Episode 26-Dunkirk, Part 2.

[0] Welcome to True Spies, the podcast that takes you deep inside the greatest secret missions of all time.

[1] Suddenly out of the dark, it's a bit in love.

[2] You'll meet the people who live life undercover.

[3] What do they know?

[4] What are their skills?

[5] And what would you do in their position?

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[7] People paid for what they'd done, felt righteous.

[8] True Spies, from Spyscape Studios, wherever you get your podcasts.

[9] Hello, this is Ray Harris.

[10] Before we get into episode 26, I have a request to make.

[11] At the risk of offending my listeners who subscribe to this podcast to hear the story of World War II, I have a favor to ask.

[12] I was recently in a car accident.

[13] No one was seriously hurt besides being very sore for a week, but my car was totaled.

[14] So, to be blunt, if you ever thought about contributing to this show or getting a free audiobook via my website, because I get a small commission if you do, even if you don't keep the membership, I would really appreciate it.

[15] So, I'm very sorry to ask, and I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

[16] Thank you very much.

[17] Hello, and thank you for listening to a History of World War II podcast, episode 26, Dunkirk, part 2.

[18] General Gort, commanding officer of the BEF, decided to take his men that had been allocated to help counterattack to the south to close off the expanding German corridor created by the Panzers.

[19] and instead used them to attack the German infantry forces to the north that had managed to get between the Belgium and British forces.

[20] This meant the hoped -for offensive was done for, but in reality, it didn't have much of a chance of working.

[21] It would have been too little, too late anyway.

[22] Gort decided the men would be better used in slowing down the infantry of Army Group B of the Germans that was trying to shatter the Allied military cohesion.

[23] May 27th.

[24] Several ships heading for the coast, including the naval yacht Gulzar, did not know that Calais fell to the Germans on the 26th.

[25] But earlier in the day, the Germans already had most of it under their control.

[26] The Gulzar, captained by Lieutenant V .C. Brommel, managed to pick up the last free British soldiers there, hiding from the Germans on the breakwater.

[27] The rest were now prisoners of Germany.

[28] Of course, the moment the rescued were aboard, the ship came under the shelling of every gun in the harbor.

[29] Even London did not yet know the fate of the port city west of Dunkirk.

[30] Churchill, at 4 .30 a .m. of the 27th, was still urging General Gort to send tanks to the city while it held out.

[31] Churchill was certainly a man of action and believed in leading by example.

[32] He wanted Calais to hold out, and so a force of 38 Lysanders dropped much -needed supplies early that morning.

[33] The drop mission included 224 gallons of water, 22 ,000 rounds of ammunition, and 864 grenades.

[34] I'm sure the Germans waiting on the ground appreciated it very much.

[35] But the British Prime Minister was human enough and avoided unpleasant tasks as much as the next man. But finally, prodded by Anthony Eden, Churchill told Gort to inform King Leopold of Belgium the British aim of removing their men from the continent.

[36] Churchill, the politician, wanted this potentially ally -destroying message handled carefully, and so wanted the message spoken in a certain way.

[37] But in the end, it didn't matter.

[38] Leopold never got it.

[39] Churchill telegrammed Gort, We are asking them to sacrifice themselves for us.

[40] It is now necessary to tell the Belgians.

[41] But as of the 27th, the vast majority of British troops were still far inland in France and Belgium, and time was needed to get the majority of the BEF to the beach so the evacuation could begin.

[42] To buy the necessary time, Gort had set up several strong points, or stops, along both sides of the Allied -controlled corridor, 11 on the west and 7 on the east.

[43] Both sides went along more or less in a line connecting Lille to the coast.

[44] The stops farthest inland, or at the southern end of the line, were feeling the pressure.

[45] They would hold out this day of the 27th, but at tremendous cost.

[46] This land that had witnessed the British and French fighting each other for centuries also witnessed flashbacks of older scenes during this battle.

[47] One German was killed with a bow and arrow because the archer did not want to give away his position.

[48] and Major Peter Hunt, of the first Queen's own Cameron Highlanders, had a bullet that hit him in the leg, softened by a fold in his kilt.

[49] With many acts of heroism too numerous to mention, the men fought with everything they had, but at the end of the day, the overall situation determined events.

[50] The men were ordered to retreat closer to the coast.

[51] Although the men held their stops that day, the Germans were able to slip in between them.

[52] So the defenders on the southern end won their battles that day, but were ordered to make for the coast nonetheless.

[53] The British troops at La Basse and Faust -du -Beir made it eight miles north that night to Astaire.

[54] It was this kind of resistance from the British 2nd Division and French tank units that allowed two French divisions and many BEF to reach the coast.

[55] But some allies were not that lucky.

[56] as the idea of honorable combat was not followed by the units of the SS.

[57] Some Allies were captured by regular army, and some by the SS.

