Operation Aerial and Operation Cycle

[Drew5233]

Most people I'm sure and definately including myself until recently thought that after Dunkirk the show was over in France.

Operation Dynamo officially began at 18:57 on 26 May 1940. The signal announcing that the British Expeditionary Force had been evacuated was sent at 23:30 one week later.

However over the last few days I've been reading about the above operations which resulted in a further British and Allied Troops being evacuated along the North and West coasts of France. To my surprise the final totals of men evacuated are quite enormous despite so little coverage in any media form. During Operation Aerial the evacuation totals werejust over 140,000 British troops and nearly 50,000 Allied soldiers from France, Belgium, Holland, Czech and Poland.

Does anyone know of a table that details what units, quantities and what ports men were evacuated from?

I have some details in the current book I'm reading but they are scattered throughout the chapter. I thought a table (If there is one) would make for interesting reading and certainly help to stop these chaps efforts being forgotten -Their war continued when everyone thought the BEF was home and dry.

Cheers
Andy

[spidge]

Originally Posted by Drew5233

Most people I'm sure and definately including myself until recently thought that after Dunkirk the show was over in France.

However over the last few days I've been reading about the above operations which resulted in a further British and Allied Troops being evacuated along the North and West coasts of France. To my surprise the final totals of men evacuated are quite enormous despite so little coverage in any media form. During Operation Aerial the evacuation totals werejust over 140,000 British troops and nearly 50,000 Allied soldiers from France, Belgium, Holland, Czech and Poland.

Does anyone know of a table that details what units, quantities and what ports men were evacuated from?

I have some details in the current book I'm reading but they are scattered throughout the chapter. I thought a table (If there is one) would make for interesting reading and certainly help to stop these chaps efforts being forgotten -Their war continued when everyone thought the BEF was home and dry.

Cheers
Andy

Quite amusing Andy!

I just posted a bit about that in Hitlers Britain thread.

http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/general...tml#post161350

[sol]

You can find some info here:

HyperWar: London Gazette No. 37573 (also you can download a pdf from here: HyperWar: United Kingdom London Gazette Despatches)
HyperWar: The War in France and Flanders 1939–1940 [Chapter XXI]
Operation Aerial, the evacuation from north western France, 15-25 June 1940
Operation Cycle, the evacuation from Havre, 10-13 June 1940
World War II History» Operation Aerial

Looks that during this operations were evacuated:

1st Armoured Division
52nd Lowland Division
1st Canadian Division
parts of 51st Highland Division

[von Poop]

One of Owen's favourite subjects if I'm not mistaken:
BEF evacuation via Cherbourg!
British Troops in Normandy June 1940

[Smudger Jnr]

For one reason or another Dunkirk received the major publicity.

No doubt due to the shorter distance travelled and all the multitude of small boats that helped in the evacuation.

Regards
Tom

[Drew5233]

Mmmmm Cheers chaps, I had seen and was aware most of the stuff you've posted.

Here some additional info I've come across but I did wonder if there was a kind of complete table in detail of the who's and whens etc.

23,000 soldiers sailed from St Nazaire to Plymouth during the morning of the 18th June.

2,000 Polish soldiers from the same port in the afternoon.

10,000 French soldiers from the naval base at La Pallice on the 18th June.

4,000 Polish Soldiers from La Pallice on the 19th June.

2,000 from Le Harve between 12th and 13th June including members of 4th Black Watch and 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

2,000 British and 1,000 French troops rescued from Veules-les-Roses.

These figures appear to be just the tip of the iceberg.

[ramacal]

Andy

Couple of files at Kew that might br worth a peek:-

WO106/1739 - Operation Cycle
WO171/965 - Operation Aerial.

Look up the numbers for a more detailed description to see if they interest you.

Cheers - Rob

[Oldman]

Drew
Do not forget the sinking of the troopship Lancastria round about the 17 June 1940, with a great loss of life.
Soliders still turned up in odd ones and twos way into July having found a way home by some means or other.

Oldman

[les3011]

A bit late but as well as HyperWar: The War in France and Flanders, 1939-1940 (UK--History of the Second World War)
try: Naval-History.Net

I've used both to research my father's action and evacuation post-Dunkirk with the 1st Armoured Div (Support Group Coy)

[Drew5233]

Just incase anyone else is looking for a source of info I can recommend the following book:

BEF Ships-Before, At and After Dunkirk by John de S. Winser.

It contains some good maps, plenty of pictures and lists of ships taking part in all the Maritime Evacuations. The books lists nearly 2,200 ships that took part in one way or another.

bef ships - AbeBooks