TNA ADM 234 360

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

CHAP. VI
THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
Ramsgate at 2200/29. situated over the engine. capable of 4 knots, also and left
Dutch eel-boats Johanna The Chantecler was only M.B. Golden Lily The and returned to harbour; and the remainder Chantecler reached and the La Panne at 0500/30.
and brought back lost troops. her in the Downs in the get over on May, and round"¹. She 30 The Johanna did not on the 30th and compass which was reached the beaches, however, revolved at 0900 slowly round her
Ramsgate on the morning on that day she was towed she had no charts, of way the 30th May. Later darkness, and returned to to the beaches by the skoot Jutland.
Troops transported on 29th May reduction in the number of destroyers and with failure to
The 29th May closed with a formidable available list of ships lost or damaged, a marked the high rate of evacuation hoped for. The effect of the day's occurrences achieve even more marked next day, when instead of the 50,000 to 60,000 British was were in fact transported.²
troops which had been calculated as the probable achievement, only 48,000 odd
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 11/2 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
2½ times the number of troops were lifted from the beaches on 29th May as compared with the number lifted on the previous day. Seventeen destroyers⁵
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.
3 D.R., which incidentally puts the total of and casualties landed on 29th Table May 2). as
2 D.R. p.11, para. 38.
40,724. This figure probably does not include troops carried by foreign ships (See Prague,
4 The Côte d'Argent, Killarney, King George troops V, Maid of Orleans, Manxman,
Royal Daffodil, Royal Sovereign, Scotia, and
Javelin, Malcolm, Sabre, Scimitar, Verity, Wolsey and Worcester. Marmion
5 The Anthony, Codrington, Esk, Express, Tynwald. Greyhound, Harvester, Intrepid, Ivanhoe,
6 The Albury, Duchess of 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

THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. VII
heavy craft, nor even by small craft similar in a pier lop, was it was invaluable ing troops into small boats. A was completed and commenced in use on the morning of later for embarkthe 30th May at La Panne, and by the the same day the the same same d the morning day the morning day
(See p. 47).
2 or 3 motor yachts and paddlers to
Bray; none proceeded east of the Bray pier, where the
Captain Howson goes on to say that arrived in the and afternoon anchored one Fortwo skoots and the weskoots and waited many hours patiently. One tried or two without destroyers or sloops passed from had the westward to La Panne, and he he success with a lamp to
Admiral Wake-Walker asking him to arrange for this. Captain Howson also them to anchor off the pier. Eventually managed to get a signal to Rear- tell sent an officer to Dunkirk to represent learned the urgent need for destroyers off Bray.
It was not until 2 days later that he that all the destroyers, etc., had been given specific instructions as to which beach they were to anchor off.
Later a certain number of destroyers, sloops and skoots anchored off Bray and the embarkation proceeded satisfactorily. Unfortunately, time after time, owing to a lack of naval ratings, he saw a procession of boats going off loaded with troops, only to be cast adrift and left floating empty out to seaward¹.
Later that evening Captain Howson got in touch with Rear-Admiral Wake-
Walker, then in the Worcester, and obtained permission to embark the following day in a motor boat off the beaches SO as to prevent a recurrence of this waste of beaching craft².
In spite of the difficulties and shortcomings emphasised in the above reports great progress was being made. In fact, beach evacuation reached its peak on this day; 29,500 troops were lifted from the beaches (as against 24,300
from the harbour); and some 50 ships, including destroyers, minesweepers, skoots, trawlers, drifters, personnel and special service vessels, were engaged continuously in the arduous work.
The armada grows, but service of ships to Dunkirk is slowed up
Meanwhile the build-up of ships continued, and some 31 additional craft reached of Dunkirk and the beaches this day. They included two minesweepers of the 8th M.S.F.³, the Fleet Air Arm training vessel Grive, 4 yachts and a drifter the Dover M/S Command4, the corvette Kingfisher, (with the ex-Belgian canal the boat Sambre in tow), the Yarmouth Examination Service yacht Laroc, and M/V Scottish Co-operator, the S/M tender Dwarf, the drifters Fair Breeze minesweeper barge Skipjack), the motor coasters Seine and Sheila, (in the coasting
Ocean Breeze, the ex-Belgian canal boats Ambleve and Escaut tow of the the Viking, the ex-Dutch eel-boat Johanna (in tow Lady of the skoot Jutland), water, and (R.N.L.I.) lifeboat Prudential (towing barges 7 Sark and with fresh
Ramsgate sailing barge Beatrice Maud, and the dumb Shetland. hopper The the oyster dredging smacks Seasalter and Vanguard, the steam W.24, borough, the punt Carama), and the Margate wherries loaded Lord Southwherries. were The manned by their own crews, but (R.N.L.I.) naval lifeboat manned the appeared on the scene. and picked up 244 troops. Another A/S patrol, to
Bray beach in error trawler Olvina, which should have been on ratings went
I At long last a dozen of the long awaited important motor contingent boats
R.O.III, p.396.
2 R.O.III, p.397.
4 3 The The Glen Avon and Glen Gower.
and 5 The the danlaying danlaying Constant yachts drifter Gulzar and Sargasso, the echo and Conidaw
Triton, Silver Pauleter Adventuress, and sounding Ma Black Joie. yachts Arrow, Chico Sunshine, Reda,
60

