Operation Aerial
Operation Aerial | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Battle of France | |||||||
Ports used during the evacuation of Allied forces | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Germany | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Alan Brooke |
Gerd von Rundstedt Helmuth Förster |
Operation Aerial was the evacuation of
On 17 June, the Luftwaffe evaded RAF fighter patrols and attacked evacuation ships in the Loire estuary, sinking the Cunard liner and troopship HMT Lancastria which was carrying thousands of troops, RAF personnel and civilians. The ship sank quickly but nearby vessels went to the rescue and saved about 2,477 passengers and crew while under air attack. The death toll is unknown because the passenger count broke down in the haste to embark as many people as possible. Estimates of at least 3,500 dead make the sinking the greatest loss of life in a British ship. The British government tried to keep the sinking of Lancastria secret on the orders of the Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Some equipment was embarked on the evacuation ships but alarmist reports about the progress of the
Background
The evacuation of the
RAF
After Dunkirk, the AASF squadrons in France had been moved to the area between
After Marshal
Operations Dynamo and Cycle
Operation Dynamo, the evacuation at Dunkirk from 26 May to 3 June, had rescued much of the fighting element of the BEF. Some combat units from the 1st Armoured Division, the Beauman Division and more than 150,000 support and line-of-communication troops, had been cut off in the south by the German dash to the sea.[5] By the end of May, medical stores had been removed from Dieppe and a demolition party landed, ready to blow up the port infrastructure. A big depot at Le Havre had been run down by feeding troops in the area from it and removing military stores not immediately needed. A reserve of motor transport collected at Rouen had been used as transport for improvised units and specialised ammunition had been moved from the reserve around Buchy but the removal of the huge quantity of ordinary ammunition there was impossible.[6]
On 9 June, the French commander at Le Havre contacted the 10th Army and the
Fortune detached a force to guard Le Havre comprising the 154th Infantry Brigade, A Brigade of the Beauman Division, two artillery regiments and engineers. Arkforce (Brigadier Stanley-Clarke), moved on the night of 9/10 June towards Fécamp, where most had passed through before the 7th Panzer Division arrived. A Brigade forced its way out but lost the wireless truck intended to keep contact with the 51st (Highland) Division. The possibility of holding a line from Fécamp to Lillebonne was discounted and Stanley-Clarke ordered Arkforce on to Le Havre.[7] A Royal Navy demolition party had been in Le Havre since late May; the port was severely bombed by the Luftwaffe on 7 June; two days later, the Admiralty sent orders for an evacuation. James sent a flotilla leader, HMS Codrington, across the Channel, accompanied by six British and two Canadian destroyers, smaller craft and many Dutch schuyts.[8]
A hasty plan was made to block Dieppe harbour and on 10 June,
St Valery-en-Caux
On 10 June British destroyers reconnoitred the smaller ports to the east of Le Havre.
Prelude
2nd BEF
On 2 June, Brooke visited the
On 13 June, the RAF made a maximum effort to help the French armies that had been broken through on the Marne. The Germans were across the Seine in the west and the French armies near Paris fell back, isolating the Tenth Army on the Channel coast. The German advance threatened the airfields of the AASF, which was ordered to retreat towards Nantes or Bordeaux, while supporting the French armies for as long as they kept fighting. The AASF flew armed reconnaissance sorties over the Seine from dawn and German columns were attacked by a force of 10
Next day, attacks resumed against German units south of the Seine but the weather had worsened and fewer sorties were flown. A raid by 24 Blenheims with fighter escort was made on Merville airfield for a loss of 7 aircraft; ten Fighter Command squadrons patrolled twice in squadron strength or provided bomber escorts, the biggest effort since Dunkirk, as fighters of the AASF patrolled south of the Seine. During the night, 72 bombers attacked German marshalling yards and forests, and dropped mines in the Rhine river for a loss of two aircraft. The remnants of the 1st Armoured Division and two brigades of the Beauman Division were south of the river, along with thousands of lines-of-communication troops; but only the 157th Infantry Brigade of the 52nd (Lowland) Division, which had commenced disembarkation on 7 June, engaged in military operations. The brigade occupied successive defensive positions under command of the Tenth Army. The French armies were forced into divergent retreats with no obvious front line; on 12 June, Weygand had recommended that the French government seek an armistice, which led to the abortive plan to create a defensive zone in Brittany.[5]
