PLANS CHANGED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21676, 10 June 1940, Page 7

PLANS CHANGED

Dunkirk Evacuation Losses Surprisingly Small British Official Wireless RUGBY, June I. The work of the Navy in organising the B.E.F. evacuation from the moment a naval party arrived at Dunkirk until the last soldier was embarked was told in London to-day by one member of the Naval Staff who was present during the entire operation. Already, when the directing party arrived, Dunkirk had been subjected to many bombing attacks and oil stores were burning fiercely. The ship carrying the staff was bombed from 5000 feet as soon as it arrived. The fort had received such a “strafing” as to be largely unuseable. The senior naval officer, however, soon came to the conclusion that if there was any hope of getting the B.E.F. away—and he thought such hope to be slender—the embarkation must mainly be carried out from the: pier. After interviewing the French authorities, who asked him to undertake command, the senior naval officer proceeded to make arrangements. Beaches Crowded These, however, quickly had to be altered as tire attacks on Dunkirk Harbour became so fierce that he had to order the warships to sail. The beaches became crowded with men, there being never less than 10,000 to 15.000 waiting to embark. After bombing the town and harbour for two days, the Nazis altered their main attacks to the ships off Dunkirk. After a day or so these beaches, in turn, received the most attention and it is extraordinary that the casualties were so small. The Germans again altered their tactics and concentrated the bombing attacks on ships making journeys from anchorage to pier. This form became so formidable that it was decided that embarkation should only take place at night time. Food and Water Shortage The naval officer described the unhappy duty of telling all the men beyond a certain point in the long column, which was waiting for ships, that they would have to remain on the inhospitable beaches a further long day until darkness fell once more. By this time the men were getting short of food and water. The Dunkirk water supply had been cut off before the evacuation started. As the battle developed, following the Belgian capitulation, the German Command endeavoured either to capture or make untenable all ports behind the B.E.F. in the hope of capturing the whole Army. In this they were unsuccessful and about 250,000 men were embarked from Dunkirk pier. Many thousands more were taken off by all manner of small boats from the beaches, and an extemporised pier made with lorries and planks was the means of embarking a great many until it was blown up by gun-fire and bombs. Hospital Ship Sunk The evacuation of the wounded did not go so smoothly. The British senior naval officer made a wireless signal in clear language, stating that he was using hospital ships by daylight, that they were plainly marked, and that he was strictly observing the Geneva Convention, by which a ship is used only for the wounded, doctors, and nurses. In spite of this, three hours later a hospital ship was bombed and sunk. The naval officer paid a tribute to the gallant action of French warships and merchantmen who were continually occupied in embarking French troops from the other side of the pier. The naval staff agreed to take equal numbers of French and British, and this agreement was most carefully observed. The naval officer described the work of the Royal Air Force as magnificent. He said immense help was given by the British fighters, who kept the sky clear of German bombers for considerable spaces of time. The naval officer added that when the naval party arrived from England to direct operations, it never expected to get more than 25,000 men away.