 an hour.
Troops were now consisting mainly of the Fighting Corps,
all the non-combatant troops in the area having been
evacuated. The display of this Corps Troops was
noticeably superior - previous detachments had reached the
embarkation point in a straggling manner with scarcely
any semblance of order. The Corps Troops marched in
formation along the beaches, quickly scattering during
an air raid, and reforming and continuing afterwards.
It was this order which enabled such 8 high rate of
embarkation to be maintained.
At 1200 I proceeded with Brigadier Parminter by
Motor Boat to La Panne to G.H.Q. to report on the difficult
situation vis-a-vis the French over the evacuation. when
on board EXPRESS I made a signal to the Admiralty and to
V.A. Dover giving an appreciation of the situation as
follows
:-
"Bombing of beaches and Dunkirk pier has now commenced
without opposition from fighters, If they hit
Dunkirk pier embarkation will become very jammed.
Beach at La Panne covered with troops congregating
in large numbers. Very slow embarkation taking place
from Restern Beach.
The French Staff at Dunkirk feel strongly that they
are defending Dunkirk for us to evacuate, which is
largely true. To continue evacuation my appreciation
is as follows -
The perimeter must be strongly hold, food and stores
immediately provided, and bombing of Dunkirk pier
must be prevented.
There is no other alternative evacuation to take off
more than a tithe of men now on beach before they
are bombed continuously."
1358/29
In Dunkirk itself we were left in comperative peace
by enemy aircraft until the evening. V.A. Dover's 1906/29
received, reading :-
"Evacuation of British troops to continue at
maximum speed during the night. If adequate
supply of personnel vessels cannot be maintained