Download or read book The Royal Navy at Dunkirk written by Martin Mace and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fact that the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from Dunkirk in May-June 1940 has achieved the status of a legend. Whilst the part played by the Little Ships in that miracle is equally well known, the role of the Royal Navys warships the destroyers, minesweepers and personnel ships is often overlooked. Indeed, more than 300,000 troops out of a total of 338,226, were evacuated from the harbour at Dunkirk in these vessels.In the weeks after Operation Dynamo, the Admiralty issued an order requiring the Commanding Officers of those British warships involved to submit a report detailing their actions. Described in their own words, with the events still fresh in their minds, the result is a vivid record of the chaos, improvisation, skill and bravery that all combined to rescue the basis of an army that helped carry Britain through the dark months and years that followed. It is a record that forms the basis of this book.

Download or read book Dunkirk and the Little Ships written by Philip Weir and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-29 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During 1940 the German army swept with devastating speed across the Low Countries and into northern France and drove Allied forces back into a small pocket around Dunkirk. Without a swift withdrawal across the English Channel, the latter faced certain death or capture. The evacuation plan – Operation Dynamo – initially calculated that 45,000 men might be rescued, but between 26 May and 4 June 338,226 men were in fact brought back to England. Naval historian Philip Weir shows how this was made possible by a vast armada of disparate vessels including destroyers, minesweepers, fishing vessels and, most famously of all, the privately owned 'Little Ships'. He explores the vessels' various roles within the evacuation, and their subsequent fates, including preservation and participation in commemorative return runs to the port, which now take place every five years.

Download or read book Dunkirk Evacuation Operation Dynamo written by John Grehan and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Takes you right to the scene of the action in late May and early June 1940, when more than 300,000 soldiers were saved from capture or death.” —Rambles The “miracle” of Dunkirk is one of the most inspiring stories of all time. The British Expeditionary Force had been all but surrounded, and, with the French armies collapsing on all sides, it appeared that Britain was about to suffer the heaviest defeat in its history. When Winston Churchill’s War Cabinet finally accepted that the Battle of France had been lost, preparations were made to try and rescue as many soldiers as possible from one of the few ports left open to the British Expeditionary Force—Dunkirk. So rushed and chaotic was the retreat to the Channel coast, with thousands of guns, vehicles and tanks being abandoned, there was little time for soldiers to consider taking photographs of the shocking scenes of death and destruction which surrounded them. Yet images do exist of the ships and boats of all descriptions which braved the bombs and guns of the German Air Force to rescue Britain’s only field army from the clutches of Hitler’s panzer divisions. One man in particular, Sub-Lieutenant John Rutherford Crosby, a member of the crew of the minesweeper, and converted Clyde paddle steamer, HMS Oriole, left a legacy of dramatic images. These include the never-to-be-forgotten scenes of long lines of tired and anxious troops stretching into the sea and of bombs exploding on the packed beaches—all with his own personal little camera. Other images in this book paint a vivid and memorable picture, as no words ever could, of the greatest evacuation of troops under fire.

Download or read book The Evacuation from Dunkirk written by W.J.R. Gardner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the Naval Staff History of "Operation Dynamo", originally published internally in 1949. British ships evacuated nearly 100,000 men of the BEF from the beaches, and over 200,000 from harbours. Other nations' vessels carried more than 30,000.

