CORUNNA, GALLIPOLI, DUNKIRK!

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 159, 6 July 1940, Page 2 (Supplement)

CORUNNA, GALLIPOLI, DUNKIRK!

By--J. B. Firth

NO operation in war is more desperately hazardous than that of getting off an army into transports in the face of a resolute enemy, maddened by heavy losses and infuriated at the sight of his prey slipping from his clutch. . . . Dunkirk is a second Corunna. That is the name which leaps at once to the mind when one tries to match this heroic episode from the annals of the past. Corunna is the port in the north-west corner of Spain, where Sir John Moore's B.E.F. in January, 1800, reached the end of its terrible retreat in the depth of mid winter over the snow-bound mountain roads and passes of Galicia, turned and fought and then embarked in the transports for home, leaving their heroic commander behind them, slain by a cannon ball in the very moment of victory, Moore's Defiance That is the nearest parallel in British military history, and yet in most vital respects how little of a parallel it is! Moore never had with him much more than 30,000 men. Vet though Moore knew Xapoleon, then at his peak after Austerlitz and Ulm, was in Spain with armies am,"uniting to 300,000 men, he made a sharp thrust at his communications which compelled the Emperor to scrap his plans, and set all his commanders in motion to crush the presumptuous invader.

A retreat of more than 200 miles by forced marches night and day had left Moore's pursuers -under Soult as exhausted as his own men.

When at length Corunna was reached the expected ships were not seen in the bay, and certain of Moore's principal

officers actually approached him with the suggestion that he should teek to make favourable terms with Soult. Moore indignantly refused, saying that he would do nothing dishonourable to the army or to the country and at once cast about to make the best preparations possible for the impending battle, on a ground unfavourable for defence, since his numbers were totally insufficient to hold the wooded heights which at some distance surrounded the town.

Happily the storm-bound vessels arrived from Vigo some hours before the enemy began to make his presence felt; the sick and wounded were got on board, and the battle was opened the next day. Moore's army of some 15,000 —he had lost 5000 in the retreat and had sent General Crauford with 3500 to take the Orense road to Vigo—had had four days' respite in which to rest and re-arm from the magazine at Corunna; and in the sharp battle that ensued Soult was sufficiently badly mauled not to be able to interfere seriously with the embarkation.

What struck most, powerfully the imagination of the British people about this Battle of Corunna was the romantic and heroic death of Sir John Moore, like that of General Wolfe, in the moment of victory. Victory it was, and it proved far more serious in its consequences than anyone at the time could conceive to the prestige of Napoleon in Spain and in Europe.

Soult himself, with a fine sense of chivalry which the Germans have done their very best to exclude from modern war. ordered a. memorial to be raised at Corunna to his brave opponent, of whom Xapier wrote: "If glory he a distinction, for such a man death is not a leveller."

B.E.F. Gallantry How different has been the tempo of the episode which closed with the embarkation at Dunkirk! From the opening scene of the swift advance to thn foremost positions occupied bv the B.K.F. only three short weeks' had elapsed. As in 191-1, after the first encounter* the one consistent order has l>eeii to withdraw, though the lines had been maintained intact.

Xo time for rest and sleep: 110 respite from continuous movement and the

terrific din of modern warfare: no breathing-space from an ever-increasing pressure as the Germans threw in new divisions, new squadrons of bombing plane*. and mechanised units to break their iron will. The B.E.F.'s retirement had never outdistanced the pressing enemy; the fighting had never drindled to an affair of outposts or rearguard; the battle had been fast locked day and night on end, nor had it cea-sed when the port was reachcd or even when the port was left behind.

This enemy had mechanised human flesh and turned his soldiers into robots; he had shovelled them into this fiery furnace with a maniac fury to reach the Channel ports and drive the British into the sea. When he counts the cost of his temporary triumph—for it is no more than temporary—and casts the horrid l>alanc« which he will never dare to publish, he will begin to understand that the B.E.F. will soon be in being again, and that it will be its own avenger. Gallipoli's Miracle

I have only spoken so far of Corunna as an example of successful evacuation in the face of a determined enemy. The withdrawal from Gallipoli in 1915 is still vividly remembered as one of the most incredible exploit# of the Great War. The Official History of the War states the problem that "was involved in the evacuation of Gallipoli in these terms:

"It was the secret withdrawal and embarkation of an army of 134.000 men, 14.000 animals and nearly 400 guns. The enemy's trenches were in t-omc places less than 10 yards distant from the British positions, and the open beaches from which the troops must embark were within effective range of the Turkish artillery. The coast was believed to be watched by enemv submarines; it was the season of winter gales and even a moderate sea would sufiiro to bring the embarkation to a standstill."

Such was the problem triumphantlv solved at Suvla and at Anzac on the nights of December 18. ]!>. 20. and at • '-ape Helios on the night of January 8-0. In each case the Turks knew nothing of what was in progress until the last boat* had gone.

At Suvla not a single casualtv was suffered and not a wagon, gun. horse, mule or donkey was left behind. At Anzac o'ne man was hit by a spent bullet as his lighter was leaving the beach, and certain stores Mere cithe.r burnt or (lumped into the sea for lack of transport.

Jhe Gallipoli evacuation, in a word, was a miracle of foresight, of good fortune and of Providence, in the allessential matter of fine weather. The world will probably never see the like again. No Prouder Name

By contract the evacuation of the. IJ.K.F. followed the orthodox aiul wellestablished' . outine of warfare, though •>ii a scale unknown before. Surprise can scarcely enter such an operation with so determined and ferocious an eneni v.

Courage, resolution, endurance, cheerfulness, and the perfection of hearty and unselfish co-operation betwee.n the two Services—these are the only qualities which in modern war can turn the razor-edge of sheer disaster and, in a struggle where triumph over the enemv las for the time ceased to be possible, thrive.! his boastful calculations of enormous gain into a ruinous loss.

The world's estimate as to the side on which the real honours of this epic lattle lie can scarcely be in doubt. Henceforth there will be no proudc.r name on British regimental colours than the name Dunkirk.