On 14 June, Brooke was able to prevent the rest of the 52nd (Lowland) Division being sent to join the 157th Infantry Brigade Group. During the night Brooke was informed that he was no longer under French command and must prepare to withdraw the British forces from France. Marshall-Cornwall was ordered to take command of all British forces under the Tenth Army as Norman Force and while continuing to co-operate, withdraw towards Cherbourg. The rest of the 52nd (Lowland) Division was ordered back to a defence line near Cherbourg to cover the evacuation on 15 June. The AASF was also directed to send the last bomber squadrons back to Britain and use the fighter squadrons to cover the evacuations. The German advance over the Seine had paused while bridges were built but the advance began again during the day, with the 157th Infantry Brigade Group engaged east of Conches-en-Ouche with the Tenth Army. The army was ordered to retreat to a line from Verneuil to Argentan and the Dives river, where the British took over an 8 miles (13 km) front either side of the Mortagne-au-Perche–Verneuil-sur-Avre road. German forces followed up quickly and on 16 June, the Tenth Army commander, General Robert Altmayer, ordered the army to retreat into the Brittany peninsula.[15]
Breton redoubt
On 29 May the
German forces crossed the Seine on 9 June, cutting off the 51st (Highland) Division north of the river, two days after 52nd (Lowland) Division had begun to land and the assembly point of the division was changed to Rennes in Brittany; the 157th Infantry Brigade, which had arrived first, was directed to Beaumont near Le Mans; the rest of the division to follow on. The 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division began its arrival at Brest on 11 June and was sent to Sablé-sur-Sarthe, on the assumption that two fresh divisions would be enough to allow the Tenth Army to retreat through them and take up positions prepared around the Brest peninsula. That day, the Anglo-French Supreme War Council met at Briare and General Charles de Gaulle (minister of war) was sent to Rennes to survey progress on the redoubt; on 12 June, de Gaulle reported that Quimper would be a favourable place for the government to retreat to, since it would be easy to take ship to England or Africa; the prospect of maintaining a redoubt in Brittany was non-existent.[17]
Altmayer had reported that work had begun on defences, civilian labour had been recruited and 3,000 Polish troops had arrived to begin work, despite a lack of civil engineering machinery. Churchill visited France for the last time on 13 June, met Reynaud and approved the project. Brooke had visited the 1st Canadian Division in England to give the gist of the plan and met Weygand and Georges at Briare on 14 June, where all agreed that the plan was futile but the will of the civilian leadership had to be respected and the generals signed a joint agreement. Brooke telephoned Dill in London to find that no agreement had been made with the French and after checking called with the news that "Mr. Churchill knew nothing about the Brittany project". Churchill was of the view that the new corps forming in France should stay, at least until the final French collapse, then return through the nearest port. Without the support of the 52nd (Lowland) Division on the left flank, the Tenth Army was cut off from Brittany when two German divisions reached the peninsula first and forced the French line of retreat south to the Loire. French troops already in the area were able to join the main French force after the Canadians had departed for England.[18]
Evacuations
Cherbourg and Saint-Malo
Initially headquarters in England were reluctant to accept that evacuation was necessary, and on 15 June
The rearguard battalion was evacuated in the afternoon of 18 June. A total of 30,630 men were rescued from Cherbourg and taken to Portsmouth. At Saint-Malo, 21,474 men, mostly of the 1st Canadian Division, were evacuated from 17 to 18 June; all but 789 passengers being British; no-one was killed and no ship was damaged.[2] The Luftwaffe tried to intervene but was thwarted by the RAF; the 1st Canadian Division suffered only six losses during its brief excursion to the Continent; five men were reported missing and one man was killed; four of the missing were interned and then made it back to England.[20]
Brest
The evacuation from the southern ports on the Bay of Biscay was commanded by Admiral Sir
St Nazaire and Nantes
Saint-Nazaire in Brittany is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department and Nantes is the capital of the Pays de la Loire region, in the same département and is the largest city in Brittany. Operations at St Nazaire, at the mouth of the Loire, where there were strong tides and other hazards to navigation and Nantes 50 miles (80 km) upriver, took place concurrently. Vague and contradictory information led the navy to believe that 40,000–60,000 men were en route to Nantes but not when they would arrive. To lift so many men, Dunbar-Nasmith assembled the destroyers HMS Havelock, HMS Wolverine and HMS Beagle and the liners Georgic, Duchess of York, Franconia, RMS Lancastria, the Polish ships Batory and Sobieski and several commercial cargo ships.[22]
The ships had to anchor in Quiberon Bay, 20 miles (32 km) north-west of the Loire estuary, despite having no anti-submarine defences. The evacuation began on 16 June, with 16,000 troops leaving for home on Georgic, Duchess of York and the two Polish ships. German bombers attacked the bay but were only able to damage Franconia. Loading of equipment continued overnight and more ships from England and Brest arrived, along with two more destroyers, HMS Highlander and HMS Vanoc. The large troopships would have been exceedingly vulnerable, had German bombers been able to make daylight attacks. British fighter cover restricted the Luftwaffe to mine-laying, which only delayed movement until channels were swept.[22] The RAF fighters each flew up to six sorties per day and the final patrol over Nantes was flown by 73 Squadron, then the last airworthy Hawker Hurricane flew to RAF Tangmere.[4]