Download or read book Dunkirk Nine Days That Saved An Army written by John Grehan and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-03-30 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The epic of Dunkirk has been told many times, but the numerous accounts from surviving soldiers and sailors were often a blur of fear and fighting with the days mingling into each other, leaving what is, at times, a confusing picture. In this book, adopting a day by day approach, the author provides a clear portrayal of the unfolding drama on the perimeter around Dunkirk, in the port itself and along the beaches to La Panne and the Belgian border.Reports from many of the captains of the vessels which took part in the great evacuation were submitted to the Admiralty immediately after the conclusion of Operation Dynamo. With access to these, and supported by the various records maintained by the Army and RAF, the author has been able to finally piece together the movements and actions of the many of the squadrons, units and ships involved.With the Admiralty reports and a mass of other firsthand accounts, many of which have never been published before, the true tale of the heroism of the rescued and the rescuers is laid bare. Operation Dynamo saw civilian volunteers and Royal Navy personnel manning every type of craft from the antiaircraft cruiser HMS Calcutta to the cockle boats of the Thames Estuary. The accounts of the men who crewed these vessels tell of being bombed and strafed by the Luftwaffe or shelled from the shore. There are stories of collisions in the dark, chaos on the beaches and tragic losses as ships went down. Similar tales are told by the men waiting on the beaches, defending the perimeter or flying in the skies overhead in a valiant effort to hold the German Army and Luftwaffe at bay.Yet this is ultimately a story, as Churchill described it, of deliverance, for against all the predictions, the BEF was saved to fight again another day. With civilians and servicemen working without respite for days and nights on end under almost continual attack to rescue the army, the nation pulled together as never before. It truly was Britains finest hour.

Download or read book Dunkirk Operation Dynamo written by James Burnell-Nugent and published by Paul Honywill. This book was released on 2023-01-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This editionpublishes the now declassified Battle Summary No 41, a document once classified as 'Restricted' and produced in small numbers only for official government purposes. This Summary,The Evacuation from Dunkirk, lodged inthe archive isone of the very few surviving copies in existence and records events in minute detail, being written soon after the evacuation using the words of the naval officers involved. This makes it a unique record and a primary source for the history ofOperation “Dynamo”from mid-May 1940 until its conclusion on 4th June. The original document has been supplemented in this title by a Foreword written byAdmiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, formerly the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief, Fleet, whose father commanded one of the destroyers sunk off Dunkirk when rescuing troops. In addition, there is a modern historical introduction and commentary, putting the evacuation into context and this edition is enhanced by the inclusion of a large number of previously unpublished photographs ofthe beaches, town, and harbour of Dunkirk taken immediately after the conclusion of the operation, together withothers illustratingmany of the ships that took part. The successful evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Belgium and northern France through the port of Dunkirk and across adjacent beaches is rightly regarded as one of the most significant episodes in the nation’s long history, although Winston Churchill sagely cautioned in Parliament on 4th June that the country “must be careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations”. Nevertheless, the Dunkirk evacuation, Operation “Dynamo”, was a victory and, like many others before it, it was a victory of sea power. The Royal Navy achieved what it set out to do, despite grievous losses, in the teeth of determined opposition. It denied an aggressive and ruthless continental power a potentially war-winning total victory that could have changed the direction of civilization for generations to come. The loss of the main British field army would have enfeebled the nation militarily and psychologically, prompting political upheaval, potentially resulting in a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany on unfavourable terms dictated by Adolf Hitler. The undeniable success of the evacuation was certainly a crucial naval and military achievement its positive effect on the nation’s morale was just as important.

Download or read book Mastermind of Dunkirk and D Day written by Brian Izzard and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2020-04-15 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This detailed biography brings to life one of the greatest military heroes of WWII—and demonstrates why his contributions were crucial to Allied victory. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay masterminded the evacuation of some 330,000 members of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. He went on to play a crucial role in the invasion of Sicily and the planning and execution of the D-Day invasion, where he commanded the 7,000 ships that delivered Allied forces to the beaches of Normandy. All this from a man who had retired in 1938—only to be persuaded back to the service by Winston Churchill himself. In 1944, Ramsay was promoted to Admiral and appointed Naval Commander-in-Chief for the D-Day naval expeditionary force. A year later, he died in a mysterious air crash. Though Ramsay’s legacy has been remembered by the Royal Navy, his key role in the Allied victory has been widely forgotten. Now biographer Brian Izzard corrects this oversight, arguing that without Ramsay the outcome of both Dunkirk and D-Day—and perhaps the entire war—could have been very different.

