Dunkirk Operation Dynamo Evacuation Beaches

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

  1. myt1prod

    myt1prod Junior Member

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    A quick search of the 'hot topics' shows that this photo hasn't been on yet...
    at first I thought 'what a strange jeep, it has a tailfin', although quickly I realised it was the open hatch of the cilinder laying in the back of the jeep.
    If i'm correct this should be at De Panne, noticing the small beachcabin which I recall seeing here before on another photo taken at De Panne.

    Greetz
    Jean
     
  2. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Jean, the vehicle is a Morris-Commercial CS8 water tanker. The rear doors gave access to the pump and filtration equipment. Similar bodies are also seen on the Bedford chassis.
     
  3. LCpl Lee Cope

    LCpl Lee Cope Active Member

    A very many thanks for posting these images! They are very much helping me paint a picture in my head of what was happening on the beeches of Dunkirk.

    Soon I'll be applying for my Granduncle's WW2 service records and will hopefully (fingers crossed) be reading about where he was when captured to become a POW.

    Do you mind if I copy a few of these pictures to put in my own private file for Dunkirk?

    PS. As an ex Royal Engineer I throw a very well done to the lads who built that makeshift platform out of vehicles! Truly genius way of creating a sort of 'Mulberry Harbour'. :)
     
  4. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    No problem if you want to use any of "my" pictures LCpl Lee Cope! :)

    By the way, I thought that it could be a good idea to put some pictures of the famous "little ships" together. Here we go...

    Some fishing boats:

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  5. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    Some small motorboats:

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  6. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    Some launches:

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  7. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    And two very nice ones:

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    That's all for now! :)

    Jan
     
  8. LCpl Lee Cope

    LCpl Lee Cope Active Member

    I've noticed that some of these images are from Life Magazine. Does anyone know which issue and what the front cover looked like? I would very much like to buy a copy if there is one available on a site somewhere.
     
  9. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    War time pictures of Crested Eagle on the Dunkirk beach are very rare, but I've just found a pair:

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    Jan
     
  10. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    Some more pictures of Pavon, and some sad pictures of some of the crew members:

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    Jan
     
  11. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    In posts #529 until #547 I have tried to identify some of the aircraft wrecks on the Dunkirk beaches. Here's another one, according to the text on the back this is Wimereux, some 50 kilometers west of Dunkirk:

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    Unfortunately no visible identification letters or numbers...

    Jan
     
  12. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Regarding the utilisation of vehicles for the creation of piers into the sea,I have come across a personal reference to their erection.Some had the vehicles parallel to the beach,others had the vehicles,head to tail

    Major Donald Wilson-Haffenden HQ No 1 Division goes on "My divisional Commander Royal Engineers hit on the idea of building a lorry pier at La Panne by running lorries out, head to tail into the sea,and then building a superstructure on it,which the boats could come alongside.We had a chain of 25 lorries,and we punctured the tyres so that they wouldn't float.This enabled us to speed up the embarkation tremendously.I remember the CRE sitting on the beach in a deckchair,having built his lorry pier,and when the Germans came over,he took a shot at them every now and again."
     
  13. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    For many years,I have been intrigued regarding the background of a British officer whose abandoned and empty trunk containing his presumed personal effects were photographed by the Germans on a Dunkirk beach.

    His name was Lt Col J Morrison.I have checked the CWGC records and it would appear that he survived the war.

    The source is from a compilation of the English versions of Signal the German war propaganda picture magazine,originally intended for the Channel Islands consumption.

    Here it is:
     

    Attached Files:

  14. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Harry

    From Ancestry - this might be your man - will check out for anymore
    British Phone Books, 1880-1984 about Lt.-Col. J. AIUu Morrison
    Name: Lt.-Col. J. AIUu Morrison Address: ISurnhrae Exchange: ho Directory Title: Aberdeen / Dundee / Edinburg / Glasgow / Scotland West / North Ireland Jan Publication Year: 1953 Directory County: Aberdeen, Angus, Midlothian, Renfrewshire, Northern Ireland Page Number: 319


    another possibility:
    http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37787/supplements/5608/page.pdf
    SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 14 NOVEMBER, 1946


    ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS.
    Lt.-Col. J. MORRISON, O.B.E., M.C. (75885)
     
  15. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

  16. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Thanks for that...problem solved...thought he might well be a battalion commander but turns out to be RAMC.

    No doubt the RAMC gave invaluable service during the BEF withdrawal
     
  17. rewdco

    rewdco Senior Member

    Another ship on the Dunkirk beaches: according to the forum-marinearchiv.de Sursum Corda beached on May 31st and was abandoned. Never seen any pictures of this vessel before... She must have been recovered quite soon.

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    Jan
     
  18. researchingreg

    researchingreg Well-Known Member

    Operation Dynamo officially started on 27th May and I think on the first day men were evacuated from the harbour/mole not the beaches (the 7769 men evacuated the first day). I would like to know the name of the Hospital ship that left Dunkirk on the night of 26th or early morning of the 27th carrying wounded. Does anybody know? Also do any of the ships have lists of the men they evacuated?
     
  19. Rumdoodle

    Rumdoodle Member

    I would also be very interested in lists of evacuees, for my research into Force K6. I know when they were taken off the beaches (May 25th and 29th), and where, but not by whom. Can anyone point me towards the relevant archives?
     
  20. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Another image of MV Horst.

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    ...This thread's been quiet for a while !
     
    Recce_Mitch and Drew5233 like this.

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