TNA ADM 234 360

CHAP. III
THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
with a view to lifting up to 45,000 of the B.E.F. within two days, at the end of which it was probable that evacuation would be terminated by enemy action".
A further step was taken when, at 1800, Captain W. G. Tennant, M.V.O.,
R.N., was ordered by the Vice-Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral T.S. V.
Phillips, C.B., to proceed to Dunkirk to take control of the naval shore embarkation parties. Captain Tennant's appointment as S.N.O., Dunkirk, was promulgated, his duties to commence the following day2, and beach masters and pier parties were ordered to proceed from the Nore to Dover.
Then, at 1857, there went out from the Admiralty, by teleprinter, the historic signal, "Operation Dynamo is to commence "3, which was to save our Army in France, and to have the most momentous results for the Nation, the Empire and the World.
Mona's Isle makes the first round trip
Except for the destroyer Wolsey, which left Dover at 1930 to act as W/T
link ship, the first ship to sail on this great mission was the armed boarding vessel Mona's Isle, which left the Downs at 2116. After some delay with a fouled propeller she berthed at the Quai Félix Faure during an air attack, and embarked 1420 troops. On the return journey, she was straddled by shore guns off Gravelines, and shortly after, was heavily machine-gunned from the air; these attacks caused 83 casualties, including 23 dead. She reached
Dover at noon on the 27th May escorted by the destroyer Windsor, which had put her doctor on board and landed her troops. Mona's Isle was the first ship to complete the round trip in Operation "Dynamo".
Mona's Queen first ship back on 27th May
This, however, was not the first passage on 26th May. Even before the
Admiralty signal, the despatch of personnel vessels to Dunkirk had begun, a flow of 2 vessels every 4 hours having been accepted by the B.E.F.4. The armed boarding vessel King Orry had sailed at 0930, and the Mona's Queen at noon. The Maid of Orleans had sailed at 1100 (with 6,000 two-gallon cans of water), but arriving off Dunkirk during an air attack was unable to effect an entrance and returned to Dover"; she was sailed again at 1726, escorted by the destroyer Wild Swan, which had also taken out the Canterbury at 1728, and escorted her part of the way.
The Mona's Queen (carrying 1200 troops) was the first of these ships to arrive back from Dunkirk, reaching Dover shortly after midnight on the
26th/27th May; the Canterbury arrived at 0309/27 (with 1,340 troops), the store ship Ngaroma at 0500/27 (with a hundred troops), the Maid of Orleans at
0600/27 (with 980 troops), and the King Orry at 1100/27 (with 1,131). As a result of these sailings on the 26th May 6,083 troops were landed in England on the 27th May, of which Mona's Isle had contributed 1,420 towards the two days".
tentative Admiralty target of "lifting up to 45,000 of the B.E.F. within
Hospital carriers under Hague Convention was ignored, and their conspicuous white hulls
The the work of the hospital carriers was specially hazardous; their immunity
I D.R. page ii.
2 Appendix M. 2.
3 Appendix M. 1.
4
D.R.
16

CHAP. IV
THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
attacked misses, and, twice arrival by dive-bombers at Dunkirk en at route, 1655, receiving found some damage was in progress. on an air attack by 21 from aircraft near enveloped air raid casualties lying about depots the and The was investigate in the a vast pall of smoke from the oil area of Naval Headquarterters to
Captain Tennant local proceeded situation. ashore The whole to the Bastion with was blazing, masses of wreckage. were streets, which were littered town
Parminter; On arrival at Colonel the Bastion, Whitfeld, Captain Sub-Area Tennant Commandant; held a meeting and with Brigadier
H. P. Henderson, R.N., the B.N.L.O. It to was retain decided that the harbour Commander as a W/T link.
untenable, and that it was impracticable the Wolfhound at Dunkirk was
At 1900 Captain Tennant assumed the duties of S.N.O. Dunkirk, ordered the Wolfhound and Wolsey to proceed to the beach east of Dunkirk and and embark troops, using their own boats. This they proceeded to do, but did not get away unscathed; the Wolfhound grounded as she left Dunkirk harbour and received further damage from a bomb which struck the jetty six feet away. She made no more trips to Dunkirk, but on that evening she and the Wolsey became the pioneers of beach evacuation.
