300,000 SAFE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 201, 3 June 1940, Page 6

300,000 SAFE.

MEMBERS OF THE B.E.F. REARGUARD TROOPS ARRIVE (Received This Day, 1.15 p.m.) LONDON, June 2. Tens of thousands of more members of the British Expeditionary Force, including the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards, arrived at a south-east port today with French and a sprinkling of Belgians. ' The steady influx died away at nightfall to a thin trickle, mostly of French, but the latest arrivals said that thousands of Allied troops were still on the Dunkirk beaches when they left. . It was learned in London to-night that at least 300,000 members of the British. Expeditionary Force are now safe in England. The evacuation is not yet complete nor is the fate of the remainder of General Prioux’s army known ,but the arrival of a British infantry brigade which was engaged in rearguard fighting showed that, the operations have entered the closing and most critical stage. This infantry brigade embarked from the beacli northward of Dunkirk at 5 a.m. It had been in the midst of the fighting from start to finish and was among the troops loading the advance to Belgium. It also fought rearguard actions from the farthest points reached by the British Expeditionary Force back to the gates of Dunkirk. The Brigade covered -10 miles in one day..