Dunkirk.

[Mackenzie]

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuations, where hundreds of little boats set sail from the south coast of England to rescue troops trapped on the beaches of northern France. 345,000 troops were evacuated during 'Operation Dynamo' on a mixture of naval, merchant and private boats.

I feel humbled when I think of the bravery of not only the troops, but the fishermen of Brighton and the south coast who set out to Dunkirk that day. My grandad was one of those fisherman who took his boat, called the Estelle (which was one of the famous Brighton Skylarks), and I can remember the stories he used to tell of being machine gunned from the beach heads and shot at and dive bombed from the sky.

70 years is a whole lifetime away, but I believe it is important to remember these events. I'm proud of you grandad.

 

[glasfryn]

well said Big Mac
the whole Dunkirk thing has been really interesting I don't know whether I heard right but one guy floated and paddled back on a garage door.

 

[adrian29uk]

Correct. These guys deserve the upmost respect. I actually know a guy in Peacehaven who was actually there too. I saw him the other day, he must be about 90 years old.

He used to know my dad and would come around and repair our car. He was a mechanic in the army. The stories he used to tell me as a little kid where amazing.

I wish we could do more and show these people that are still alive some respect.

 

[adrian29uk]

BBC News - Little Ship captain remembers Dunkirk

 

[Stoo82]

We will remember them.

I don't think some people really understand what we owe that generation.

 

[Sigull]

We will remember them.

I don't think some people really understand what we owe that generation.

When you go home, tell them of us and say......

For your tomorrow, we gave our today

(The Kohima)

 

[The Oldman]

My Dad was evacuated from Dunkirk. Only talked about it once to me near the end of his life. He said it was bloody awful but he was one of the lucky ones and still felt guilt that so many of his "lads" did not make it. Only time I saw my father cry. After Dunkirk he was in the Battle of Alamein, then Italian campaign including the attack on Mounte Cassino. We have no idea what we owe his generation.

RIP Dad.

 

[The Peanut Roaster]

My grandad took over his fishing boat from Brighton.

God bless you Smokey Joe. x

 

[MikeySmall]

It is quite amazing how little people know about this and many other brave stories from WW2. I spent some time at the death railway on the Thailand / Burma border about a month ago, something that I knew very little about before hand. We owe our freedom to this generation.

 

[portlock seagull]

I've been studying the Dunkirk campaign for the past year in the knowledge this w/e sees several commerations in Britain, France and Belgium. So if any of you are interested, I will recount some of the stories I hear from this w/e and post them + some pictures on here sometime next week?

I'm headed over there early tomorrow for 4 days and will be meeting some of the last remaining veterans, the beaches, see the little ships armada etc. But the most interesting of all the stories surrounding Dunkirk for me is not the evacuation itself. But the heroism of the men in regts like the Warwicks, Worcesters, Norfolks and Gloucester who put up fierce resistance to prevent the "collapsing corridor" from doing just that during the retreat, in the knowledge that they would certainly not be getting out. Most perished, the rest interened for 5 long years amid several massacres carried out by the regular german army on our captured service men. These extraordinarily brave men saved the larger army that then enabled the evacuation to happen. It's much glossed over but it's the real story of Dunkirk in my opinion. If the BEF had been lost, the ramifications would have been immense and our history could have been utterly different.

My generation and the one behind me just don't understand how close we came to capituation in the summer of 1940. The fear felt throughtout the country as the Battle of France ended in disaster and the Battle of Britain began is almost impossible to comprehend today. And it's just seventy years ago e.g. they're still walking amongst us in other words and I applude anyone that knows someone in their 90's to capture their stories before this generation finally fades into written history.

It's therefore right, on this the 70th and almost certainly last commemoration of Dunkirk, that we also remember all those soldiers who died, were wounded or captured in the rearguard actions at Wormhout & Cassell to name a few Belgium towns. There's a lot more to the Dunkirk story than the little ships, who by the way (but not in any disrespectful manner because they were heroes no doubt) only lifted a fraction of the troops off the beaches compared to the Royal Navy, mastermined by the brilliant Admiral Ramsey.

