TNA / Unclassified 1

TNA Unclassified 1

Collection details

TNA Unclassified 1

A working collection of Operation Dynamo source material whose definitive National Archives catalogue reference is still being identified.

Holding archive: TNA
Collection reference: Unclassified 1

Source: The National Archives, Kew, Unclassified 1. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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List page 1 of 1 Showing document pages 405–405 of this collection

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Page	Image	OCR text	OCR tags
405	Log in to enlarge	REPORT OF "NONETA" Lieut. Potter-Irwin, R.N.V.R.) ON 321 EVACUATION OF DUNKIRK - 300 All times approximate. 12 May 31. 0400 Upon arrival at Bray the beaches were thronged with men and a number of floats and boats which had been brought off to the waiting ships and not taken inshore again. We collected as many of these as possible and took them close to the shore, letting them drift in on the tide. The shallow water made approach to the shore difficult, and so we got under way and went to Destroyer H.42. The Commander of this ship had by then got four of his ship's boats down and we found that our best method of getting the men off was to tow the boats in to the shore, all tied together, stand off until they were full and then take them in tow back to the destroyer. We carried out this operation, repeatedly, from day-break until after mid-day when the destroyer was full and recalled her boats. I estimate that in this way we got 700 men off. From mid-day onwards we picked up boats or troops and took them to bigger ships. At 1620 a large wave of enemy bombers attacked. We were then just embarking troops from a float which was sinking---it was impossible to get under way until they were embarked and by that time a full scale air-raid was in progress. As we moved away from the shore one bomb fell very near to us on the starboard quarter. In consequence of this one man was killed and four wounded. Damage and casualties summarised:- One soldier killed. Petty Officer Lock wounded in the thigh in two places. Four soldiers wounded. The damage to the ship was not extensive. Upon consideration and in view of the fact that there was a heavy sea running I decided it was out of the question to move the wounded men. Owing to the fact that my Petty Officer was incapacitated, leaving me Lieut. Dawson, in "Seriola", to request that Sub.Lieut. single-handed, I signalled the C.O. of my Division, Godman should join me, and that I had decided to leave for Ramsgate. two p.Bnued). times aces. May 31. 0400 May 31. 400 men men and ct bi. brought g me again. ision, took th at Sub.Lieut. ided to leave the N OF DUNKIRK di	Noneta Progress Seriola Dawson Day Godman May Potter Potter-Irwin

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 405.

REPORT OF "NONETA" Lieut. Potter-Irwin, R.N.V.R.) ON
321
EVACUATION OF DUNKIRK
- 300
All times approximate.
12
May 31. 0400 Upon arrival at Bray the beaches were thronged with
men and a number of floats and boats which had been
brought off to the waiting ships and not taken inshore
again. We collected as many of these as possible and
took them close to the shore, letting them drift in on
the tide.
The shallow water made approach to the shore
difficult, and so we got under way and went to Destroyer
H.42. The Commander of this ship had by then got
four of his ship's boats down and we found that our
best method of getting the men off was to tow the boats
in to the shore, all tied together, stand off until they
were full and then take them in tow back to the destroyer.
We carried out this operation, repeatedly, from day-break
until after mid-day when the destroyer was full and
recalled her boats. I estimate that in this way we got
700 men off. From mid-day onwards we picked up boats
or troops and took them to bigger ships.
At 1620 a large wave of enemy bombers attacked.
We were then just embarking troops from a float which was
sinking---it was impossible to get under way until they
were embarked and by that time a full scale air-raid was
in progress. As we moved away from the shore one bomb
fell very near to us on the starboard quarter. In
consequence of this one man was killed and four wounded.
Damage and casualties summarised:-
One soldier killed.
Petty Officer Lock wounded in the thigh in two places.
Four soldiers wounded.
The damage to the ship was not extensive.
Upon consideration and in view of the fact that there
was a heavy sea running I decided it was out of the
question to move the wounded men. Owing to the fact
that my Petty Officer was incapacitated, leaving me
Lieut. Dawson, in "Seriola", to request that Sub.Lieut.
single-handed, I signalled the C.O. of my Division,
Godman should join me, and that I had decided to leave
for Ramsgate.
two p.Bnued).
times aces.
May 31. 0400
May
31.
400
men
men and
ct
bi.
brought
g me
again.
ision,
took th
at Sub.Lieut.
ided to leave
the
N OF DUNKIRK
di