NAVY AT DUNKIRK

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 162, 8 June 1940, Page 7

NAVY AT DUNKIRK

MAGNIFICENT WORK. UNDER NAZI BARRAGE. TROOPS’ PRIVATIONS. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright:)' . (British Official Wireless.) Received June 8, 10 a.m. RUGBY, June 7. The story of the work of the Navy in organising the B.E.E. evacuation from the moment the naval party arrived at Dunkirk until the last soldier embarked was told in London to-day by one member of the Navml Staff who was present during the entire operation. U Already, when the directing party arrived, Dunkirk had been subjected to many bombing attacks, the oil stores were burning fiercely. The ship carrying the staff was bombed from 5000 ft as soon as it arrived. The port „had received such a “straffing” as to be largely unusable. A - senior naval officer, however, soon came to the conclusion that if there was to be any hope of getting- the B.E.F. away—and lie thought such a hope to be slender—the embarkation must be mainly carried out from the’ pieri After interviewing the French authorities, who asked him to undertake command', the senior naval officer proceeded to make arrangements which, however, quickly had to be altered. as the attacks on Dunkirk became so fierce that he had to order the warships to sail. CROWDED BEACHES, The beaches became crowded with men, there being never less than ten to fifteen thousand 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 most attention, and it was extraordinary that the casualties were so small. The Germans again altered their tactics and concentrated their bombing attacks on the ships making tlie journeys from the anchorage to the pier, and this form became so formidable that it. was decided that the embarkation could only take place at night time. The naval officer described his 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 for a further long day until darkness fell once more. By this 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 tlio Belgian capitulation, the German Command endeavoured either to capture or make untenable all the ports behind the B.E.F. in the hope of capturing the whole Army. In this they were unsuccessful, and about a quarter of a million men were embarked from Dunkirk pier. RED CROSS IGNORED.

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 gunfire and bombs. , ' The evacuation of the wounded did not go so smoothly.

The British senior naval officer made a wireless signal in clear language stating that lie was using hospital ships by daylight, that they were plainly marked, and that lie was strictly observing the Geneva Convention by which, a ship was used only for 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 the 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 R.A.F. as magnificent. He said immense help was given by British fighters, who kept the sky clear of German bombers ffor 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 away. Captain W. G. Tennant, officer-in-cliarge of the naval arrangements at Dunkirk for the B.E.F. embarkaration, was received by the King to-day. A Press Association message from Paris says the City of Dunkirk has been awarded tlie Croix de Guerre for its heroic defence.