LOVE YOUR TOWN

THE HISTORY PAPER

ISSUE 4

MAY - JUNE 2015

Edition No. 05061504

KEEPING YOU UP- TO - DATE WITH THE PAST Special Edition - 50p

An independent publication

-- Operation Dynamo Ends --

DUNKIRK EVACUATION COMPLETE WITH OVER THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND LIVES SAVED

British and allied soldiers rescued from Dunkirk after failure of BEF expedition into France.

The wait is over as Operation Dynamo ends.

Read the complete story... BY May 1940 the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) had landed at Cherbourg, Nantes and Saint-Nazaire. The force was made up of ten divisions in three corps under the command of General John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort. Working with the BEF were the Belgian Army and the French First, Seventh, and Ninth Armies. The initial plan for the German invasion of France called for an encirclement attack through the Netherlands and Belgium, thus avoiding the fixed defensive emplacements of the Maginot Line. However, Erich von Manstein, then Chief of Staff of the German Army Group A, felt the operation would fail to wipe out the enemy, leading—as it did in the First World War—to only partial success and trench warfare. Manstein prepared the outline of a different plan and submitted it to the OKH (German High Command) via his superior, Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt. Manstein's plan suggested that Panzer divisions should attack through the wooded hills of the Ardennes, where no one would expect them, then establish bridgeheads on the Meuse River and rapidly drive to the English Channel. The Germans would thus cut off the Allied armies in Belgium and Flanders. This part of the plan later became known as the

Servicemen wait on Dunkirk beach.

Thousands rescued by Royal Navy and ‘Little Ships’ during Operation Dynamo.

Sichelschnitt ("sickle cut"). Hitler approved a modified version of Manstein's ideas, today known as the Manstein Plan, after meeting with him on 17 February. On 10 May, Germany attacked Belgium and the Netherlands. Army Group B, under Generaloberst Fedor von Bock, attacked into Belgium, while the three Panzer corps of Army Group A under Rundstedt swung around to the south and drove for the Channel. The BEF advanced from the Belgian border

to positions along the River Dyle within Belgium, where they fought elements of Army Group B starting on 10 May. They were ordered to begin a fighting withdrawal to the Escaut River on 14 May when the Belgian and French positions on their flanks failed to hold. During a visit to Paris on 17 May, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was astonished to learn from French General Maurice Gamelin, Commander in Chief of the French forces, that the French had

committed all their troops to the ongoing engagements and had no strategic reserves. On 19 May, Gort met with French General Gaston Billotte, commander of the French First Army and overall coordinator of the Allied forces. Billotte revealed that the French had no troops between the Germans and the sea. Gort immediately saw that evacuation across the Channel was the best course of action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest location with

good port facilities. Surrounded by marshes, Dunkirk boasted old fortifications and the longest sand beach in Europe, w h e r e l a r g e g r o u p s c o u l d assemble. After continued engagements and a failed Allied attempt on 21 May at Arras to cut through the German spearhead, the BEF was trapped, along with the remains of the Belgian forces and the three French armies, in an area along the northern French coast. The troops were ordered to make a fighting retreat to Dunkirk.

‘Little Ships’ play important role in saving thousands of lives. MANY small boats, pleasure craft, yachts and other ships were either requisitioned by the Royal Navy, or donated, for what would become the greatest evacuation in in the history of any war to date. The Royal Navy provided the anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Calcutta, 39 destroyers, frigates and other craft. The Merchant Navy supplied passenger ferries, hospital ships, and other vessels. Britain's Belgian, Dutch, and French allies also provided what vessels they could to join the

flotilla. Admiral Ramsay arranged for around a thousand copies to be made of the required charts to provide passage across the channel. He had buoys laid around the Goodwin Sands and down to Dunkirk and organised the flow of shipping so the armada of ‘Little Ships’ and naval vessels were warranted some protection and lanes of operation to help cross as quickly as possible. The larger Naval vessels could carry nearly a thousand men per trip. The smaller

crafts acted as ship to shore shuttles - lifting men from the beaches in low water, then delivering them to the larger waiting vessels. Once on board the soldiers mostly travelled on the upper decks for fear of being trapped below if the ship sank. After the loss on May 29th of 19 British and French navy ships plus three of the larger requisitioned vessels, the Admiralty withdrew their eight best destroyers for the future defence of the country.

THE Dunkirk evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between May 27th and June 4th 1940. The operation was undertaken to save the large numbers of British, French, and Belgian troops who had been cut off and surrounded by the German army during the Battle of France in the Second World War. By May 21st, the German forces had trapped the BEF, the remains of the Belgian forces, and three French armies in an area along the northern coast of France. Commander of the BEF General John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, immediately saw that evacuation across the Channel was the best course of action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest location with good port facilities. On the first day only 7,669 men were evacuated, but by the end of the eighth day, a total of 338,226 soldiers had been rescued by a hastily assembled fleet of nearly 900 boats. Many of the troops were able to embark from the harbour's protective mole onto 39 British destroyers and other large ships, while others had to wade out from the beaches, waiting for hours in the shoulderdeep water. Some were ferried from the beaches to the larger ships by the famous little ships of Dunkirk, a flotilla of hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, and lifeboats called into service to help in the emergency. The BEF lost 68,000 soldiers during the French campaign and had to abandon nearly all of their tanks, vehicles, and other military equipment.

Read the amazing story of Operation Dynamo in this special edition of the RT