The last 4,000 British troops left for Plymouth at 11:00 a.m. on 18 June in two convoys comprising 12 small merchant ships; much equipment was abandoned after alarmist reports led to the convoys sailing in haste.[23] In the afternoon, Dunbar-Nasmith heard that 8,000 Polish troops were approaching the port and sent six destroyers and seven troop transports to St Nazaire, which arrived on 19 June but only 2,000 men appeared; no German forces were in hot pursuit.[24] Unserviceable Hurricanes were burned by their ground crews, a staff car was given to a friendly local café proprietor and an airman tried to sell off an Austin 7. The rear parties then departed in transport aircraft, a few hours before German tanks arrived.[25] (On the journey home during the night of 17/18 June, Floristan, a merchantman with 2,000 men on board, of the 27,000 troops and civilians in its convoy, was attacked by a Ju 88 but being under way, dodged the bombs as soldiers fired back with Bren guns and riddled the cockpit. The bomber carried away the mast tops and aerial, then crashed into the sea to the cheers of the rest of the convoy.)[26]
Lancastria
On 17 June, there were still about 67,000 troops waiting ashore, many at St Nazaire; ferrying men to the big ships offshore resumed early in the morning, soon joined by lighters, tenders and destroyers. The men being transported were reinforcements and lines-of-communication troops, tradesmen, labourers, mechanics and engineers of the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), pioneers and tradesmen in RAF maintenance units from Nantes aerodrome. Several merchantmen and railway ferries from the Dover–Calais route were among the armada off St Nazaire but the largest ship was the 16,243 GRT Lancastria of the Cunard Line. Lancastria was normally permitted to carry 1,700 passengers and 375 crew but in the emergency Captain R. Sharp was ordered to take as many troops as could be crammed on board. Among the military personnel were about 40 civilians, including embassy staff, men from Avions Fairey in Belgium and their families.[27]
As the boarding progressed, a soldier heard Sharp and his chief officer, H. Grattidge, say that 6,700 people were on the ship, as a lighter came alongside and Sharp decide that it would be the last to deliver passengers. Sharp and Grattidge kept watch on the sky as aircraft fought above the Loire estuary and German bombers tried to hit Oronsay about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) distant; at 1:50 p.m., Oronsay was bombed and part of the bridge destroyed. Sharp was advised by the captain of Havelock to leave at once but for fear of U-boats, Sharp wanted a destroyer escort. No destroyer was forthcoming and Sharp decided to leave with Oronsay; Lancastria stayed at anchor rather than being made a moving target. At 3:45 p.m. more German bombers appeared, while the RAF Hurricanes were at the far end of their 30 miles (48 km) patrol line and a bomber hit Lancastria with three or four bombs. The ship tilted to starboard, the bridge crew shouted for everyone to go to the port side and Lancastria came level again, then keeled over to port.[28]
Grattidge called out "Your attention please. Clear away boats"; there were far too few for the number of people crammed aboard and some boats had been smashed in the bombing. After the remaining lifeboats had been launched, some sinking in the process after falling into the sea or being swamped, the order "every man for himself" was given. Some men in life jackets, jumped overboard from the starboard side and broke their necks, others walked down the side of the hull, where they could see the men trapped inside through portholes and stepped into the water as the ship settled. Once in the water, they were
La Pallice
La Pallice, the grand port maritime de La Rochelle is the commercial, deep water port of La Rochelle. A senior British naval officer arrived by destroyer on 16 June and the evacuation began the next day. The naval officer found 10,000 men and no transports so requisitioned ships in the port, embarked the troops less their transport and departed on 18 June. Ships included the British flagged MV Thistleglen (Captain G. F. Dobson) which embarked 2,500 men and a contingent of British nurses.[33][c] Dunbar-Nasmith sent ships twice more, which picked up 4,000 Polish troops on 19 June. Few men were found on 20 June and surplus ships were sent south to the Gironde ports. Most of the British troops in France had gone but more Polish and Czech troops, embassy and consular staffs, British and other civilians remained.[34]
Other Atlantic ports
Bordeaux and Le Verdon-sur-Mer are ports on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in Aquitaine. Bayonne at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers and St Jean-de-Luz are ports and communes in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département, all four ports being on the south-west coast of France. HMS Arethusa was stationed off Bordeaux on 16 June as a wireless link and on 17 June, British and some Allied ships were cleared for England and the embarkation of Polish and Czech troops and civilians began. A Hunt-class destroyer HMS Berkeley (Lieutenant-Commander H. G. Walters) had been made available to Reynaud and the French government, also as a venue for discussions with Churchill and on 19 June, the ship evacuated the remaining British Consular staff from Bordeaux. British diplomatic staff, the President of Poland and his cabinet were given preferential treatment.[35]