[58] The troops of the SS Tottenkopf, or SS Adolf Hitler, outright killed their prisoners, although they had surrendered or had already been captured.

[59] As Allied men headed for the coast, they were subjected to regular bombing and strafing by German planes.

[60] The Germans pretty much control the air at this point.

[61] But some Allied troops had leaflets dropped on them instead of bombs.

[62] These leaflets had maps showing the dominating German positions and begged the British to give up.

[63] But some Tommies of the BEF yelled thank you to the Germans for giving them the information.

[64] It was more than they were getting from their superiors.

[65] The Allies, desperate, would make for the coast any way they could.

[66] They arrived on mules, horses, tractors, and won on a pair of roller skates.

[67] As for those already at the beach, they were not ready to receive, organize, or help the vast numbers coming in.

[68] Admiral Jean Abriel, French naval officer and overall charge of the coast, did not try to set up for the evacuation because he didn't know that was the objective.

[69] General Adam, representing General Gort, and given the task to organize the evacuation, had not yet arrived.

[70] That morning at 7 .30 a .m., the British and the French had a meeting to work out defending the beach.

[71] They would try to hold the 30 miles from Gravelines to Newport.

[72] The French would be responsible for the area west of Dunkirk, and the British everything east of it.

[73] It was also decided the incoming French and British should go to their designated areas.

[74] Nothing was decided for the Belgians, who were further to the east, as their position, militarily and politically, was too obscure.

[75] This bit of progress was made quickly before the meeting officially began.

[76] Then Adams arrived, and it was time for the major points to be discussed.

[77] Everyone went to a nearby hotel where the meeting would be held.

[78] In attendance were three French and three British generals.

[79] Before the meeting could get going, Colts, who represented Vegard, had an order of the day from the commander of Allied forces.

[80] Vegard wanted the Allies to go on the offensive.

[81] At this point, the British put down their pencils and closed their ears.

[82] It was not going to happen.

[83] They were heading in the opposite direction.

[84] It was fortunate that they had the quick informal meeting earlier to get some things worked out.

[85] The French were soon shown the truth of the situation.

[86] The 6th Panzer Divisions, lined up along the Awe Canal, had started moving again.

[87] To oppose them was a smattering of BEF and the French 68th Division.

[88] The French had recently been moved to the Gravelines area, but General Fagal's 68th Division had to pull back from the Gravelines line.

[89] They could barely hold off the Panzers.

[90] There was no way they could have pushed them back.

[91] Their new defensive line was moved back that afternoon along the towns of Mardyck and Spiker.

[92] So although the meeting had ended on a sour note, now the Allied positions were more or less worked out.

[93] but the main problem for the British was their part of the defensive line was only on paper.

[94] As stated before, most of the BEF were still inland.

[95] They were heading to the beach, but had German soldiers right in front of them.

[96] But Brigadier Lawson, an artilleryman who was in charge of the defensive line, grabbed men as they made it to the beach and started organizing them along his edge of the beach perimeter.

[97] The majority of his line were the artillerymen who had destroyed their weapons before they made it to the beach.

[98] Later, he would be able to use regular divisions as they came through the corridor.

[99] Like the organization of the incoming boats, it was mostly improvisation.

[100] That day, the British decided among themselves that each of the three corps would have a section of their part of the beach.

[101] The corps would defend their part, and their men were expected to assemble at their designated location.

[102] Amazingly, most men made it to their area, but some just walked on the beach and stayed there.

[103] They were too tired to move to some chosen point on a map.

[104] La Pange would be the British headquarters on the beach, as it had a phone connection directly to London, which meant a connection to Dover as well.

[105] The phone cable was also connected to Belgium, but that wouldn't matter very soon.

[106] But during the early phase of Operation Dynamo, for the British, It was a case of one step forward and two steps back.

[107] Adam sent a message to Major General Henry Martin, commanding all Gort's anti -aircraft gunners to keep them firing until empty, spare gunners were to help the infantry, and the wounded were to get to the beach.

[108] But the message was incorrectly translated as it went down to Martin.

[109] Martin thought the message read, to get the gunners to the beach.

[110] And since the standing order was to destroy all equipment before heading to the beach, Martin had all the anti -aircraft weapons, heavy 3 .7 -inch pieces, destroyed.

[111] So around midnight on May 27th, Martin went to Adams' headquarters and proudly announced all his guns were destroyed and his empty -handed men were at the beach.

[112] Adams, like many on the British side who couldn't have been more overwhelmed with their tasks, took the news in, tried to compose himself with a long pause, but finally said, You fool.

[113] Go away.

[114] The Allies, who had lost the Battle of the Air at least a week ago, now had to fight off the German fighters and bombers with the considerably lighter guns they carried.

[115] The desperate men on the beach saw few ships that day.

[116] Worse, they saw few boats to get them to the ships.

