TNA ADM 234 360

OPERATION "DYNAMO" IS COMMENCED
CHAP. III
and blazing lights made them an easy target. On the 26th May the hospital carriers St. Andrew and St. Julien sailed at 1054 for Dunkirk, but coming under fire from the guns of Gravelines, they returned to Dover in company with the
P/V Maid of Orleans.
The hospital carriers Isle of Guernsey and Worthing sailed from Dover at noon and were bombed when off, Calais; nevertheless, that night, flood-lit by the fires which raged in the docks and town of Dunkirk, they each embarked about 300 stretcher cases.
Admiralty call for cutters and whalers
All these troops and casualties, it should be noted, were lifted from the quays of Dunkirk harbour. Evacuation from the beaches did not commence until
24 hours later, and then only in a very small way, using ships' boats. On the
26th May, says Vice-Admiral Ramsay, the only inshore craft available were
4 Belgian passenger launches and the naval small craft of the Dover Command such as drifters, and motor boats from the Contraband Control Base at Ramsgate; the only ones capable of lifting personnel direct from a beach being the boats from Ramsgate." The Admiralty had been asked for a supply of small boats, especially whalers and cutters, but there remained the difficulty of arranging for the personnel to man them¹. This request led at 2028, on 26th
May, to an Admiralty signal to the Home Ports asking how many cutters and whalers could be made available for immediate service under Vice-Admiral,
Dover.²
Sea and air patrols
Meanwhile, at 1937, C. in C. Nore had been requested to use all available forces to cover Operation Dynamo that night.
In conformity with these directions Allied fighters maintained continuous patrols, from 1700 to 2130, on the line Calais-Dunkirk.3.
Germans occupy Calais
That very night, however, the gallant defence of Calais came to an end.
The yacht Gulzar had gone there with water and stretchers, to bring back wounded. She secured alongside the Gare Maritime and sent a party on shore to investigate. The town was found to be in German hands, and the Gulzar made a hasty departure under fire. On the way out, however, in response to a hail, she stopped, and brought off 3 officers and 48 men from the end of the breakwater.⁴
I D.R. p. 1, para. 2.
2 Appendix G. 1.
3 R.A.F. Narrative, p. 315.
4 R.O. II, p. 513.
B
17

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

THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. IV
from the St. Seiriol and Queen of the Channel, in addition to the drifters'
beaches during the night dinghies, enabled these drifters of the to 27th/28th lift some May. 2,000 troops from Malo and Bray own
Results of S.N.O. Dunkirk's 2005/27
assembling off the beaches on 1 cruiser, 27th/28th May the Wolfhound,
As a result of the action taken the on night S.N.O. of Dunkirk's signals, there
3 Channel skoots and (the the Lena, St. Hebe Seiriol). other II and All small Oranje) these ships boats, were ordered to use Queen of thers, their own
Wolsey and 6 other destroyers¹, a pulling boats, were yet available.
boats for ferrying, as no power cutters, whalers or other
S.N.O. Dunkirk's signals had therefore a big result; but owing to the difficulty of passing orders at night in a shattered harbour his decision to divert vessels to the beaches had unforeseen repercussions, and it was associated with a false report that Dunkirk had fallen, and the failure of one personnel vessel and 7 skoots to reach the beaches that night. The circumstances are described below.
The P/V Canterbury, which had entered Dunkirk harbour at 2000, left at
2058 with 457 troops, including 140 stretcher cases. Before leaving, she was ordered by the Sea Transport Officer to turn back ships attempting to enter Dunkirk the order, evidently intended to divert ships to the beaches, was misunderstood. In the Dunkirk road, the Canterbury passed the order to the P/V Maid of Orleans and to the H/C's Isle of Thanet and Worthing, and those vessels thereupon turned back to Dover. Later the order became definitely garbled, for the skoot Tilly (which was in company with the 4 skoots
Hondsrug, Jutland, Patria and Brandaris) met the Canterbury (in company with the 2 hospital carriers) 8 or 9 miles from Dunkirk, and received from her the signal "Dunkirk is in enemy hands. Keep clear." This signal was variously recorded by some of the other skoots, as Dunkirk has fallen. Return"; and all five of them, as well as the skoots Bornrif and Twente, did in fact return to the Downs, although the Jutland and the Patria first closed
Nieuport Bank buoy in an unsuccessful endeavour to obtain more definite information. Some of the skoots, in turn, promulgated this false report to other ships, notably to the P/V Dorrien Rose; this ship, which received the signal, unsafe to approach Dunkirk," did at first alter course to the northward, but, shortly after, again set course for Dunkirk. It was subsequently thought by some of the vessels concerned that the false information had been passed by fifth columnists," though there is very little proof of this.³
Chronic shortage' of beaching boats
Such was the beginning of the great build-up of ships4 and of the inauguration of beach evacuation. The successful development of the latter was necessarily good in into I the The of northern situation the dependent chronic having sector shortage changed on between the by continuation the south-west of beaching and of boats⁵. fine north-east weather, A wind would and and of any Wakeful the have strength making made went from Dunkirk. The Windsor remained time they arrived, Anthony the Gallant had not yet returned
2 Portsmouth whither she had escorted on the patrol. S.S. Kyno. The
Canterbury's report.
4 3 See Appendices H.30 and H.32.
5 Appendices D, E and F.
D.R. page 3, para. 11.
24

