The 5th Division was then moved to the Ypres−Comines Canal, where another gap had been created on the BEF's left flank, due to the wholesale surrender of the Belgian Army. Stopford's brigade came under a succession of very heavy attacks from 26 to 28 May, suffering very heavy losses as a result, but managing to retain its position. By the time the 17th Brigade fell back towards Dunkirk, from where it was evacuated to England on the night of 31 May/1 June, the brigade was reduced from a strength of over 2,500 officers and men, at the beginning of the campaign, to less than that of a single battalion, and Brigadier Dempsey's 13th Brigade was in a similarly depleted state.