[117] The Dunkirk beach gradually lowered into the sea, so the larger ships had to stay a mile away from the coast.

[118] At this rate, all the sacrifice to buy time would be meaningless.

[119] For a Marine captain, this situation on the beach was too much to let stand, especially the inadequacy of the smaller boats.

[120] So he took it upon himself as he was heading home to jump from one ship to another until he made it to Dover and ended up at Rear Admiral Ramsey's office.

[121] He explained the situation to Ramsey in great detail, and then the Admiral quietly thanked him.

[122] What Ramsey didn't say...

[123] was that he knew the desperate situation already, as he was constantly telling those above him.

[124] His plan was to launch two ships every three and a half hours, thus giving them enough time for the round trip.

[125] But the first ship to make the journey, Mona's Isle, mentioned previously, soon demonstrated the real situation.

[126] She left Dover at 9 p .m. on the 26th, making it safely to Dunkirk by midnight.

[127] She loaded 1 ,420 men and then headed for home.

[128] but immediately she came under fire and suffered damage and casualties.

[129] A few shells were direct hits, but miraculously didn't explode.

[130] Also, a rudder was lost, but fortunately she was a twin screw and so was able to keep going.

[131] But even after getting out of artillery range, MEs, or Measuresmith 109s, found her and sprayed her with bullets.

[132] The trip there and back took 11 and a half hours, and that was taking the shortest route.

[133] Route Z, worked out by Ramsey's staff.

[134] Because of mines and shoals, Ramsey ran from along the coast west of Dunkirk to Calais and then turned northwest for Dover.

[135] But along the first part of the journey, along the coast, the ships were easy targets for the German guns along the beach.

[136] Other ships left during the early morning of the 27th, but were so damaged along the way, they were unable to finish the trip.

[137] After this, it seemed that Operation Dynamo might not be possible, after all.

[138] For now, apparently, Route Z could not be used, or at least during the day.

[139] Ramsey's staff had already worked out two other routes, and now he considered using them.

[140] Route X, the second possibility, headed north away from the beach for about 10 miles.

[141] Then it turned northwest for about 25 miles.

[142] until it was past the Goodwin Sands.

[143] After that, it turned west and then south again to go around them to make for Dover.

[144] Besides the shoals, it was heavily mined, and until those could be cleared, this route too seemed improbable as well.

[145] That left Route Y, the third route.

[146] This route ran northeast, away from the beach for about 20 miles.

[147] Then it turned due west for about 50 miles.

[148] It approached the southeastern coast of Britain just over the Goodwin Sands and then headed south for Dover, like the second route.

[149] This route was easier to navigate, mostly free of mines and safe from German guns, but it was also much longer.

[150] Route Y, the third route, was 87 miles long compared to Route X, the second route, which was 55 miles long.

[151] and that, compared to Route Z, the first route was 39 miles long.

[152] So Route Y was the safest, but double the time needed for what Ramsey had planned.

[153] The painful realization came to him that he would need double the ships to keep to any kind of schedule.

[154] An example of this was at 11 a .m. on the 27th, the first convoy set sail for Dunkirk via Route Y, the longest.

[155] The convoy made it, but it took six hours.

[156] and it ended up being almost a complete waste of time.

[157] As the convoy came close to land, the port city was under a heavy bombardment, the facilities unusable.

[158] One ship of the convoy managed to pick up 900 men, but the rest, five transports, were warned off, lest a ship be sunk closer to a pickup point and block it from further use.

[159] The rest of the convoy turned around and headed home.

[160] Welcome to True Spies.

[161] The podcast that takes you deep inside the greatest secret missions of all time.

[162] Suddenly out of the dark it's appeared in love.

[163] You'll meet the people who live life undercover.

[164] What do they know?

[165] What are their skills?

[166] And what would you do in their position?

[167] Vengeance felt good.

[168] Seeing these people pay for what they'd done felt righteous.

[169] True Spies from Spyscape Studios.

[170] Wherever you get your podcasts.

[171] So far, the Belgians, who had the largest army in the northern Allied section, were not aware of the British plans.

[172] By the 27th, the Belgian troops were falling apart fast.

[173] And of course, one reason for this is that they tried to stretch their defensive line to allow the British and the French to pull back and prepare for their counterattack to the south.

[174] Before the Belgians knew what was happening, the push south was called off, and the British started moving north towards the coast.

[175] King Leopold III of Belgium was a disagreeable fellow, but his men had fought courageously, giving the Germans surprisingly stiff resistance.

[176] But at 12 .30 p .m. on the 27th, Leopold tried to get word to General Gort that he would have to surrender soon in order to avoid many of his men being uselessly killed.

[177] Unfortunately, Gort was moving around and did not get the message, but it would have made little difference.

[178] Two hours later, at 2 .30 p .m., A message from Belgium headquarters was sent to General Vegard, Belgian resistance falling apart.