Download or read book Samson and the Dunkirk Circus written by John Jonah Oliver and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-08-31 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of a small unit of 150 men of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and 450 men of the Royal Marines in the first few months of World War One, who travelled about France and Belgium terrorizing the German Army, to the extent that the Germans put a price on their heads! This RNAS unit was commanded by a man small in stature who was phased by nothing: he and his men just wanted to fight the Germans. They never had enough aircraft for all the pilots, so they started to look for a new way to take the fight to the Germans. They had heard about armoured cars in Belgium and set about designing their own. Lieutenant Commander Charles R Samson and his two brothers took the car out and went looking for a fight. They covered a lot of ground picking up intelligence and they had such fun doing it that they convinced the Admiralty to build them more armoured cars so they could take the fight to the enemy. They helped rescue thousands of French troops trapped in Douai and Belgium Troops trapped in Antwerp. They then helped push the German Army back at Ypres, during the First Battle of Ypres. Once the trenches had reached the coast there was not the freedom to roam looking for Germans, but they still carried out a lot of operations supporting the Belgian Army in attacking the enemy. In March 1915 the unit was pulled out of France and sent to the Dardanelles. This small unit was highly decorated for their bravery and yet they are in no official or unofficial histories. Their story has not been told and the development work they carried out has been ignored. The British Army and the Royal Air Force have taken credit for a number of the RNAS actions, innovations and discoveries, while the Royal Navy have just wiped their hands of these men.

Download or read book The Miracle of Dunkirk written by Walter Lord and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of the World War II evacuation portrayed in the Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk, by the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Day of Infamy. In May 1940, the remnants of the French and British armies, broken by Hitler’s blitzkrieg, retreated to Dunkirk. Hemmed in by overwhelming Nazi strength, the 338,000 men gathered on the beach were all that stood between Hitler and Western Europe. Crush them, and the path to Paris and London was clear. Unable to retreat any farther, the Allied soldiers set up defense positions and prayed for deliverance. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered an evacuation on May 26, expecting to save no more than a handful of his men. But Britain would not let its soldiers down. Hundreds of fishing boats, pleasure yachts, and commercial vessels streamed into the Channel to back up the Royal Navy, and in a week nearly the entire army was ferried safely back to England. Based on interviews with hundreds of survivors and told by “a master narrator,” The Miracle of Dunkirk is a striking history of a week when the outcome of World War II hung in the balance (Arthur Schlesinger Jr.).

Download or read book The Miracle of Dunkirk written by University Press and published by . This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: University Press returns with another short and captivating book - a brief history of the Miracle of Dunkirk. The Dunkirk Evacuation, code-named Operation Dynamo, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers during World War II from the beaches of Dunkirk, in northern France. By late May of 1940, large numbers of British, Belgian, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the six-week Battle of France. In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called this "a colossal military disaster," saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured. British Expeditionary Force commander, General Viscount Gort, immediately saw evacuation across the English Channel as the best course of action and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest good port. Operation Dynamo commenced on May 26 and, just eight days later, 338,226 Allied soldiers had been rescued by a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 vessels, including Royal Navy destroyers and the "Little Ships of Dunkirk" - a flotilla of hundreds of merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft, yachts, and lifeboats that crossed the English Channel after being called into service from Britain. In his "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech on June 4, Winston Churchill hailed the rescue as a "miracle of deliverance," and the British press presented the evacuation as a "disaster turned to triumph." Churchill was quick to remind the country that "Wars are not won by evacuations," yet, less than five years later, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies. This short book provides a captivating account of the heroic and heart-warming events of the Dunkirk Evacuation of 1940 - an account that you can read in about an hour.

