Evening star., 1947-07-17
By the Associated Press


story of the British and French
evacuation from the bombed, bloody
beaches of Dunkerque between May
26 and June 4, 1910.
Even the matter of fact language
of the dispatch from Admiral Sir
Bertram Ramsay, who directed the
operation, failed to hide the mag
nificence of the achievement.
Admiral Ramsay disclosed in his
dispatch, written June Is, 1910, that
of the 176 British ships used in the
operation IS were sunk and AZ others
damaged. Those ships, ranging
from destroyers and hospital ships
to trawlers and drifters, were sup
plemented by approximately TOO lit
tie boats which put out from British
fishing points to rescue the battered
troops.
Three hundred thirty thousand OF
the British troops who had been
driven out of Europe by the VIC
torious Germans were brought back
to Britain.
The Admiralty, Admiral Ramsay
wrote, had expected at the utmost
to rescue $4,000.
French Ship Losses Heavy.
The French Navy, too, suffered
heavy losses among the 1856 ships
which it flung into the task of evac-
uating French troops from the
beaches. Nineteen of them were
sunk and two others damaged, but
they brought 20,525 French troops
to Britain. In all, 123,095 French
troops were transported across the
Channel in British and French ships.
Through intensive" air attack,
mine-laying by plane, action by
motor torpedo boats, coast artillery
gunfre and submarine operations,
the Germans tried to block the evac-
uation, Admiral Ramsay reported.
All their operations succeeded in
part, but the air attacks were the
worst, he said.
Heavy air attacks started on May
&c." Admiral Ramsay wrote. From
then onward the scale and vigor of
the air attack increased and during
June / all ships in Dunkerque, off
the beaches or in the approach
channels were subjected every two
hours to an unprecedented scale of
attack by aircraft in such numbers
that the Royal Air Force was un-
able to deal with the situation"
| A footnote reported the Raj de-
stroyed 262 German planes over the
beaches between May 26 and June 4
The actual evacuation started
May 26 with the signal: please
send every available craft to
beaches east of Dunkerque." Ger
man armor, it was noted, was then
operating to the south of the
beaches.
From the signals received 1t ap-
peared the situation was desperate,
that little could be lifted direct from
the port of Dunkerque and that the
maximum effort must be made from
the beaches" Admiral Ramsay
wrote.
On May % a moderate surf" re-
duced the rate of embarkation and
rendered the whole operation slow
and difficult"
"The considerable alarm as to the
immediate safety of the British ex-
peditionary force felt during the
evening and early night of May 28
which caused all available resources
to be Immediately concentrated on
the French coast, eased during the
29th," Admiral Ramsay reported
But he noted that the destroyer
Wakeful, laden with troops, was
torpedoed and all troops on board
went down with the. ship, and that
later the destroyer Grafton was tor
pedoed. Other destroyers were at
tackled by dive bombers.
At about 4 pm. on May 20 q
twe-hour dive bombing attack on
Dunkerque habor forced the COM
plete cessation Of embarkations OF
troops, but the operation was re-
sumed at dusk. That air attack
however, blocked the harbor, and all
troops thereafter were loaded from
the beaches, wading out into the
surf.
On May 80 matters proceeded
smoothly throughout the day owing
to the mist and there being a big
smoke cloud over Dunkerque which
prevented the enemy bombers at
tacking the ships in large numbers.
Throughout May 81 "the rate OF
evacuation was steadily increasing.
HosnitaI Ships Attacked.
On June this signal came from
the beaches: wounded situation
acute and hospital ships should
enter during day. Geneva Conven-
ton will be honorably observed, 1t
is felt, and that the enemy will re-
frain from attacking"
So two hospital ships were started
out and both, Admiral Ramsay re-
ported, were attacked by Junkers