[179] King Leopold had had enough.

[180] His men were dying, the war was lost, and the Allies couldn't even be bothered to reply to his pleas.

[181] So at 5 p .m. on the 27th, Deputy Chief General de Rossio of the Belgian General Staff was sent out to ask the Germans for a truce.

[182] He and his party carried a white flag, but were fired on regardless.

[183] One member of the party was wounded, but they made it to the headquarters of the German 11th Corps.

[184] Word of this somehow got out to the Allies, which is ironic since the Belgium radioed and telephone pleas did not.

[185] Vegard found out about 6 p .m. and proceeded to protest to all to hear that he had no idea this was coming, and he was in shock.

[186] One can't help but feel this statement, like others, was meant for posterity.

[187] Gort, who would be immediately and most affected by the Belgians laying down their arms because they were on the extreme eastern end with the British, did not find out until later in the evening.

[188] Also, Vegard, who knew what the British were up to, wanted his naval officers to work with the Allies.

[189] But, in their defense, they had no idea of the British plans until that morning and had some catching up to do.

[190] Vegard did not tell his generals in the north or his aides, so as Gort created his stops along the Allied corridor, ordered his men north, organized with the navy to save his men, the French generals were not working on heading towards Dunkirk.

[191] But why would they?

[192] They didn't know yet that was the objective.

[193] Because of this miscommunication, purposeful or not, most French polis, or common soldiers, would miss their chance to evacuate.

[194] But in trying to stay in the fight, they would take on seven German divisions, three of them armored, and allow the evacuation to go on for two or three days longer than it should have.

[195] They saved about 100 ,000 men for the evacuation.

[196] But Rear Admiral Ramsey on his end and Gort on his end weren't about to give up trying to save the BEF.

[197] That evening, six more ships tried to make the run.

[198] The transport, Canterbury, managed to get 457 troops aboard.

[199] But then, the Luftwaffe showed up and almost claimed another victim.

[200] As she was leaving, the Canterbury received a signal from shore to tell all other ships to make no attempt at evacuation.

[201] But confusion and panic reigned, and inexperienced signalmen ended up passing on the message that Dunkirk had fallen.

[202] It was events like this that helped explain why the stranded men on the beach saw so few ships that day.

[203] And officially, Dynamo hadn't started.

[204] These attempts were to get the non -fighting men or useless mouths back to home first.

[205] At 10 p .m., General de Rossio brought back the capitulation terms to Leopold.

[206] The 11th Corps had contacted the OKW, and they contacted Hitler.

[207] Predictably, the terms were straightforward, lay down all arms unconditionally.

[208] The king should have known this was coming.

[209] His idea to have some control over German -occupied Belgium was fading fast.

[210] But in the end, he and his men had no choice.

[211] King Leopold III accepted the terms at 11 p .m. on the 27th.

[212] The fighting would stop at 4 a .m. on May 28th.

[213] A few hours later, the Germans demanded open passage to the sea.

[214] Leopold knew what this meant for the Allies, but he could not refuse.

[215] Admiral Ramsey in Dover was giving as much of himself as anyone else, but as the man in charge, the pressure was more great.

[216] Churchill and his cabinet needed the decisions coming out of Dover to be clear -headed.

[217] So on the 27th, Vice Admiral Sir James Somerville came to relieve Ramsey now and then, but the staff had to keep to it.

[218] For Ramsey, Somerville, and the staff, the four walls quickly became their whole world.

[219] That world was widened considerably when three high -ranking French naval officers showed up and wanted to discuss the strategy of keeping Dunkirk supplied for the long fight.

[220] Ramsey quickly put the French allies straight.

[221] Vegard had been telling the French that Dunkirk would be a permanent foothold for the Allies to counterattack at some future date.

[222] But now that the French naval officers were up to date, they began to change their plans.

[223] The French had been gathering ships as well.

[224] but to carry supplies and men from southern England to Dunkirk.

[225] Now, their plan was the same as the Brits, to save as many Frenchmen through evacuation as possible.

[226] So the two navies would be working together, but it was understood that both nationalities would be looking after their own.

[227] Ramsey and his staff of the Dynamo Room got back to work.

[228] Their list seemed endless.

[229] Clear Route X of mines.

[230] More fighter cover was needed from the RAF.

[231] repair damaged vessels, replace exhausted crews, send water to the troops on the beaches, prepare the home for the wounded, get the latest, and I mean latest, weather forecasts, get at least a hundred maintenance craft for the hundreds of small ships coming to Sheerness, and make ladders now.

[232] They would get the stranded men on board those ships any way they had to.

[233] Admiral Ramsey and his staff were doing all they could.

[234] But it became clear to the Dynamo's leader that they needed their own set of eyes and ears at Dunkirk.

[235] So Captain William G. Tennant, who was the Chief Staff Officer to the First Sea Lord in London, was ordered to Dover on the 27th.