Download or read book Dunkirk Operation Dynamo written by M J Pearce and published by . This book was released on 2020-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This special edition of Dunkirk, Operation "Dynamo" 26th May - 4th June 1940, An Epic of Gallantry, publishes the now declassified Battle Summary No 41, a document once classified as 'Restricted' and produced in small numbers only for official government purposes. This Summary, The Evacuation from Dunkirk, lodged in the archive at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, is one of the very few surviving copies in existence and records events in minute detail, being written soon after the evacuation using the words of the naval officers involved. This makes it a unique record and a primary source for the history of Operation "Dynamo" from mid-May 1940 until its conclusion on 4th June. The original document has been supplemented in this title by a Foreword written by Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, formerly the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief, Fleet, whose father commanded one of the destroyers sunk off Dunkirk when rescuing troops. In addition, there is a modern historical introduction and commentary, putting the evacuation into context and this edition is enhanced by the inclusion of a large number of previously unpublished photographs of the beaches, town, and harbour of Dunkirk taken immediately after the conclusion of the operation, together with others illustrating many of the ships that took part. The successful evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Belgium and northern France through the port of Dunkirk and across adjacent beaches is rightly regarded as one of the most significant episodes in the nation's long history, although Winston Churchill sagely cautioned in Parliament on 4th June that the country "must be careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations". Nevertheless, the Dunkirk evacuation, Operation "Dynamo", was a victory and, like many others before it, it was a victory of sea power. The Royal Navy achieved what it set out to do, despite grievous losses, in the teeth of determined opposition. It denied an aggressive and ruthless continental power a potentially war-winning total victory that could have changed the direction of civilization for generations to come. The loss of the main British field army would have enfeebled the nation militarily and psychologically, prompting political upheaval, potentially resulting in a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany on unfavourable terms dictated by Adolf Hitler.

Download or read book The Epic of Dunkirk written by E. Keble Chatterton and published by . This book was released on 2016-09-05 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 27th May 1940, with the Battle of France all but lost, one of the greatest undertakings of the Second World War began: the evacuation of Dunkirk. Nine days later, the hastily assembled armada of over eight hundred vessels had rescued nearly 340,000 Allied soldiers from across the Channel and brought them back to England. A prominent memory in the U.K., sometimes the contribution of the French, Dutch and Belgians alongside the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and other ship owners is overlooked, as are the pocket defences that distracted attention from Dunkirk, at Calais, Lille and Amiens. In 'The Epic of Dunkirk' Chatterton does not merely tell one story but many, drawn from these different viewpoints: only when woven together can the memory we know be produced. A keen sailor and former serviceman, Chatterton's account of the "Miracle of Dunkirk" is a rare narrative history, not only easily accessible but offering a detailed, informed insight. Edward Keble Chatterton (1878-1944) was a sailor and prolific writer from Sheffield. His voyages across the English Channel, to the Netherlands, around the Mediterranean and through the French canals led to many articles and books. Joining the R.N.V.R. at the outbreak of WWI he commanded a motor launch flotilla, leaving the service in 1919 as a Lieutenant Commander. Between the wars his output included works about model ships, juvenile novels, and narrative histories of naval events; from 1939, his writing focused upon WWII. Albion Press is an imprint of Endeavour Press, the UK's leading independent digital publisher. For more information on our titles please sign up to our newsletter at www.endeavourpress.com. Each week you will receive updates on free and discounted ebooks. Follow us on Twitter: @EndeavourPress and on Facebook via http://on.fb.me/1HweQV7. We are always interested in hearing from our readers. Endeavour Press believes that the future is now.

Download or read book Dunkirk Operation Dynamo 26th May 4th June 1940 An Epic of Gallantry written by M. J. Pearce and published by Britannia Naval Histories of W. This book was released on 2020-04-11 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The successful evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Belgium and northern France through the port of Dunkirk and across adjacent beaches is rightly regarded as one of the most significant episodes in the nation's long history, although Winston Churchill sagely cautioned in Parliament on 4th June that the country "must be careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations". Nevertheless, the Dunkirk evacuation, Operation "Dynamo", was a victory and, like many others before it, it was a victory of sea power. The Royal Navy achieved what it set out to do, despite grievous losses, in the teeth of determined opposition. It denied an aggressive and ruthless continental power a potentially war-winning total victory that could have changed the direction of civilization for generations to come. The loss of the main British field army would have enfeebled the nation militarily and psychologically, prompting political upheaval, potentially resulting in a negotiated peace with Nazi Germany on unfavourable terms dictated by Adolf Hitler. The undeniable success of the evacuation was certainly a crucial naval and military achievement but its positive effect on the nation's morale was just as important, instilling confidence in the eventual outcome of the war, whatever the immediate future might hold, and creating optimism in the face of adversity that added "the Dunkirk spirit" to the English language.This edition of Dunkirk, Operation "Dynamo" 26th May - 4th June 1940, An Epic of Gallantry, publishes the now declassified Battle Summary No 41, a document once classified as 'Restricted' and produced in small numbers only for official government purposes. This Summary, The Evacuation from Dunkirk, lodged in the archive at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, is one of the very few surviving copies in existence and records events in minute detail, being written soon after the evacuation using the words of the naval officers involved. This makes it a unique record and a primary source for the history of Operation "Dynamo" from mid-May 1940 until its conclusion on 4th June. The original document has been supplemented in this title by a Foreword written by Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent, formerly the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief, Fleet, whose father commanded one of the destroyers sunk off Dunkirk when rescuing troops. In addition, there is a modern historical introduction and commentary, putting the evacuation into context and this edition is enhanced by the inclusion of a large number of previously unpublished photographs of the beaches, town, and harbour of Dunkirk taken immediately after the conclusion of the operation, together with others illustrating many of the ships that took part.

