Dunkirk Operation Dynamo Evacuation Beaches

Discussion in '1940' started by Drew5233, Oct 18, 2010.

  1. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    Crashed Spitfire somewhere on the beach around Dunkirk. Unfortunately no recognition points to find out the exact location...

    [​IMG]

    Jan
     
  2. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    Spitfire or Hurricane?

    [​IMG]

    Jan
     
  3. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    An example of what time can do: Barbara Jean has lost her masts in this picture:

    [​IMG]

    And so has Ethel Everard:

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    Jan
     
  4. JCB

    JCB Senior Member

    Wonder if they were removed for some purpose, bridges perhaps ?the BEF alone blew up hundreds , strange if masts designed for severe storms all snapped off at the base.
     
  5. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    DameDeDunkerque likes this.
  6. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  7. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    It gets a mention in 1 Div's General Staff Diary during the month of May being built by a sanitarium. I presume they are referring to the one at Zuydcoote.

    This got me thinking and now I'm wondering if this is the pier which I had always presummed was just a line of men wading out into the sea.

    [​IMG]
     
    DameDeDunkerque likes this.
  8. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    Crashed Spitfire somewhere on the beach around Dunkirk. Unfortunately no recognition points to find out the exact location...

    [​IMG]

    Jan

    Same Spitfire, still no clues on the location...

    [​IMG]

    Jan
     
  9. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    ...and every single one of them standing on that Spit wrote home claiming to have brought it down with a single 9mm parabellum round !:)
     
  10. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    It gets a mention in 1 Div's General Staff Diary during the month of May being built by a sanitarium. I presume they are referring to the one at Zuydcoote.

    This got me thinking and now I'm wondering if this is the pier which I had always presummed was just a line of men wading out into the sea.

    [​IMG]

    Andy,

    Good question! This is another well known picture, with another line of men wading out into the sea. Now this is a "narrow line"! No doubt they were "walking on a narrow path", one of "our" jetties...??? Problem is, I don't recognise the (few) buildings in the background! Who does...???:confused:

    [​IMG]

    Jan
     
  11. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    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:

    [​IMG] Jan

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

    [​IMG]

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

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

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


    [​IMG]


    Image link repaired

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  13. May1940

    May1940 Senior Member

    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
     
  14. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    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
     
  15. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    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....
     
  16. May1940

    May1940 Senior Member

    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
     
  17. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    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.
     
  18. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    [​IMG]

    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.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. May1940

    May1940 Senior Member

    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.

    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=40881&stc=1&d=1290186522

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

    Andrew
     

    Attached Files:

  20. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    Just found another picture of a Spitfire:

    [​IMG]

    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?

    [​IMG]

    Jan
     

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