PS there's a good documentary on the beeb tomorrow night.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

How long had the BEF been in Belguim/France before they were back on the beaches ?

 

[countrygull]

I'm just reading Andrew Roberts` brilliant new book on the history of the second world war. It's amazing how close the BEF was to being wiped out: if Hitler had not ordered the `stop` order to his troops on the outskirts of Dunkirk, it would have been been a wipeout. The heroism of our troops, Navy and the Little Ships seafarers was beyond belief.

 

[portlock seagull]

How long had the BEF been in Belguim/France before they were back on the beaches ?

war declared 3rd Sept 1939.First brigades sent same day to France. Evacuation took place end May 1940 until, I think, 12th June which was the last royal navy vessel to pick any troops up.

So in theory 8 months. But the phoney war in western europe ended 10/05/40, then the germans unleashed their blitzkrieg. So really, the Battle of France and the low countries was all but over in less than a month.

 

[portlock seagull]

if Hitler had not ordered the `stop` order to his troops on the outskirts of Dunkirk, it would have been been a wipeout. The heroism of our troops, Navy and the Little Ships seafarers was beyond belief.

One of many factors yes, but not exclusively.

 

[cunning fergus]

My Dad was evacuated from Dunkirk. Only talked about it once to me near the end of his life. He said it was bloody awful but he was one of the lucky ones and still felt guilt that so many of his "lads" did not make it. Only time I saw my father cry. After Dunkirk he was in the Battle of Alamein, then Italian campaign including the attack on Mounte Cassino. We have no idea what we owe his generation.

RIP Dad.

My uncle died a couple of months ago and he was at Dunkirk, Al Alamein and D-Day. I was lucky to have a number of relatives who done their bit and they all used to tell me and my brother a yarn or two when we were young.

RIP Dan Dacey.

Consequently I have always had the upmost respect for them and others of their generation.

Completely agree about the lack of understanding held by many and sadly the 'olds' are now a generation marginalised by contemporary society for holding old fashioned views or whatever.

Personally for those alive who were involved in that episode I would bestow on them the 'rights' of 1,000 normal voters, only then would they receive the treatment they deserve.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

I've been studying the Dunkirk campaign for the past year in the knowledge this w/e sees several commerations in Britain, France and Belgium. So if any of you are interested, I will recount some of the stories I hear from this w/e and post them + some pictures on here sometime next week?

I'm headed over there early tomorrow for 4 days and will be meeting some of the last remaining veterans, the beaches, see the little ships armada etc. But the most interesting of all the stories surrounding Dunkirk for me is not the evacuation itself. But the heroism of the men in regts like the Warwicks, Worcesters, Norfolks and Gloucester who put up fierce resistance to prevent the "collapsing corridor" from doing just that during the retreat, in the knowledge that they would certainly not be getting out. Most perished, the rest interened for 5 long years amid several massacres carried out by the regular german army on our captured service men. These extraordinarily brave men saved the larger army that then enabled the evacuation to happen. It's much glossed over but it's the real story of Dunkirk in my opinion. If the BEF had been lost, the ramifications would have been immense and our history could have been utterly different.

My generation and the one behind me just don't understand how close we came to capituation in the summer of 1940. The fear felt throughtout the country as the Battle of France ended in disaster and the Battle of Britain began is almost impossible to comprehend today. And it's just seventy years ago e.g. they're still walking amongst us in other words and I applude anyone that knows someone in their 90's to capture their stories before this generation finally fades into written history.

It's therefore right, on this the 70th and almost certainly last commemoration of Dunkirk, that we also remember all those soldiers who died, were wounded or captured in the rearguard actions at Wormhout & Cassell to name a few Belgium towns. There's a lot more to the Dunkirk story than the little ships, who by the way (but not in any disrespectful manner because they were heroes no doubt) only lifted a fraction of the troops off the beaches compared to the Royal Navy, mastermined by the brilliant Admiral Ramsey.

PS there's a good documentary on the beeb tomorrow night.

Spot on - my great-grandfather is buried at Cassel and died defending the town to make the evacuations possible. Whilst I tend to focus on my mostly Irish heritage, its not something I ever forget.