Download or read book The Nine Days of Dunkirk written by David Divine and published by . This book was released on 1976 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Operation Aerial written by David Worsfold and published by . This book was released on 2023-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dunkirk resonates through British history. The "miracle of deliverance", as Prime Minister Winston Churchill described the evacuation of nearly 340,000 troops from the small French port, in most people's minds marks the end of British involvement in France in 1940. Dunkirk finally fell to the advancing German forces but it was far from the end of the story. Tens of thousands of troops and British civilians were still in France. By the end of June, a further 250,000 people had been brought back to the United Kingdom. This is the story of that second miracle of deliverance that has never been fully told. Operation Aerial was an audacious plan to bring home the disparate units of the BEF that were cut off south of the River Somme or isolated near the Maginot Line as the Germans - and Rommel's tanks in particular - advanced in May and early June 1940. This evacuation was also to include thousands of British citizens who were trapped in France and given little guidance beyond instructions to head to ports on the west coast. Dunkirk had been a military evacuation and civilians had not been catered for. The Royal Navy, supported by a fleet of merchant navy ships, worked its way down the western coast of France trying to keep one step ahead of the Germans. As one port was captured they moved down the coast to the next from Cherbourg, to St Malo, to Brest, to Saint-Nazaire, to Lorient, to La Rochelle, to Bordeaux, to Bayonne and finally Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Operation Aerial is almost unknown alongside Operation Dynamo partly because it doesn't have the romance of the little ships but also due to controversies, disasters and accusations of a cover-up. Amid these controversies are stories of incredible resourcefulness, simple courage and remarkable heroism, underpinned by largely excellent organization and command. There were the nurses on board the hospital ships who returned time and time again despite being attacked, the demolition teams that stayed until the Germans were breathing down their necks and took their chance when it came to being evacuated, and the many ordinary soldiers and civilians who struggled through the chaos, confusion and disintegration of France to get back home so they could continue the battle against Hitler. Now it is time that story was told.

Download or read book Dunkirk written by Nicholas Harman and published by Jove Books. This book was released on 1990-05 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A History of the Royal Navy World War II written by Duncan Redford and published by I.B. Tauris. This book was released on 2014-05-29 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Royal Navy's operations in World War II started on 3 September 1939 and continued until the surrender of Japan in August 1945 - there was no 'phoney war' at sea. The navy played a central role in the evacuation of the retreating British army at Dunkirk, and later orchestrated the sinking of Germany's mighty battleship and Hitler's pride, the Bismarck. Without the Royal Navy's attention to the defence of Britain's seaborne trade - especially in the struggle against German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic - there would not have been food for the country, fuel for the RAF's operations or supplies to keep the army fighting in Europe, North Africa and the Far East. Yet the outstanding naval contribution to Britain's survival and eventual victory came at a heavy cost in terms of ships and to the men who had to face not just the violence of the enemy, but also the violence of the sea. This book argues that World War II was, effectively, a maritime war; it was the Royal Navy's war.