DUSK TO DUSK, 1ST-2ND JUNE
CHAP. X
very clear and the Rear-Admiral decided to get the ships away at 0300
now of 0330 as originally planned. The Admiralty orders that evacuation
Dunkirk Pier was to continue until 0700 did not apparently Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker not receive the orders which went by Dunkirk (Appendix did R.20, 23); and it is to be preout from the Admiralty at 0115/2, that destroyers were to continue the evacuation until 0700 (Appendix R.21). Although men were still coming down the the Rear-Admiral was unwilling to run the risk of having ships sunk alongside pier, and blocking the pier and harbour. Accordingly he told the ships to leave and himself followed out of harbour the last of them, apparently the destroyers Winchelsea and Whitshed about 0300.
British rearguard held up
Meanwhile, a most disquieting message had been received at Dover. At
0040 on the 2nd the Lydd, while embarking troops off Malo beach, was requested by the Brigadier of the brigade then embarking to transmit to Rear-Admiral
Wake-Walker a message from Major General Alexander reporting that on account of French congestion on the mole at Dunkirk a considerable number of British troops were held up and further arrivals were still expected. It was essential that the rearguard of the B.E.F. should embark from the beaches east of the mole, where they were expected to arrive by 0230.
What had happened was, that French troops had cut into the flow of British making their way along the road to the East Pier, by a converging route; and both
British and French troops were now being embarked at the pier.
Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker apparently never received the message and knew nothing of the state of affairs at the East Pier until he arrived there at
0200.
Vice-Admiral Dover, who received the message at 02001, at once sent orders to all destroyers of Force K still on the coast, the minesweepers, and the gunboat Locust which was off Bray supporting the evacuation by covering fire, to endeavour to embark the British rearguard from the beach, remaining after 0300
if necessary. The coding and transmission of the message took some time, and the orders apparently went out too late; all ships had sailed, and the rearguard could not get away that night. Only the personnel vessel Portsdown was left on the coast. This was an undegaussed ship manned by a naval crew, which had anchored off Malo at 2205/1. After running to death her own two dinghies ferrying troops she got hold of a large motor boat, and she sailed about 0400. On the way home the ship collected further troops from a French vessel aground off Dunkirk, and from two further vessels encountered, and she eventually disembarked at Dover 168 British and 450 French.
Bombing of the hospital ships Worthing and Paris. (App. S)
There was a large number of wounded in Dunkirk because no hospital ships had sailed for 24 hours, orders having been given to evacuate fit men in preference, since, other considerations apart, embarking wounded would have taken up too much valuable time. The cessation of daylight sailings rendered it possible for hospital ships to occupy berths alongside, without detriment to the operation, and jt was decided to get some of the wounded away in daytime in hospital ships, in the hope that the Germans would respect them.
In order to afford the enemy no excuse to attack a warning signal was sent
0120. I Dover Report, p.27. The time of receipt on the flimsy of the decypher appears to be
103

THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. X
clearly marked as hospital ships. Neither of the two ever reached Dunkirk.
were despatched from Dover, the Worthing at 1255 and the Paris at 1648, both we should scrupulously observe the Two hospital carriers part en clair asking for hospital ships to be Geneva sent across Convention. and stating that for our
At 1433 the A/S trawler Grimsby Town, on patrol on Route X, reported that had bombed a hospital ship. This was Worthing. Visibility was good.
12 aircraft bearing 90° South Foreland 27 the miles (between V and W buoys)
Nine bombs were dropped and the the Calcutta ship was sent machine the gunned, she was slightly damaged by near misses and corvette Mallard to stand by her. The Worthing returned to harbour.
near W buoy, when two aircraft attacked her, near misses putting out of action
The Paris, after running into thick fog, was in clear visibility at about 1900, her engines and extinguishing all lights. About an hour later the ship was attacked again by 3 aircraft, and received further damage. She was abandoned by all but the Captain and some of the officers, who were shortly afterwards taken off by a fast motor boat which also rescued men from some of the Paris's lifeboats that had been wrecked by bombing. Three tugs, the Sun XV, Sun IV
and Lady Brassey attempted to tow the ship; but at 0400 on 3rd June, after a further air attack, the Paris sank 1 mile east of W. buoy.
Evacuation figures, 2nd June
A total of 26,256 men were landed in England on 2nd June, 19,561 from
Dunkirk harbour and 6,695 from the beaches. Of these totals, French ships working only from the harbour carried 1634, and Belgian trawlers carried 313.
The accumulated total of men evacuated to this date was 285,305.
104