[236] Once there, he was told that he would be the Senior Naval Officer, or SNO, at Dunkirk.

[237] To support him would be eight officers and 160 men, or 20 men assigned to each officer.

[238] The destroyer Wolfhound took Tennant and his crew via the Y route to Dunkirk.

[239] But only after an hour at sea, they came under constant Stuka attacks for the rest of their journey.

[240] Somehow, they made it into the harbor at 5 .35 p .m. Everything was ablaze, and a formation of 21 German planes dropped their loads nearby as a way of greeting the new arrivals.

[241] Tennant and some of his staff made for Bestin 32, where some space was made for them to work.

[242] To get there, they had to walk through rubble and broken glass, burned out trucks and broken bodies.

[243] Captain Tennant met with Brigadier Parmenter from Gort's staff.

[244] Parmenter told the new SNO that Dunkirk and the British position had about 24 to 36 hours.

[245] Then the Germans would probably break through their lines and be in Dunkirk, where it would come down to building to building fighting.

[246] Also, the harbor was unusable.

[247] But Tennant saw that for himself during the walk -in.

[248] Tenet processed everything he had seen so far and sent his first message to Dover at 7 .58 p .m. But as he learned specifics of their situation, more messages followed.

[249] The gist of his messages were, Send every available craft east of Dunkirk now.

[250] Don't wait for tomorrow night.

[251] Then send all ships east of Dunkirk, which is always under bombardment.

[252] Naturally, these messages caused the Dynamo Room in Dover to burst into further action.

[253] They scrambled to send a message to all ships of the rescue fleet to head east of Dunkirk.

[254] Working nonstop, Dover managed to contact each ship in the rescue fleet so far.

[255] A cruiser, nine destroyers, two transports, four mine sweeps, four scoots from Holland, and 17 drifters, 37 ships all told.

[256] Now Tennant and his officers could get to their real work.

[257] They had their individual groups find scattered men and send them to the beaches to the east.

[258] The frightened soldiers were broken into groups of 30 to 50 men and for the most part listened to orders.

[259] They had great confidence in their navy and honestly probably would have listened to anyone who seemed to know what was going on.

[260] This was especially true of Tennant with his well -cut blues, brass buttons, and four gold stripes.

[261] He was the picture of authority.

[262] It didn't take long for Tennant's men to learn that every cellar of every building was full of soldiers hiding from the German planes, so finding the men to send to the beach was not an immediate problem.

[263] About 10 p .m. that night, Tennant took a tour of a part of the beach.

[264] He needed to see for himself what he was working with and what would not work at all.

[265] With the port itself ablaze and wrecked, using its facilities was out of the question.

[266] Tennant knew his main job was to confound the math, namely the ratio of small boats to the number of men waiting on the beach, not to mention the hundreds of thousands who would soon be on the beach.

[267] The light from the fires allowed Tennant to see that, although the piers and quays, or wharfs, were beyond hope, the two long breakwaters, or moles, were untouched.

[268] The moles ran out of the harbor and bent towards each other, but stopped before touching.

[269] The open space allowed a ship to pass through them, but it was the eastern mole that got Tenet's attention.

[270] Constructed of concrete piling, with a service of a wooden walkway, it stuck out 1 ,400 yards out to sea.

[271] If ships could come alongside it, the pace of taking men aboard would increase tremendously.

[272] Of course, the question was, could the mole handle the swift tidal current, or would the post there be able to hold the ships as they tide alongside it?

[273] Finally, there was the 15 -foot tidal drop.

[274] Evacuation during the low or high tide would be dangerous, but from what Tennant saw, it was their only chance.

[275] He decided to test his theory.

[276] So at 10 .30 p .m., Tennant signaled the Wolfhound that was handling communications offshore.

[277] and told them to send a ship to the eastern mole to embark 1 ,000 men.

[278] The queen of the channel was selected.

[279] She had been slowly taking men from the beach, but once she was at the mole, the embarkation speeded up amazingly.

[280] Tennant and his staff breathed a sigh of relief.

[281] By 4 .15 a .m. of the 28th, the queen had taken on 950 men, but dawn was breaking.

[282] It was time to go.

[283] But before the ship could be untied from the mole, A German plane dropped dynamite nearby and broke the ship's back.

[284] The queen of the channel was going down.

[285] Fortunately, a rescue ship, the Dorian Rose, came alongside and transferred all the evacuees.

[286] A much -needed ship was lost, but the mole worked.

[287] The plank surface did not crack, and the tide did not interfere.

[288] Plenty of ships could pull alongside the mole at the same time.

[289] Until the Germans found out, Tennant had his plan.

[290] So at 4 .36 a .m. of the 28th, he relayed a message to Dover to send all vessels to the East Pier.

[291] Tennant and his staff spent the early morning transferring the ships back from the eastern beach beyond Dunkirk to the eastern mole.

