TNA ADM 234 360

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CHAP. X
THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
arranged from 801 and 806 Command been
of them (Appendix 0830 until J.7). 1100 Air on protection 2nd June, by and Coastal Fighter Command had
Command three aircraft during of Nos. these 206, hours, 235, to cover Route Squadrons X. operated under patrols Coastal of
Fifth column activities (Appendix H27-32)
such "Dynamo", effective fifth use during the war. type time during Operation
On the Ist June column there came activities to notice, of the for the of first
empty, the to keep a look out and turn such
Sutton in and company, orders were met sent a out from Dover power to the and small the Dunkirk with thing boats return the boats returning boats returning
At 2150 on the 1st the Minesweeper number of Niger, boats en route to
Apparently the severe minesweepers, conditions it was at in and first from enormous believed the S.N.T.O. at wastage Dover on that the small French boats boats and were Belgian to daunted their coasts; duty. by
but a report came about the Ramsgate during the evening that
fifth column skoot was going first beaches at Dunkirk giving false informa- a
tion and orders to return. The example to come to notice was at 1300
the 1st when the skoot Oranje, off Dunkirk Channel, was informed by another on
sufficient ships in Dunkirk Harbour, and that the Oranje's boats were not
skoot that evacuation from the beaches was complete, that there were already
required. The Oranje remained where she was, however, in case the four boats
turned for home about 1515, subsequent to air attack.
she had towed over were needed, and until all ships in her neighbourhood
Although on the night of the 1st-2nd June the services of a number of small
craft were lost to the coast, there actually were a sufficient number off the
beaches to cope with the troops available.
Embarkation from the beaches
The first ships of the night flight to arrive off the beaches were minesweepers,
which began to anchor off Malo about 2000 on 1st. Here there were already
some 3 or 4 Thames barges, besides the paddle minesweeper Medway Queen
which had arrived some four hours earlier and had been engaged in filling up
with troops ever since. The skoot Lena had been there since 1300 on the 1st.
embarking 340 B.E.F. and 6 French troops; she was slightly damaged by air
attack during the day, and sailed at 2145 for Ramsgate. By midnight on the
1st-3nd June there were anchored off the beaches the minesweepers Marmion,
Snaefell, Niger, Glen Avon, Emperor of India, Glen Gower and Lydd, besides the
personnel ship Portsdown and the special service vessel Royal Eagle. Loading
was a slow process, for there were more ships lying off the beaches than could
be loaded by the boats available. Only one ship finished in 3 hours, most of
them taking nearly twice that length of time.
with 213 troops. She left behind her, abandoned the beach, the R.N.L.I.
The Emperor of India was apparently the first ship to sail from Malo, at 0238,
motor lifeboat Mary Scott which had ferried troops on and towed the Emperor of
India's whalers from the shore until she broke down. Queen left
shot at troops boat, 0245, down and and after an some nearly enemy details, Il aircraft hours including at on anchor the 10 beach Spanish during west which refugees of Dunkirk. the The rescued ship Medway claimed from She took an to have open 426
down the crews of two motor boats, the whose engines broke
unrecorded, like SO many small craft which came to grief in the course of render-
after some hours of ferrying troops and one, towing, Aura, and another, with name
100