APPENDIX S
THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
There remain to be evacuated night 2/3 probably 5,000 British and approximately
30,000 French.
Request M.A/S boats. Sappers, General, S.N.O.
Request more transport for tomorrow's operation than was provided for tonight.
personnel (will leave?) 2300 hours.
T.O.R. 0704/2
25. GENERAL LLOYD to WAR OFFICE M.O.4
Information is difficult to obtain and often contradictory. General Martel reports little pressure on his front yesterday but there is less reliable evidence to show that pressure on some points elsewhere was severe.
Most personnel evacuated last night were from pier. Shell fire on beach was apparently bad as have been given names of 3 officers killed there.
Estimated numbers so far reported landed Dover and Ramsgate since midnight
10,600 of which about 1/3 French.
Three personnel ships and many smaller craft not reported 0800 hours.
Numbers remaining 458 area impossible estimate. Might be in region 2,000
British.
0815/2
APPENDIX S
SIGNALS RE DELIBERATE ATTACKS ON HOSPITAL SHIPS ON 2nd JUNE
Sunday, 2nd June
1. DUNKIRK to DOVER W/T [Sent en clair]
Wounded situation acute. Hospital ships should enter during day.
Geneva Convention will be honourably observed. It is felt that the enemy will refrain from attack.
0730/2
2. VICE-ADMIRAL, DOVER to ADMIRALTY
Hospital carriers Worthing and Paris have been deliberately bombed and severely damaged identity. today by Germans in circumstances admitting of no mistake of their
2016/2
APPENDIX T
SIGNALS RE THE EVACUATION OF THE BRITISH
REAR GUARD ON NIGHT 2nd/3rd JUNE
Sunday, 2nd June
1. H.M.S. LYDD to REAR-ADMIRAL (R) V.A. Dover, Force K, Minesweepers
Brigadier tells me that C.-in-C. says it is essential that rear guard B.E.F. embarks from beaches east of mole on account of French congestion on mole. Considerable number of British troops still on mole. Military are (? expecting) further arrivals there. Rear guard expects to arrive on beach by 0230.
0040/2
2. S.N.O. DUNKIRK to VICE-ADMIRAL, DOVER (R) War Office
About 5,000 British remain Sporting chance of embarking tonight. Maximum number of fast motor boats at 2130 at inner end of long pier would assist.
T.O.R. 0830/2
186

INDEX
Whitshed: at Boulogne, 9-10; in Dynamo, 97, 102-3, 107, 109 (sent back almost empty),
112n, 114n, 118 (takes over pier party).
Whittle, Lieut. L. C., R.N.R., 13n.
Widgeon, 34, 69.
Wilcoxon, S.Lt. R. O., R.N.V.R., mortally wounded, 52.
Wild Swan, at Boulogne, 9-10; at Dunkirk, 16.
Willing Boys, 13n.
Winche sea, 55, 64n, 70, 87, 97, 102-3, 107-8.
Windsor: at Boulogne, 9-10; at Calais, 13; in Dynamo, 16, 23, 24n, 30 (damaged), 55,
58 (hoists flag of R.A. Dover), 81, 97, 101-2 (quick turn round), 107-8, 127.
Wise, Lt. J. N., R.N.V.R., 115.
Wolfe, 72n.
Wolfhound, 21, 22 (damaged), 23-5, 27.
Wolsey, 16, 21, 67 (W/T. link), 23-5, 27, 54n, 61 (reports on conditions), 62 (makes two trips on 30th May), 64n, 83 (in collision).
Wolves, 69.
Worcester, 20n, 27, 54n, 55, 58 (hoists flag of R.A. Dover), 60, 74, 76n, 79 (takes out beach parties), 87-9, (damaged), 92.
Worthing, 17, 22n, 24, 104 (attacked).
Wounded, see Casualties.
Wrecks, growing number, 94: at Dunkirk, 115.
Wynne-Edwards, Lt. Cdr. C.J., 67, 71, 75.
X.95, 72m.
X.149, sunk, 72.
X.209, 72n.
X.213, sunk, 72.
X.217, 72.
Yarmouth base, drifters, 71n.
Y.C.63, 72n.
Yewdale, 19, 28, 47.
Yorkshire Lass, 23n, 62, 63, 107n.
Young Mun, 23n.
Yser, 27, 31.
Yvonne, 73.
Zuydcoote, see Beaches.
208