Chapter 13

Operation Dynamo, The Dunkirk Evacuation

This is a special job for the Luftwaffe.

Reichmarshall Hermann Göring, 23 May 1940

As the final resistance in Calais was ending, the Admiralty, at 1857 hrs on Sunday 26 May, gave the order to Vice Admiral Ramsay to commence the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk, known as Operation Dynamo. Map 6 shows the Dunkirk area, and the evacuation routes followed by Ramsay’s ships, as described below.

Originally, Ramsay had planned to use two evacuation routes. The shorter, Route Z, was some 39 sea miles long, from Dunkirk along the coast to Calais and then across to Dover. Almost immediately, however, German control of that part of the coast made this route vulnerable to coastal artillery fire and dangerous to use in daylight. Consequently, there was a concentration on the second route, Route Y, which at 87 sea miles was over twice as long, northeast from Dunkirk, round the Kwinte Buoy, and then west, in order to pass north of the Goodwin Sands, and then south to Dover. (On 30 May, Ramsay introduced a third route, Route X, which required the sweeping of a French minefield, but which was only 55 sea miles long). Obviously, the loss of the quickest route increased transit times and therefore reduced lifting capacity, although Ramsay did receive reinforcements in the form of the anti-aircraft cruiser Calcutta and the destroyers Mackay, Montrose, Wakeful, Worcester and Impulsive.