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#OTD 1940 – in the words of peacetime barrister S/Lt David Croom-Johnson RNVR on HMS ROSS (a coal-powered Hunt class minesweeper built in 1919), on her 4th and final trip to the beaches of #Dunkirk #Dunkirk80 #Dunkirk1940
@RoyalNavy @NavyLookout @ShipBrief @HonSocGraysInn 1/
@RoyalNavy @NavyLookout @ShipBrief @HonSocGraysInn 1/
“And so we came to Saturday, 1st June. This day truly was the climax, not only for us (whose last day it was to be) but the biggest lift was on this day, and the fiercest attack from the air” 2/
“We anchored off La Panne at 0110, five cables apart. It was even darker than on the other nights, and though we could see the big fire it was too far off to improve the visibility for us” 3/
“Ashore, the battle had obviously closed right in and seemed to have reached the dunes immediately beyond the sand. It was terrific, and we were watching it from a grandstand a bare mile out” 4/
“No boats came out. As the time passed, knowing of the med to be rescued, waiting became more and more difficult. We ourselves were by now very tired, and had had little sleep for days” 5/
“Being quite unaware from the start how long the evacuation might last, and ignorant of the general situation all round us, we hadn’t been able to organise any rest, but had only been able to snatch what we could” 6/
“It was a dreadful wait, watching that great battle, and being unable to do anything to help. It was worst to the west, whence came bursts like jumping crackers multiplied thousands of times, the thunder of heavy guns and a flashing which continued without let-up” 7/
“A shell passed overhead with a whine and burst to seaward: everyone dropped down to the deck. Then another shell, and in the next two hours they fired a dozen or so out to sea, but they were chancy shots and all burst over us” 8/
“GOSSAMER wirelessed that was anchored in position and added, according to our reading of the signal, “hells passing overhead”” 9/
“Aircraft flew over from time to time, but though some destroyers pom-pom’d, we didn’t open fire: we were invisible and didn’t want to give ourselves away” 10/
“After a while I visited the 4-inch gun forward. Except for the sight-setter, they were all asleep, and as I stood by he roused them. I heard him repeating over and over “Asleep at your post, you know, that’s an offence, that is. Asleep at your post, that’s an offence”” 11/
“I walked aft again. Every quarter of an hour an aircraft flare hung in the sky – brilliant orange flares which hovered for minutes and lit up miles of country. At last one hovered to seaward of us, and we waited for the gun ashore to get the range, but he didn’t” 12/
“As time went by, we stood, waiting, in agony, for the boats, but none came. By dawn we’d not begun embarking, and a German motorized column was supposed to be working along the coast to try to break through to the beach” 13/
“The light grew, and again we could pick out the long lines of men waiting by the water, but no longer were they silent. They had stood quietly in the dark but with dawn they began to shout and call – a murmur went up all the time” 14/
“This was the most heartrending time of all.
Some time after 0400 we lowered our own boats and sent them in. They came off poorly filled, for the scramble by the water’s edge, and far out into the sea, was so great that the Sub was afraid of being capsized.” 15/
Some time after 0400 we lowered our own boats and sent them in. They came off poorly filled, for the scramble by the water’s edge, and far out into the sea, was so great that the Sub was afraid of being capsized.” 15/
“After one trip the motor boat came back with the skiff but the whaler had become separated and carried westwards by the current. Dobbin [the acting skipper] considered a long time, left the skiff to be hoisted, and took the motor boat in” 16/
“The minesweepers, with their shallow draught, were as close in as they dared go (Ross was in twice her depth of water); further out were the destroyers. Now a paddle minesweeper laid out his minesweeping otters as kedge anchors and beached himself on the rising tide” 17/
Editorial note: the paddle minesweeper seems likely to have been HMS ORIOLE, which had first used this technique on 29 May. Her skipper reported himself to the Admiralty for running aground, receiving the reply “Your action fully approved” 18/
“GOSSAMER, just to the East, suggested that we run in on the paddler’s stern so that men might walk across to us. Already a long line of men was struggling out to the paddler’s bows. GOSSAMER repeated the suggestion, but I waited for Dobbin to come back” 19/
“All ships had to move to the west at dawn, and it was by now pretty light. Dobbin came back with the boats full of soldiers, having found the whaler a mile down the beach.” 20/
“It was time to move; already long files on the beach were trudging west, and one of our embarkees (sic) said the Germans were expected to be on the beach in 2 hours. GOSSAMER had moved; we hoisted and began to weigh” 21/
“The paddler, whose name we never discovered, had hauled herself off and was pointing west. All round her bow were khaki objects floating in the placid sea, whether discarded equipment or drowned men you couldn’t tell” 22/
“There were still three men in the water, too tired to climb the ropes let down from her foc’s’le. Two were hauled up fairly quickly but there was a lot of difficulty with the third but, after he had fallen back twice, they got a rope around him and hauled him aboard” 23/
“It was 0515. We and the paddler turned west. A moment later, arrived from nowhere, the sky was full of German fighters. The formation wheeled, broke up, and dived – at us, at the paddler, at the men on shore, all in a few seconds” 24/