INDEX
Johanna,54, 60.
John, and Norah, 71n.
39, 43-4. D.
G., 76.
G. de S. (P.S.T.O. 60. Dover), 48.
Jutland, 47n, 54,
Keith, at Boulogne, 9-10; In Dynamo, 55, 64, 66, 67 (flag of R.A. Dover), 71, 74, 76, 86,
Kaap Falga, 20, 29.
88-90 (sunk).
Kellett, 28n, 32, 41, 46, 97, 107n, 89. 109, 114n, 116-7, 119.
Kenward, Lt. (E) W. H., killed,
Kestrel, 72n.
Kingfisher, 60, 87, 89 (damaged), 114n, 116 (rammed), 117.
Killarney, 29n, 54n.
King George V, 54n, 94, 107n, 108-9, 114n, 116, 119.
King Orry, 16, 19, 28, 45 (sunk), 97 (damages Dunkirk pier).
Kingston Alalite, 34n, 110.
Kingston Andalusite, 34n.
Kingston Galena, 34n.
Kingston Olivine, 110.
Koeltz, General, 19.
Kuno, 20n, 24n.
Lady Brassey, 28n, 36, 91, 104.
Lady Haig, 72n.
Lady of Mann, 48n, 87, 107n, 109 (sent back empty), 114n, 118.
Lady Philomena, 34n, 91.
Lady Robinson, 94 (sunk).
Lady Rosebery, 71n.
Lady Sheila, 60.
Lady Southborough, 72n.
La Flore, 107n, 109.
Lahloo, 66, 71n.
Laidsell, Lt. Gen. W. G. (Q.M.G.), 8, 26, 59, 90.
Lambart, Capt. Hon. L. J. O., R.N. (ret.), lost, 93.
Lansdowne, 72n.
La Panne. See Beaches.
Lark, 71n, 95 (sunk).
Laroc, 60.
Leda, 28n, 32, 54n, 97, 114n, 116 (sinks Maréchal Foch), 118.
Lena, 20, 24, 27-8, 100, 116 (lost), 117.
Léopard, 73, 99, 107n.
Letitia, 73.
Lewes, Lt. Cdr. J. H., 45.
Lewis, Cdr. E. R., 106.
L.H.W.D., 114n.
L'Impétueuse, 62.
Llanthony, 71n.
Lloyd, General, 84.
Lochgarry, 29n, 39, 41.
Locust, 46, 58, 87, 107n, 108, 114, 116, 119.
Lord Barham, 71n.
Lord Cavan, 32n, 98 (sunk).
Lord Collingwood, 32n, 47n.
Lord Grey, 45.
Lord Hood, 71n.
Lord Howard, 23n, 107n.
Lord Howe, 13, 23n.
Lord Keith, 32n, 47n.
Lord Melchett, 85.
Lord Rodney, 47n.
Lord St. Vincent, 32n, 47n.
201