[292] Troops were sent to the mole 500 at a time.

[293] Things were looking up for Ramsey.

[294] But the German bomber that took out the Queen also showed Ramsey that not only were more boats needed to speed up this operation, but clearly many, many more destroyers were needed for protection.

[295] He ordered destroyers from far north to proceed to Dover, forthwith.

[296] General Gort found out about the Belgian withdrawal from the war at 11 p .m. on the 27th, as freed up German panzers and troops began pushing on his line.

[297] Suddenly, the Germans, who were being held at Ypres and east of it, were closer and pushing hard on the British eastern line all the way to the coast.

[298] This new offensive was shortening Gort's expectations about how long the British could hold out.

[299] Operation Dynamo might have less time to work than previously thought.

[300] But even before the Belgians ceased fighting that day, their line from Ypres to the coast was falling apart.

[301] which was one of the main reasons why Leopold sought terms from Germany.

[302] Their magnificent army was down to just holding the very eastern part, or left flank, of the Allied territory.

[303] Earlier that day, the British knew that they had to do something about the flank, and soon.

[304] But what to do?

[305] A major move of troops during the day would allow the Luftwaffe to annihilate any convoy.

[306] Whatever was to happen would have to be at night.

[307] Lieutenant General Brooke of the Second Corps had only one division to use for the weakening gap, and that was Major General Bernard Law Montgomery's Third Division.

[308] But the problem was it was located far inland on the end of the Allied left flank.

[309] In other words, if you were standing at Dunkirk with your back to the sea, the Third Division was located in the opposite left corner.

[310] Looking at a map, Brooke realized that Monty's 13 ,000 troops would have to pull out of position, a complicated move on its own, and travel behind the Allied line with their guns blazing in front and the artillery in the back.

[311] They would have to stay in line and head towards the coast, only to then re -employ in proper position between the British units on their right and the Belgians on their left.

[312] But Montgomery, or Monty, as he was known, did not turn a hair when he was told what he would have to do.

[313] He was not liked by many, but respected by most.

[314] He constantly pushed his men, but then praised them when they met his exacting standards.

[315] He was aloof, opinionated, and theatrical, and he inspired his men.

[316] But Monty being Monty, had practiced this very move all winter and had everything worked out.

[317] That afternoon, His machine gunners and armored cars went first to act as an advanced force.

[318] Then the men moved out and his military police spread out to keep the line moving.

[319] Then his 2 ,000 vehicles moved in a line with their lights out.

[320] Each rear axle was painted white and had a small light attached.

[321] So only by being behind a vehicle could you see them.

[322] So as a line, they moved on, traveling behind their own defensive line.

[323] The artillery fire to their left.

[324] created an archway of light.

[325] The Germans were only 4 ,000 yards away and firing into the British line, but Monty's men moved on.

[326] His exacting standards of practice saved the British left flank.

[327] By morning, Monty's 3rd Division was moving into position.

[328] General Brooke and the rest of the British High Command breathed a sigh of relief.

[329] The 3rd was in place and had filled the gap.

[330] To Monty's left, the valiant Belgians were covering the last 13 miles to the sea.

[331] The left Allied flank was secure.

[332] On May 27th, 7 ,669 men were evacuated from Dunkirk.

[333] May 28th.

[334] The destroyer Wakeful radioed Rear Admiral Ramsey at 5 .07 a .m. on the 28th.

[335] Now that the mole was a go, many more seagoing boats and ships were needed.

[336] and the dynamo room did all they could.

[337] Then H .C. Riggs of the Ministry of Shipping had an idea of going directly to the boatyards along the Thames.

[338] Such men as Douglas Tuff of the Tuff Brothers Boatyard proved indispensable to the dynamo staff.

[339] They usually knew every boat in their yard, so boats were quickly inspected and told to move on to a predetermined place if selected.

[340] Sometimes the owners would come back to find their boats missing and report it stolen.

[341] This was cleared up later.

[342] This maneuver was how the small vessel's pool of the ministry contributed to clearing up the bottleneck of the problem of saving Allied troops.

[343] But the dynamo ruin was just getting started.

[344] Soon, shallow draft barges started getting orders from the Admiralty to head to a fueling point.

[345] Lifeboats from ocean liners soon found themselves heading south without their parent ships.

[346] Since most of the crew of a boat would stay behind and be replaced by naval personnel, the range of experience of the new crew of a ship or boat was greatly varied.

[347] Regardless, the order of the day and of the entire operation was improvise.

[348] At 7 .30 a .m. of the 28th, Monty had heard about the Belgian capitulation.

[349] Here was a pretty pickle, Monty later recalled in his memoirs.

[350] Well, nothing to do but to solve it.

[351] Monty put together a motley crew of machine gunners and armored cars.

[352] Monty used every extra man he had to extend his left flank, but there was no way he could cover the 13 miles, now open to the Germans.