Beach evacuation begins
Meanwhile, during the afternoon, four personnel vessels and two hospital carriers had sailed for Dunkirk¹. Of these, the personnel vessels Queen of the
Channel and St. Seiriol left Dover at 1330, by Route Y, and entered Channel Dunkirk at about 1930, during an air raid. The Queen of the beaches. had At harbour barely embarked 50 troops when both boats ships were had started diverted ferrying, to the S.N.O. Dunkirk to troyers' passed 2230, boats, embark signalled however, which this motor 1,000 order were the boats. before men. Wolfhound manned to the the The The St. St. as Queen to Wolfhound, Seiriol's necessary Seiriol send of a beach by the personnel by then megaphone Channel, naval and with ship then, ratings the using to and Wolsey returning the or her commandeered east towed own off pier, to the by except boats, Dunkirk, Dunkirk the beaches des- em- the her she harbour, destroyers barked was about unfortunately picked Wolfhound 150 up troops a and further sunk Wolsey, from by 700 aircraft the to troops. embark early She next troops was morning from the first the (May ship, beaches, 28th) shortly though after leaving Dunkirk.
" tomorrow night is problematical "
S.N.O. local By 1958, Dunkirk, and Captain he sent Tennant this dramatic had arrived signal to at immediately.
Evacuation on 27th May, only an hour after he a the duties of the of situation, available craft to beaches T.O.Of.1988."kirk
" Evacuation tomorrow transmission, night is was not received until 2055, but in and the
Please send every problematical.
This I The signal, Queen delayed of the Channel, in St. Seiriol, Canterbury, Maid of Orleans, Isle of Thanet
Worthing.
22

CHAPTER VIII
FRIDAY, 31ST MAY
EVACUATION REACHES ITS ZENITH
Lord Gort hands over his Command to Major-General Alexander
(2nd Corps) to withdraw to the The 50th 5th Divisions
Orders had been issued on the the beaches 30th May and for Dunkirk. the 3rd, 4th and began to take place on the morning of 31st May.
the British Base staff at Dunkirk, to come the 1st Corps. These moves with to fall back to the French defences on Belgian under frontier and, together
This meant that the remnant of the B.E.F., on being withdrawn inside the area of the French defences, came under the orders of Admiral Abrial; the ance with the instructions he had received.² He selected Major-Generalthe selected Major-Generl the time had therefore arrived for Lord Gort to hand over
Hon. H. R.L. G. Alexander to remain in France in command of the 1st Corps, now numbering less than 20,000 men in all; and, on taking over command of the Ist Corps, Major-General Alexander handed over command of the Ist
Division to Brigadier M. B. Beckwith-Smith.
Lord Gort agreed with Major-General Alexander that a provisional date for evacuating his force was to be the night of 2nd/3rd June.
On the 31st May therefore, Lord Gort's headquarters closed at 1800, and, after handing over command to Major-General Alexander, Lord Gort embarked with his A.D.C. in the Hebe's whaler, which had been towed in by the motor yacht Lahloo to a point a little west of La Panne beach. He proceeded to the
Lahloo and thence to the Hebe. During the embarkation an enemy attack was made by about 40 aircraft and considerable shelling was directed on to
La Panne beach itself. With Lord Gort on board, the Hebe proceeded to La
Panne beach and continued to embark troops.
It was not, however, till about midnight, that the motor yacht Bounty with
Cdre. Stephenson on board proceeded to transfer Lord Gort from the Hebe to the Keith. At about the same time, however, the M.A/S.B.6, having embarked Lord Gort's chief staff officer General Leese from the Keith, was sent to the Hebe with orders from Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker to embark Lord Gort.
On finding that he had left the Hebe, the M.A/S.B.6 returned to the Keith, embarked Lord Gort, and sailed at 0304 on the 1st of June for Dover which she reached at 0547 the same evening.
