TNA ADM 234 360

CHAP. IX
THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
east of Dunkirk. deserted. The too, empty, small seen that the beach to the enemy tanks or As the light grew, at 0330, it was position against
The Rear-Admiral, lorries in along the Keith, the beach, with the was Basilisk for supporting fire and going instructions Panne back was westward, to to England move though westward as intended. sea to were was Dunkirk However, moving whilst ships westward those were boats which a still had loading off Bray vanished were by under La to the men anchored the had been hit by shell fire. she grounded aft and continued at daylight, and at about her motor boat and two She closed the shore ship as the Panne, using
The minesweeper Speedwell whalers was to ferry troops a little to the west of La shortly after low water, fire by aircraft of the thus to embark 0500, and the ship, until minesweeper took off 100 her off. She sailed at boats, under machine-gun the enemy Albury towed troops on shore, the troops for Dunkirk. On the way she troops from the Ivanhoe 0730
made repeatedly damaged up her by but a number bomb unsuccessfully as of the troops Speedwell bombed. to 972 was and steaming The left minesweeper for past Dover her. at 0950 Salamander At Dunkirk after which being was she anchored a mile east of Bray Dunes, similarly engaged in embarking troops was with her boats, and she sailed for Dunkirk astern of the Keith and Skipjack soon after 0600. At Dunkirk she came in for two air attacks in one of which, at about 0820, she was damaged by a near miss, but she reached Dover on one boiler at 1530 and disembarked 479 troops. It was her last trip. A mile east of Bray, too, the minesweeper Sutton embarked 453 troops from the beaches before sailing at 0600 for Dover. She was bombed and machine-gunned, but the only man hit was one wounded soldier. The minesweeper Dundalk was anchored nearer to La Panne, also embarking troops. Having no motor boat, the Speedwell and Salamander both lent a hand to tow her whalers. From
0500 onwards she was subjected to air attacks at regular intervals, and about
0800 she decided to proceed to Margate," where she arrived at 1215 with
280 troops. Still further east, the minesweeper Halcyon was anchored off La
Panne embarking troops swimming off to the ship, paddling in rubber boats, and in her whalers, during which she had one officer (Lieut. N. Thurston, R.N.)
mortally wounded and suffered some casualties amongst the crew from machine gunning by enemy aircraft.
Off Bray, the destroyer Sabre was embarking 451 troops and the minesweeper
Niger 310, pressing into service carley floats and lifebelts with which men swam from the beach. Daylight showed a minesweeper and a paddle minesweeper ashore, and the Rear-Admiral hailed a tug which was on its way homeward with soldiers on board, and told him to go in and try to tow off the minesweepers.
However, the tugs had been sent over from England with pulling boats in tow and told to load up, and they regarded themselves as transports only, whereas
Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker, who knew nothing of these instructions, naturally regarded them as tugs. It was not until a gun was trained on the tug and an
R.N.V.R. Sub.-Lieutenant put on board to take charge, that the master's anxiety to get away was overcome.
A welcome addition to the evacuation craft consisted of the first of a dozen
Belgian fishing boats which now appeared on the scene from seaward down the Zyuidcoote Pass.¹
Early liftings from Dunkirk
At 0241 Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker had given orders for all small craft to
I Probably the 10 Belgian trawlers from Brixham, referred to in Section 176.
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THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. XI
difficult for ships to get alongside until the tide turned, about 2300. Rear-
Admiral Wake-Walker, who was afloat in M.A/S.B. 10 used the latter to harbour was now filled with numbers of small French craft of every sort, size the Venomous in and tried to get other small craft to do likewise. The narrow push and description. At this moment a defect Venomous developed in the M.A /S.B's clutch, apparently her from going as the astern result and of down pushing made on turning her the from a most both alongside, directions. hazardous which adventure prevented with boats of all sorts bearing The was away again in half an hour, with 1,500
Alexander and his staff who had been taken on
Admiral Wake-Walker and transferred to the had difficulty in getting alongside but managed to clear the harbour with 1,022
troops, one minute before the next destroyer was due to enter. The stream of
British troops was evidently diminishing in volume now, for the Winchelsea, which arrived at the pier at 2300, embarked only 152. The gunboat Locust, however, which sailed two minutes later, carried 800 troops, a proportion of whom were French.
Eight drifters disembarked 1,004 men in England, the Starlight Rays bringing
319 of these. The yacht Sargasso brought 252. Only two personnel vessels lifted British troops from the East Pier; the King George V embarked 1,460
in 27 minutes and sailed at 2225 and the St. Helier embarked 2,000 and sailed at 2330 for England.
This completed the evacuation of the British rearguard.
At 2330 Captain Tennant made the welcome signal "B.E.F. evacuated."
He embarked in M.T.B. 102, together with the demolition party and left for
Dover.
A pause in the embarkation
After the last of the B.E.F. were clear there was a long pause. French troops should have followed the British rearguard on the East Pier, but they did not appear. The West Quay, however, was crowded with French in their distinctive helmets, though there seemed a scarcity of ships on that side of the harbour. The personnel ship Royal Sovereign, which had been joined that afternoon by Commander L.P. Skipwith as adviser to the Master, Captain T.
Aldis, went alongside the West Quay at 2130, handled magnificently, turning and going alongside bows out", as Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker reported. She embarked 1,500 French troops and sailed at 2205 for Margate. The Rear-
Admiral also sent the personnel ship Rouen, a French cross-channel steamer, to the West Quay. In getting away she got broadside on to the wind and grounded just to the westward of the quay, where she lay, on a falling tide, showing up clearly against an oil fuel fire behind her. A tug was sent to help her but drew too much water and could not get near. However, the ship remained unhit throughout the shelling, and she floated off with the next tide in daylight and reached England safely with 1,286 men.
Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker was unable to discover the reason for the cessation of the flow of French troops to the East Pier; it was apparently caused make a counter-attack, for the counter-attack which was to have been made by the necessity either of repelling a German attack or holding them up to at 1500 to restore the line east of Bergues was postponed until 2000. With destroyers waiting to be filled the situation was most exasperating. Five destroyers had to be sent back to England for lack of to fill them. The she Vanquisher was ordered to return to Dover to 0230, taking troops only 37 troops which embarked from a small boat while lying off the harbour. The Codrington
108