[353] Certainly, they were rushing into the new open area near the coast, and the British were dealing with the military dangers until the gap could be filled.

[354] The bridge at Dixmude was blown right before Box Group B advance forces entered the town.

[355] If they had secured the bridge, Dunkirk would not have gone down as a miracle, but as the end of the BEF.

[356] But the problems kept coming.

[357] The Germans were at the town of Newport, on the coast of the eastern edge of the Allied perimeter.

[358] The Germans had the Allies completely surrounded.

[359] The Belgians were adhering to the ceasefire and leaving the battle zone.

[360] Monty had no more men to add to his left.

[361] As the lucky evacuees were loading onto the Queen of the Channel, proving to Tennant that the mole was the way to go, King Leopold III of Belgium was surrendering his armed forces to the Germans.

[362] Thanks to Monty and his men, the gap was 13 miles instead of the 20 miles it should have been when the exhausted Belgians laid down their arms.

[363] But 13 miles was plenty of space for the Germans to pour in, rush to the beach, and stop the British literally mid -evacuation.

[364] Something had to be done.

[365] But Corps Commander Brooke found Brigadier Clifton.

[366] Brooke ordered him to grab whomever he could and fill that gap.

[367] Clifton found transport drivers, clerks, surveyors, and headed for the gap.

[368] Most of the Belgian troops dropped their guns when they heard the war was over for them.

[369] Clifton's men happily added them to their meager armament.

[370] Lining up at the Ferns -Newport Canal and the River Iser, Clifton and his men, who had never worked together before, fought like veterans.

[371] They kept the Germans from taking over or crossing the bridge at Newport for 30 hours.

[372] The Belgians forgot to blow it, and the British sappers were unable to reach the demolition wires.

[373] The Germans sent wave after wave for the bridge, but were beaten back each time during the intense fighting.

[374] Also, troops who wound up on the eastern end of the Allied perimeter were grabbed by Colonel Clifton's odds and sods group.

[375] The eastern defensive line was getting stronger.

[376] As news of the Belgian capitulation spread by word of mouth, for the British, from Churchill on down, and for the French, from Renault on down, all professed to be amazed.

[377] But again, the British and the French, or at least segments of their hierarchy, should have known this was coming.

[378] For example, on May 25th, Leopold telegraphed King George VI that Belgian resistance was coming to an end.

[379] Leopold finished by saying he considered it his duty to remain with his people.

[380] It's believed he genuinely felt he would be able to get the Germans to listen to him and how his people should be dealt with.

[381] On the 26th and 27th, Gort and the British War Office received seven communications saying the end would soon be here for the Belgians unless the Allies could counterattack, and that clearly wasn't going to happen.

[382] In fairness to the Belgians, who had fought the Germans valiantly, they were told nothing of the Allied intentions for embarkation.

[383] It's true the French were kept in the dark for a while, but it's also true when they found out, they did not tell the Belgians either.

[384] Also that morning, Captain Paul Alfon, the deputy of Admiral Darlan, rushed to Darlan's office and informed him of the British plans to evacuate their troops.

[385] Alfon went to Darlan as soon as he left the earlier meeting with the British that morning.

[386] Amazed, Darlan took Alfon straight to Van Gaal's office so he could repeat what he had.

[387] quote, unquote, found out.

[388] It's shocking why any of the ranking French were surprised by this.

[389] On May 26th, in the afternoon, Churchill told Renault that the British planned to evacuate.

[390] At 7 .30 a .m. the morning of the 27th, the French and the British commanders met at Castle, as mentioned earlier, to discuss the layout of the beach and who would do what.

[391] The British made their objective quite clear.

[392] Finally, Major Favel found out on the 23rd, told Blanchard, who then sent him to Paris to tell Vegard.

[393] The Allied commander had known since 9 a .m. of the 25th.

[394] But in defense of the French, this surprise and confusion was probably due to the complete miscommunication among themselves, incredible as it may seem.

[395] If further proof is needed, we now know that by this time, Renault was resigned to the evacuation.

[396] Van Gaunt thought of a large bridgehead and the possibility of retaking Calais, while Blanchard moved beyond Calais and thought only of Dunkirk, whereas the British were united around pulling off this major evacuation.

[397] So the Belgians were out.

[398] Their country would be added to Hitler's growing list of conquered territories.

[399] The Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, and now Belgium.

[400] The shame of World War I was almost erased.

[401] Once the war on the North was settled, it would be time for France proper.

[402] Belgium had been losing the struggle, just like the British and French forces.

[403] But what made Belgium's capitulation a burden to the French and British, and the Belgian people would resent for a long time afterwards, was that Leopold did it against the advice that he was constitutionally required to obey of his cabinet.

[404] An interesting side note to the Leopold story.

[405] After the war, Leopold went to Switzerland.