 

[Dandyman]

I've been studying the Dunkirk campaign for the past year in the knowledge this w/e sees several commerations in Britain, France and Belgium. So if any of you are interested, I will recount some of the stories I hear from this w/e and post them + some pictures on here sometime next week?

I'm headed over there early tomorrow for 4 days and will be meeting some of the last remaining veterans, the beaches, see the little ships armada etc. But the most interesting of all the stories surrounding Dunkirk for me is not the evacuation itself. But the heroism of the men in regts like the Warwicks, Worcesters, Norfolks and Gloucester who put up fierce resistance to prevent the "collapsing corridor" from doing just that during the retreat, in the knowledge that they would certainly not be getting out. Most perished, the rest interened for 5 long years amid several massacres carried out by the regular german army on our captured service men. These extraordinarily brave men saved the larger army that then enabled the evacuation to happen. It's much glossed over but it's the real story of Dunkirk in my opinion. If the BEF had been lost, the ramifications would have been immense and our history could have been utterly different.

My generation and the one behind me just don't understand how close we came to capituation in the summer of 1940. The fear felt throughtout the country as the Battle of France ended in disaster and the Battle of Britain began is almost impossible to comprehend today. And it's just seventy years ago e.g. they're still walking amongst us in other words and I applude anyone that knows someone in their 90's to capture their stories before this generation finally fades into written history.

It's therefore right, on this the 70th and almost certainly last commemoration of Dunkirk, that we also remember all those soldiers who died, were wounded or captured in the rearguard actions at Wormhout & Cassell to name a few Belgium towns. There's a lot more to the Dunkirk story than the little ships, who by the way (but not in any disrespectful manner because they were heroes no doubt) only lifted a fraction of the troops off the beaches compared to the Royal Navy, mastermined by the brilliant Admiral Ramsey.

PS there's a good documentary on the beeb tomorrow night.

Worth remembering how the Nazis treated British POWs as well...

Dunkirk anniversary: The brave British soldiers who were TRUE heroes | Mail Online

 

[jakarta]

Worth remembering how the Nazis treated British POWs as well...

Dunkirk anniversary: The brave British soldiers who were TRUE heroes | Mail Online

All of those participating in the Second World War killed prisoners - including the British and Americans - ironically the SS reaped what they sowed with many Allied units refusing to take their surrender.

While it is an inconvenient truth, the Geneva Convention was disregarded by all parties on a regular basis and latterly the Eastern Front was particularly brutal with prisoners only being taken in order to extract information from them, usually by torture, followed by summary execution.

Back to the thread, my Grandfather on my Mums side was part of the BEF and came back via Dunkirk, after a short while he was shipped out to North Africa to the 8th Army and then went to Italy and fought there until 1945. He was an Artilleryman and was never wounded but he was also clearly damaged by his experiences - he walked out on his family a few months after being demobbed and was never seen again...

 

[portlock seagull]

Worth remembering how the Nazis treated British POWs as well...

Dunkirk anniversary: The brave British soldiers who were TRUE heroes | Mail Online

Yes I made reference to that; awful. Some of the accounts I've read send a shiver down your spine. Mounke, the officer responsible for one such massacre and a german war criminal in all but name, got off after his release from soviet captivity in 1955 because a key witness had since passed away. Charges were dropped and he became a successful business for the rest of his life until his death in 1980s. Justice nevers comes to many.

I'm going to this site on Saturday. Sure it'll be very moving.

 

[portlock seagull]

Back to the thread, my Grandfather on my Mums side was part of the BEF and came back via Dunkirk, after a short while he was shipped out to North Africa to the 8th Army and then went to Italy and fought there until 1945. He was an Artilleryman and was never wounded but he was also clearly damaged by his experiences - he walked out on his family a few months after being demobbed and was never seen again...

Jesus, that's so sad.

My grandpa was in a reserved occupation and worked in some sort of bletchley park like interceptors job for the duration of the war. Would never tell us anything because he was sworn under secrecy and to his dying day said he'd never been released from it. So we've been left guessing mainly. Bitterly regret not hassling him more to tell us.