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TNA / ADM 234 360

TNA ADM 234 360

TNA ADM 234 360
Collection details

TNA ADM 234 360

Naval Staff History No. 41, the official historical study of the evacuation from Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo, 26 May–4 June 1940, dated 1949.

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TNA
Collection reference
ADM 234 360
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Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 234/360. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. VI
and returned to harbour; the remainder Chantecler reached and the La Panne at 0500/30.
Dutch eel-boats Johanna and Chantecler M.B. Golden Lily also The and Ramsgate " compass at which 2200/29. was reached situated The the over beaches, the was engine. however, only capable revolved at 0900 of slowly 4 knots, round and and left her she had no charts, lost way 30th Later darkness, and returned to and brought back 30 troops. her in the Downs in the get over on May, round"¹. She The Johanna did not on the 30th
Ramsgate on the morning of the May. on that day she was towed to the beaches by the skoot Jutland.
Troops transported on 29th May reduction in the number of destroyers available and with failure to achieve
The 29th May closed with a formidable list of ships lost or damaged, a marked the high rate of evacuation hoped for. The effect of the day's occurrences even more marked next day, when instead of the 50,000 to 60,000 British was troops which had been calculated as the probable achievement, only 48,000 odd were in fact transported.²
Nevertheless, 47,310 troops (including some 2,000 casualties) were landed in England on the 29th May (see Table 2), 13,752 having been lifted from the beaches and 33,558 from the harbour. Only about 11 per cent of these were
French troops³, whose organised evacuation had not yet begun. (See Appendices Y.2 to Y.5).
During the morning and forenoon of the 29th May, when there was no bombing of Dunkirk harbour, 1Q personnel vessels⁴ lifted 14,760 troops from the east pier; during the afternoon, in spite of the bombing, the Canterbury lifted a further 1,960.
The development of beach evacuation is indicated by the fact that nearly
21 times the number of troops were lifted from the beaches on 29th May as compared with the number lifted on the previous day. Seventeen destroyers each made one round trip during the 24 hours of the 29th May and an eighteenth destroyer, the Icarus, made two such trips. On these trips the 18 destroyers embarked and transported to England 10,694 troops of which 6,198 were lifted from the beaches and 4,506 from Dunkirk harbour. Nine minesweepers⁶
together lifted 2,426 troops from the beaches although one of them, the Albury did not land her troops in England until the next day.⁷ Among other ships which brought back troops from the beaches was the cruiser Calcutta with
1,200.
The record of troops landed in England now stood as follows:-
From the
From the
Total for beaches harbour the day
26th May
Nil
Nil
Nil
27th May
Nil
7,669
7,669
28th May
5,930
11,874
17,804
29th May
13,752
33,558
47,310
I Report by Chantecler.
40,724. This figure probably puts does not include troops carried by foreign ships (See Prague,
3 2 D.R., D.R. p.11, which para. incidentally 38. the total of troops and casualties landed on 29th Table May 2). as
The Côte d'Argent, Killarney, King George V, Maid of Orleans, Manxman,
Javelin, Malcolm, Express, Verity, Wolsey and Marmion
Royal 5 The Daffodil, Anthony, Royal Codrington, Sovereign, Esk, Scotia, and Tynwald. Greyhound, Harvester, Intrepid, Worcester. Ivanhoe,
6 The Albury, Duchess Sabre, of Scimitar, Fife, Emperor Shikari, of Vanquisher, India, Fitzroy, Halcyon, Hebe, Leda, and Sharpshooter.
7 See Table 3, in conjunction with the reports of ships' proceedings in Vol. II.
54
Albury Anthony Calcutta Canterbury Chantecler Cruiser Duchess England Fitzroy Formidable Golden Lily Hebe Intrepid Ivanhoe Javelin Johanna Jutland Killarney King George King George V Lily Maid of Orleans Manxman Prague Sabre Scotia Sharpshooter TS King George V TSS Scotia Tynwald Verity Wolsey Day George King Malcolm May

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Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 74.

THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. VI
and returned to harbour; the remainder Chantecler reached and the La Panne at 0500/30.
Dutch eel-boats Johanna and Chantecler M.B. Golden Lily also The
and Ramsgate " compass at which 2200/29. was reached situated The the over beaches, the was engine. however, only capable revolved at 0900 of slowly 4 knots, round and and left her
she had no charts, lost way 30th Later darkness, and returned to
and brought back 30 troops. her in the Downs in the get over on May,
round"¹. She The Johanna did not on the 30th
Ramsgate on the morning of the May. on that day she was towed
to the beaches by the skoot Jutland.
Troops transported on 29th May
reduction in the number of destroyers available and with failure to achieve
The 29th May closed with a formidable list of ships lost or damaged, a marked
the high rate of evacuation hoped for. The effect of the day's occurrences
even more marked next day, when instead of the 50,000 to 60,000 British was
troops which had been calculated as the probable achievement, only 48,000 odd
were in fact transported.²
Nevertheless, 47,310 troops (including some 2,000 casualties) were landed
in England on the 29th May (see Table 2), 13,752 having been lifted from the
beaches and 33,558 from the harbour. Only about 11 per cent of these were
French troops³, whose organised evacuation had not yet begun. (See Appen-
dices Y.2 to Y.5).
During the morning and forenoon of the 29th May, when there was no
bombing of Dunkirk harbour, 1Q personnel vessels⁴ lifted 14,760 troops from
the east pier; during the afternoon, in spite of the bombing, the Canterbury
lifted a further 1,960.
The development of beach evacuation is indicated by the fact that nearly
21 times the number of troops were lifted from the beaches on 29th May as
compared with the number lifted on the previous day. Seventeen destroyers
each made one round trip during the 24 hours of the 29th May and an eighteenth
destroyer, the Icarus, made two such trips. On these trips the 18 destroyers
embarked and transported to England 10,694 troops of which 6,198 were
lifted from the beaches and 4,506 from Dunkirk harbour. Nine minesweepers⁶
together lifted 2,426 troops from the beaches although one of them, the Albury
did not land her troops in England until the next day.⁷ Among other ships
which brought back troops from the beaches was the cruiser Calcutta with
1,200.
The record of troops landed in England now stood as follows :-
From the
From the
Total for
beaches
harbour
the day
26th May
Nil
Nil
Nil
27th May
Nil
7,669
7,669
28th May
5,930
11,874
17,804
29th May
13,752
33,558
47,310
I Report by Chantecler.
40,724. This figure probably puts does not include troops carried by foreign ships (See Prague,
3 2 D.R., D.R. p.11, which para. incidentally 38. the total of troops and casualties landed on 29th Table May 2). as
The Côte d'Argent, Killarney, King George V, Maid of Orleans, Manxman,
Javelin, Malcolm, Express, Verity, Wolsey and Marmion
Royal 5 The Daffodil, Anthony, Royal Codrington, Sovereign, Esk, Scotia, and Tynwald. Greyhound, Harvester, Intrepid, Worcester. Ivanhoe,
6 The Albury, Duchess Sabre, of Scimitar, Fife, Emperor Shikari, of Vanquisher, India, Fitzroy, Halcyon, Hebe, Leda,
and Sharpshooter.
7 See Table 3, in conjunction with the reports of ships' proceedings in Vol. II.
54