[406] It was not called back to his country until July of 1950, after a vote of 57 % said he could return in a referendum.

[407] But the reaction was so violent to his return that he abdicated, and his son soon sat on the throne.

[408] Later that morning, Premier Renaud issued a violent broadcast denouncing the king.

[409] also gave a radio address.

[410] He said the king acted against the advice of government and broke links with the people.

[411] The Belgian government in exile would continue to fight.

[412] The prime minister finished by saying, making peace can be forgiven, but on consulting allies before is where the charge sticks.

[413] At 11 a .m., Blanchard met the commander of the BEF at Gort's headquarters.

[414] Gort told him, per Eden, His goal was to evacuate the maximum number of Allied troops to fight another day.

[415] Blanchard was shocked to find out this was why they had been pulling back to the sea.

[416] For Gort, the reason should have been obvious.

[417] But Blanchard said that he would stick to Vegard's plan of making a beachhead at Dunkirk.

[418] Gort tried to change his mind, but Blanchard countered with his men were too tired to retreat.

[419] General Priot, Blanchard's second command, felt the same way about leaving France.

[420] All this talk of honorable death and fighting to the end might make the ranking officer's heart beat with pride, but for the Polo, or the men in the field, it was insanity.

[421] Later that day, General Priot let the 3rd Corps go to the beach, but he could have saved more lives had he let them go earlier that day.

[422] The remainder of the French 1st Army's actions allowed the French units, as well as the BEF, to escape.

[423] Blanchard and the French were mad at the British.

[424] but at least they had a plan.

[425] What were the French going to do?

[426] After a little soul -searching, Blanchard decided to save as much of the French First Army as he could.

[427] He sent two infantry divisions and the remainder of the Cavalry Corps to the coast for embarkation.

[428] This left five divisions of the French First Army, which was nearly surrounded at Lille.

[429] They would stay, fight, and delay the Germans.

[430] But then Blanchard received orders to head to the coast.

[431] His next in command, General Priot would stay with the first, and the first would do their duty.

[432] They held out until late on May 31st.

[433] They had fought six German divisions and weren't about to give up.

[434] But for all that, Blanchard told Gort the first would try to make it to the beach, in their own time.

[435] But their fierce resistance saved many Allied lives.

[436] By 6 p .m. of the 28th, Gort and his three corps commanders were inside the perimeter.

[437] The western end of the Allied perimeter fought fiercely as well that day.

[438] The British 144th Brigade stopped Guderian's troops at Wormhout all day on the 27th and most of the 28th.

[439] Literally every man was used, but unfortunately, some of the men were cut off, surrounded, and taken prisoner.

[440] But again, unfortunately, some of the victorious German units were of the SS.

[441] About 80 British prisoners were herded into a barn outside a village.

[442] Once there, they were fired on and hit with grenades for 15 minutes.

[443] Somehow, 15 men survived to tell their story.

[444] They were literally saved by the massive bodies on top of them.

[445] Eight miles to the south of this fighting, on the western edge of the Allied territory, the town of Cassell was surrounded, but the men inside held, causing the Germans to focus on it with men that could have been used to help storm the beaches.

[446] At 10 p .m., Blachard officially asked Végin for permission to save as many of his men as he could.

[447] Végin said yes the next day.

[448] Végin, who knew this was coming for three days, could have saved more of his men by making sure they at least tried to head for the coast much earlier.

[449] At 5 p .m. that day of the 28th, Captain Tennant had things under relative control at the Eastern Mall and at Malo -les -Baines.

[450] But now, it seemed the situation at Bray Doon was getting out of hand, and the rate of men getting to safety was slowing down to the point of it being a waste of time.

[451] Tennant sent two officers to handle it.

[452] Supposedly, there were 5 ,000 men there with little organization.

[453] And because this operation was dealing with vast numbers, organization was essential to success.

[454] The two officers, Richardson and Kerr, drove there.

[455] It was only seven miles away.

[456] But having to drive through the debris and craters, it took them an hour.

[457] They got there at 9 p .m. and walked to the beach.

[458] But to Richardson, the breakwater looked odd and was moving.

[459] As they got closer, they realized the breakwater was a line of men floating in the channel, arms linked.

[460] And the number was closer to 25 ,000 men.

[461] Richardson sent a message to Dover via a destroyer and received the reply, Make do.

[462] 17 ,804 men were evacuated from Dunkirk.

[463] Welcome to True Spies.

[464] The podcast that takes you deep inside the greatest secret missions of all time.

[465] Suddenly out of the dark it's appeared in Laban.

[466] You'll meet the people who live life undercover.

[467] What do they know?

[468] What are their skills?

[469] And what would you do in their position?

[470] Vengeance felt good.

[471] Seeing these people pay for what they'd done felt righteous.

[472] True Spies from Spyscape Studios.

[473] Wherever you get your podcasts.