DYNAMO ROOM

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 250, 30 July 1940, Page 8

DYNAMO ROOM

THE DUNKIRK EVACUATION. HUB OF THE OPERATIONS. LONDON, June 11. A small hand of junior officers in a secret control room, known as the “dynamo room,” at a naval base on the south-east coast of England, helped to direct the evacuation of the 335,000 officers and men of the Allied iorccs beleaguered in Flanders, Their work was described yesterday by Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay, who commanded tin' naval lorccs lrom Dover which wont to the relief of Dunkirk. It was announced on Friday that lie had been awarded the K.C.R. for his services.

“We started evacuation of the B.E.F. on Sunday, May 26,” he said. “Wo set aside a room here with about seven, telephones and 15 or .16 fellows working in it. Most operations are given a name nowadays, and this whole operation was known as a ‘dynamo operation.’ If anything could have been better named I should like to know it. “The room which was the hub of operations was called the ‘dynamo roQin. ’ The Breakwater Pier. , “After a couple of days it became clear that this was a bigger show than anybody had imagined. The numbers we were going to got off were _ going to be bigger than had been, thought possible, it was not only an evacuation of the 8.E.F., but of the French Northern Army as well. “Tho enemy decided, however, that we should not be allowed to evacuate these armies, and sent over hordes of bombers literally hundreds. They made Dunkirk docks a shambles. The whole place was on fire, and the heat was so great that no troops could come down to tho docks.

“We had got to make alternative arrangements, or else we could not get any men off. Tho only part of Dunkirk Harbour where a ship could go alongside was a narrow pier or breakwater of wooden piles. Eventually there came something like 250,000 men off this pier—a place never intended in the wildest imagination for a ship to go alongside. “The use of this pier was tho inspiration of our fellows at Dunkirk. Captain Tennant, who was in charge of operations at Dunkirk, and his band of men guided the men to the ships. Mess Tables as Gangways. “There were no gangways, and narrow mess tables were put across like planks from the pier to the ships. You can say that about 200.000 soldiers walked the plank to safety—mostly in the dark, and most of them so tired that they could hardly drag their legs. “We asked the Admiralty to raise every single craft possible within 24 hours. The response was astonishing. “I do not quite know how the Admiralty got such a move on, but hordes of these little vessels arrived. They were manned by civilians mostly and a certain number of naval ratings. “They arrived without charts, without fuel, and without food. That set us a big problem. All these craft had to bo supplied and given instructions what to do. In the end they all went over to the beaches of Dunkirk, where their crews acted mostly on their own initiative.

“We got an inquiry from the Port of London Authority yesterday about 34 motor lifeboats and SBl ships’ lifeboats. They said they had got six back and wanted to know where were the rest. If they got back another dozen they will be lucky. The beach over there must be absolutely strewn with wrecked boats.

“Our peak day was 66,000 men taken off, but that was only gained at tho expense of casualties to our craft.

“The Germans mounted heavy batteries commanding the direct route passing near Calais. We had to take a now route, which meant a round journey of 175 miles as against 76 miles.

“Then the Germans brought up batteries commanding this route, and we had to find a third which had never before been used. This ran across sandbanks and had to ho buoyed and swept before we could use it.”