It had been the intention of the Admiralty that Lord Gort and his staff should be embarked in M.T.B.'s and at 1522 V.A. Dover had informed Rear-
Admiral Wake-Walker by signal that 4 of these vessels would be available for this V.A. Dover's did not reach R.A. Dover4, and other and signal all four back at Dover by Speaking of the non-receipt uses; of indeed Dover's were signal, Rear-Admiral
Wake-Walker reached says, The signal informing V.A. of this, like many others, never me At 1543/30 Rear-Admiral me Wake-Walker had asked that he
I 2 Lord Lord Gort's Second Despatch, a M.T.B's. Gort's Second Despatch, para.57.
R.A. 67, 107, 68 and 102. para. (See 58.
M.017978/41, Dover-Report p.18. of Proceedings (R.O. Appendix III. para. G.30). 19).
66

THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. XII
Casualties from collison and grounding had It embarked was under 200 conditions French such troops of as the at these harbour the West that per which was rammed when just clear 20 feet from the stern, 2319, line, Edmond cutting René; her her degaussing port bow, circuits. and the The troops collision was caused opened the up two to the wawler water which was undamaged. eventually joining a water, trawler, swing alongside one another, The Kingfisher, making trans-shipped little to the ships to towards England at 7 knots, casualty. company with the minesweeper proceeded
Leda, another collision
West Pier about an hour into the prevailing fog, and off 0300, the on the way back the
The Leda, having embarked after the 484 Kingfisher. French troops, At had pushed off from she ran down the Belgian The Leda's bows
Margate, the ship ran trawler Maréchal Foch. Goodwin Light Buoy to damaged, and for a while the minesweeper the Albury, which had sailed from were
West Pier at about the same time as Leda, with 400 troops, stood by her; the but the Leda's forward bulkhead held, so the ship continued on her way to
Margate, escorted for a while by the Kellett until the latter had to break off assist a ship in greater trouble and left her with the Kingfisher as companion to in misfortune. The fog was thick at Margate, and in the roads the Kingfisher was rammed once more, the personnel vessel King George V hitting her on the starboard bow, though only minor damage was caused.
Meanwhile, the Maréchal Foch had sunk. In economy of operation this
Belgian trawler seems to have been unequalled, for despite the fact that her entire complement consisted only of the Master, Captain P. Lusyne, and one man, (F. Decoster), she had embarked no less than 300 troops. To accomplish this, the ship had lain alongside the quay at Dunkirk since the 2nd of June, for she had grounded on the falling tide and did not get away until the night of the 3rd-4th. It is satisfactory to know that the Captain and his crew were picked up and landed at Dover; but half of the 300 troops she was carrying were drowned. The French M.T.B. V.T.B 25 which was bringing Admiral
Abrial from Dunkirk picked up some but was hampered by a propeller disabled by wreckage, and some were rescued by the destroyer Malcolm, which left
Dunkirk at 0245 and reported picking up, in fog near the North Goodwin, survivors of an unknown schuyt' which had been sunk in collision with a minesweeper.
Another ship that grounded in Dunkirk and was lost in consequence, was the
Skoot Lena. This vessel had sailed from England at 1530 on the 3rd June, in company with four other skoots, the Pascholl (S.O.), Hondsrug, Bornrif, and
Reiger. The latter ran aground on the Quern Sand soon after leaving Ramsgate, and was left behind. Going alongside the middle pier of Avant Port"
at Dunkirk (probably the West Quay or Guiding Jetty, or possibly the Inner but
Western high none British water, was drifter Pier) available orders were the having Lena and unsuccessful. attempts grounded been given made At at that about 1045 to no tow on 2300. further the her 4th off A embarkation tug June, by was the two asked Bornrif was hours crew for, to and after take em- a place after daylight, it was decided to abandon ship. Part of remainder, the inbarked in a British drifter, part in a French drifter, and the cluding the officers, were ferried to the Locust outside the harbour.
forthcoming to tow off owing the difficulty for minutes
It was presumably to of tug was considerable convoy of tugs Lena, arrived off within the entrance a to the
116