Dunkirk 1940 photos. Some never seen before .

Discussion in '1940' started by morrisc8, Jan 22, 2018.

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What would you like to see in the photos i put up.

Poll closed Jan 20, 2024.
  1. more

    6 vote(s)
    100.0%
  2. less

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  3. What sort of photos, Ships, boats, trucks ,Town

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. pete mully

    pete mully Member

    Yes roy i agree with you that it was a shambles the establishment do apear to have arranged that, that period of the battle of france and the evacution of our troops from le havre and western france is very little known or understood, one of the things that really amazers me is that we appear to have been still sending more and more troops and piles of stores to these ports just a couple of days before Aerial and the other evacuations took place after Dunkirk.i think the reason why my dad and rest of the troops he was with were taken to st nazrire from le harve instead of coming home was due to the mistaken belive by those in charge that we were still going to hold onto western france.
     
  2. Roy Martin

    Roy Martin Senior Member

    Yes Pete, that would tie in with the '2nd BEF' and the Breton Redoubt, many of these troops didn't even leave St Malo; they and those who got to Le Mans were brought back to the UK within days. This led some wits to say that BEF meant ' Back Every Friday'. One of the many problems was that most of the Brits were under French command and they could communicate with other British groups directly. I must confess that I have never really got my head around this LoC business
     
  3. pete mully

    pete mully Member

    Thanks for the imformation roy my dad was part of the original 1939 bef him and his mate freddie were in the 3rd ulster search light regimemt which was situated around the time of dunkirk around arras carvin and dunkirk he and freddie were Don rs on about the 24 of may they were both reported as missing in action together they should never have been any where near le harve ,the only thing that makes sence to me as to why they ended up in le harve is that they were possibly sent somewere with despatchers but because of the speed of the german advance they were cut off from getting back to the 3rd ulster reg so i think they may of head towards le harve which we still held ,i think thats possibly how they both ended up being told by a officer at le harve never mind from now on your now part of arc force dig in and hold the line with the rest of arc force at the time it was desided that arc force were not going to retreat but were going to stand and fight to the last man ,luckely for my dad and freddie on the night of the 13 june that order was changed to its now every man for himself find a boat and get home in other words it was a complete shambles my dad told me he had not had a kip for days he was just trying to get his head down when freddie started kicking him awake shouting come on george time to go jerrys just down the road ,
     
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  4. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

  5. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    Shot down RAF plane in the Dunkirk area.
    Dunkirk area shot down RAF plane 1940.jpg The end of a RAF plane 1940 kb.jpg
    ww2 RAF Shot down plane. back.jpg
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2021
    Recce_Mitch likes this.
  6. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    Bedford is from a Div Sig unit 11 aos. Taken from a negative.
    Photo from my collection.
    Keith
    BEF bedfords 1940 colour KB.jpg BEF bedfords 1940. kb.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2021
  7. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    Humber 4x2 Heavy Utility M6323 .
    Photo taken from a negative in my collection.
    Keith.
    BEF trucks looted and humber kb.jpg
     
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  8. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    He seems to have found the Commanding Officer's pyjamas there ! :) What does your colourising box of tricks make of the folding chair ?

    The Humber seems to have taken a cannon shell...air attack ?
     
  9. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    What does your colourising box of tricks make of the folding chair ?
    Not a lot of colour in it. There is a radio on the far left.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2021
  10. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    Dunkirk in ruins with a British truck.
    Photo from my collection.
    Keith

    upload_2021-6-7_7-50-20.jpeg
    upload_2021-6-7_7-49-46.png
     
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  11. JCB

    JCB Senior Member

    On previous photo which has lots of interest the truck is a dropside civilian spec with homemade canopy frame.
    Probably a Fordson 7V , shame we can't see more of it.
     
  12. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    This is the smaller one , tipping lorry, used at airfields and by RE units.
    Photo from my collection.
    Keith
    bef truck 175349 veh kb.jpg
     
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  13. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    BEF Scammell left on the side of road 1940.
    Photo from my collection and the add.
    Keith
    scammell1940 bef.on road to Dunkirk colour.jpg scammell1940 bef.on road to Dunkirk 1 .jpg add 5 Scammells.jpg
     
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  14. JCB

    JCB Senior Member

    Possibility BEF left 700 Scammell Pioneers over there from looking at the detailed artillery losses.
    What a great asset to the Germans and no wonder so many turn up on Wehrmacht photos.
    No detailed truck losses , yet !
     
  15. pete mully

    pete mully Member

    Hi Roy after you told me about the ship the city of bath being the only boat that sailed to st nazaire i managed to find a photo of the city of bath at its home port it looks like it was taken whilst the city of bath was waiting for for high tide in the river mersey liverpool looking at it and the one in the photo my dad is on i think he must of been on the city of bath. below is the photo i found of the city of bath
     

    Attached Files:

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  16. Roy Martin

    Roy Martin Senior Member

    Hi Pete, thanks, I will have a look at the pictures and see if I have others of the City of Bath.
     
  17. Roy Martin

    Roy Martin Senior Member

    Hi Pete, I have found a couple more pics of the City of Bath - old ship photos, which is probably where you got yours? I attach the best one. I can't be sure that the City of Bath was the only one who made that passage at that time. I have recently come to realise that the Movement Cards that have OHMS on them cannot be relied on for the period in question. Even some of the experts fall for this, for instance, City of Bath-08.jpg the normally very reliable Winser quotes the CoB as being involved, but not saving any troops.
     
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  18. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    Photo of police station on the beach, and photo of blockships from epay.
    dunkirk police 1940 1.jpg dunkirk  blockships from lighthouse eb.jpg
     
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  19. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    Close up of blockships from epay.
    blockship dunkirk 2.jpg blockship dunkirk 3.jpg
     
  20. morrisc8

    morrisc8 Under the Bed

    One more came in the post. Photo taken near the barge Barbara Jean.
    Photo from my collection.
    Keith
    dunkirk beach 1940 kb.jpg

    I have added some colour to it.
    Keith
    dunkirk beach veh colour kb.jpg
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 30, 2021
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