The retreat from Dunkirk
The British Expeditionary Force was not beaten back to Dunkirk, nor did it disintegrate into disorganised, demoralised groups. British soldiers do not become demoralised, but they are often puzzled! And there was not "complete chaos" on the beaches. As aerial photographs have shown, the discipline there, amid constant bombing and shelling, was remarkably good.
The B.E.F`s task had been to defend a 50 miles section of the France - Belgium frontier, with French armies on either side of us. On May 12th, 1940, the Germans, with a mighty force of 2000 tanks, broke through the French lines on our right, crossed the Meuse at Sedan, and swept on through French rear formations reaching Abberville on May 21st, thereby cutting the B.E.F`s lines of communication and its means of supply of food, ammunition, petrol, etcetera, without which no army could fight. The enemy captured Boulogne and Calais after heroic British resistance, and General Lord Gore,VC,. ( our Commander in Chief) realised that the only way to save our army was to evacuate it from Dunkirk.
Admiral Ramsey, Flag Officer, Dover, had been assembling a fleet of over 600 assorted civilian "little ships" which he sent to assist the Royal Navy in the evacuation. These unarmed vessels, manned by Royal Navy personnel and often by their owners, carried thousands of men back to England, often returning to pick up more, as well as ferrying from the beaches to the bigger ships; but the great bulk of the evacuated were carried in Royal Navy ships.
My own experiences were typical. I had previously been swooped on personally by a Messerschmitt, had jumped into a ditch, but a cow had been there recently and left a visiting card, so I was thereafter "persona non-gratia" with my comrades!
I was two or three days on the beaches, but at last, having assisted in destroying or our own equipment - including, sadly, six bottles of White Horse whisky! - in the late evening of 31st May I walked with my unit along the improvised jetty the Royal Engineers had constructed at Bray Dunes, put my foot gingerly down into a boat - a yell of rage showed I`d trodden on someone's head! When the boat was full it pushed off, then we were told to get out and wade as the propeller was fouled. The Adjutant and I found an empty rowing boat and started to row out to the ships; it soon sank as it was stove in. We were picked up by a motor boat, already over full; then a shell or something landed near us and tipped the boat over - I was then up to my neck! and it was nearly dark. Luckily the sea was as calm as a mill pond. At last, after probably a couple of hours in the water we clambered on to a small fishing boat, piloted by its owner, who had responded to Admiral Ramsay`s call - what a man! And she took us out to a Thames tug where we were rammed together so tightly, standing up, that we could scarcely breathe. The tug had to wait until high tide, to avoid the German magnetic mines, and we reached Ramsgate the following day.
It was, of course, a brilliant German victory and an appalling Allied defeat, but 338226 men had been saved, including about 12,000 French, there has been fighting had heavy fighting , and the British army losses over 68,000 killed, wounded and taken prisoner; The Royal Navy lost six destroyers and many smaller ships, and many of the " little ships" never returned. The RAF had shot down more than 280 German planes with their own loss of 87.
In 1946, the late Captain "Teddy" Bloom and I and a few others tried to form a Dunkirk Veterans Association, but it did not get off the ground. Later, some people in Leeds had another attempt, and this grew to a membership of over 50,000 worldwide in 100 branches.
In retrospect, it was Dunkirk that lost Germany the war, because it suddenly brought Britain to her senses - made us realise that, with all our allies surrendered to the enemy, we alone had to carry the fight. The rest is history.
Arthur Addis,
Late Ammunition Officer,
HQ , Third Division,
The B.E.F.
