Dunkirk Operation Dynamo Evacuation Beaches

[Rich Payne]

Originally Posted by rewdco

Looks like De Panne 1. The car and the truck in the foreground can also be seen in this picture:

... and all pictures show "a lot of" Morris Commercials on a row. Here you can see them from the other side:

Jan

This looks to be a slightly clearer view of the same scene.



The '47' with corps bar above (presumably 2 Corps here) should be on red / green diagonal and indicate an RASC Personnel company.

[Rich Payne]

As this has become a bit of a beach thread, here's a nice stern shot of the 'Ethel Everard'

[May1940]

Jan

Look at the buildings in the background of the picture of Ethel Everard that Rich has just posted. They are identical to the mystery buildings behind the aeroplane that you posted in #105. That indicates Malo Terminus.

Andrew

[rewdco]

Originally Posted by May1940

Jan

Look at the buildings in the background of the picture of Ethel Everard that Rich has just posted. They are identical to the mystery buildings behind the aeroplane that you posted in #105. That indicates Malo Terminus.

Andrew

Great! I just noticed the same thing! :-) The more pieces we have of this jigsaw puzzle, the easier it gets!

Cheers,
Jan

[Drew5233]

WO167/194

BRAY 30th May 1940

G.O.C. 1 Div. (Maj-Gen Alexander) made Lt. Col. Perrot R.E.beachmaster and ordered him to make a pier. This was constructed in about 7 hrs using lorries with the tarpaulins removed placed head to tail, F.B.E. road-bearers were laid on "the flat" and lashed down. Chesses were used as stanchions and a hand rail (rope) fitted. All the tyres were eventually bayoneted. The front lorry had S.B.G. sections lashed to its frame to keep it down. The manouevrability of the 6 wheeled Crossley's and A.E.C.s of the Field Park Bridge Section when fitted with overall tracks was astonishing. One 6 wheeler was stuck with water up to its axles with the tide rising. A 2nd 6 wheeler went in and towed it out......

BRAY 31st May 1940

Orders issued for a second pier to be made about 200x East of the original. The same method of construction was used, there still being a large number of lorries which would motor. The construction was mainly carried out by 23....

[May1940]

Drew

This is very interesting detail regarding the pier construction. It matches the nose to tail alignment and stanchions visible in pics of the Royal Ulster Rifles pier (your post #26) which was at Bray Dunes (post #42). But where is this second pier 200 yards east of the original?

Andrew F

[Drew5233]

Thats all the info in the 1 Div RE file. I suspect the 23rd RE unit will have much more details on these two piers.

[Rich Payne]

Originally Posted by Rich Payne

The picture is interesting in that it shows Sentinel Wagon Universal Carrier T7508 and there were not many of them with the BEF. The AoS '4' lacks any indication of Corps marking and I think that I can see the 4 Div formation sign meaning that it was in use by an RA Field Regiment.

This view from the other direction clearly shows the 1940 style 4 Div sign with a white square background on the carriers next to the barge identified by Andrew as the 'Barbara Jean' She must have drifted up the coast a little which is something that is much more noticeable in my last posting of the 'Ethel Everard' These beached barges cannot be taken as specific evidence of a location as they moved with each tide and the photos could have been taken with a considerable interval.

[May1940]

Seeing this picture reminded me that I had seen it somewhere else. The French 'Marines Magazine' No. 11 of October 1997 has a number of Dunkirk pictures including this one.



As Barbara Jean has a truck against her side in this and other pictures perhaps it was the carriers that moved?

Andrew

[rewdco]

Just found another picture of a Spitfire:



Can anybody read the text on the back? Looks like "Englischer Flieger am Strand", but I can't read the last two words (which probably explain the location...). Could this be the same Spit as the one in #105?



Jan