Berkeley was replaced by the cruiser
Aftermath
Analysis
Nationality | Total |
---|---|
British | 144,171 |
Polish | 24,352 |
French | 18,246 |
Czech | 4,938 |
Belgian | 163 |
Total | 191,870 |
Civilians | 30–40,000 |
In 1953,
In 1979, Karslake described the Breton Redoubt affair and concluded that all of the people involved knew of the scheme and all had agreed, albeit with little faith in its success, for it to go ahead.[42] Karslake also reviewed the figures given in the official history of equipment recovered during Operation Aerial. Ellis had included equipment loaded onto ships in England but not landed in France in his figures for material recovered during the operation. Ellis recorded the recovery of 322 guns, 17 of the 51st (Highland) Division from Le Havre, 120 of the 52nd (Lowland) Division from Cherbourg, 24 of the 1st Canadian Division from Brest and 32 guns of the Beauman Division from Cherbourg, 194 guns in all, with 128 more not accounted for. Karslake wrote that some guns may have been on ships sent from England but not unloaded and could not have belonged to the two BEF anti-aircraft brigades south of the Somme; the anti-aircraft brigade protecting the lines-of-communication units and the AASF airfield defence brigade had only 170 guns between them. The 53rd Heavy AA Regiment reached Marseilles with its two heavy and one light batteries but could only load the light anti-aircraft guns, due to a lack of cranes and no jumbo derrick on the evacuation ship; the remaining thirteen 3-inch anti-aircraft guns having to be destroyed and left behind.[43][f]
Of the 4,739 vehicles brought back to Britain, most belonged to the 52nd and 1st Canadian divisions and had not been unloaded; the rest had been embarked before "panic orders" had been issued to the ports. Of the 32,303 long tons (32,821 t) of ammunition recovered, Karslake had been given a priority list of small-arms ammunition, 25-pounder shells and the chemical warfare equipment dumped at Fécamp. Much of the chemical warfare material had been removed by early June and most of the rest of the ammunition brought back from France could be accounted for by a shipload not unloaded at Cherbourg on 15 June and another laden ship at St Nazaire. Of the 33,060 long tons (33,590 t) of other stores saved, only material returned to Britain during May had been unloaded from ships and the 1,071 long tons (1,088 t) of petrol was on a part-loaded ship which left St Nazaire on 16 June. On 4 June, Karslake had asked the CIGS to stop sending supplies but this request was ignored and troops saw more supplies being unloaded as they loaded ships for the evacuation. The 6th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment stacked petrol tins in the Fôret de Savernay from 26 May – 15 June and then set fire to it on 16 June.[45]
As the RAF presence in France was reduced, its aviation fuel requirements fell and by 5 June most RAF aircraft had returned to England, yet deliveries continued. British armoured units were also less demanding of fuel as the number of vehicles dwindled until the main users were the transport echelons of the front-line units and the lines-of-communication troops, which could be supplied by the fuel delivered up to the end of May. Karslake wrote that the small number of armoured vehicles removed from France was a mystery and that a train with the last tanks of the 2nd Armoured Brigade and some of those of the 3rd Armoured Brigade, departed from Le Mans for St Malo and disappeared. It was rumoured that the train had been sidelined by the French and the engine removed for another train but no effort was made by the road parties outside Brest to find their vehicles. No party accompanied the vehicles and no aircraft reconnaissance was sought, even though the Germans were a long way from Brittany.[46]
Karslake wrote that in 1939, General Edmund Ironside, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), had warned Gort and Dill the Vice-CIGS before the BEF sailed for France, to prepare defence plans for rear areas, quickly to be implemented at communication centres and geographical bottlenecks, for which even the most non-combatant troops must be trained and equipped, but during the Phoney War nothing was done. It was fortunate that Brigadier Archibald Beauman, who had been "dug-out" of retirement, was on hand to organise the lines-of-communication troops south of the Somme, as far as anything could be achieved in the emergency. Karslake (jnr) wrote that had General Karslake been furnished with a staff and the power of command over all British troops, rather than this being vested in the cumbersome and disorganised French command system, the disadvantages under which the lines-of-communication troops were burdened could have been alleviated. When Brooke arrived on 12 June to command the British troops in France, he had no faith in military operations, left his staff at St Malo and concentrated on ending the British presence in France as quickly as possible.[47]
Casualties
From May to June, including the period of Operation Aerial, the Luftwaffe lost 1,284 aircraft and the RAF lost 1,526 men killed, wounded, died of wounds or injury, injured, lost at sea or taken prisoner and 959 aircraft, including 477 fighters, shot down, destroyed on the ground or written off. The AASF lost 229 aircraft, the Air Component 279, Fighter Command 219, Bomber Command 166 and Coastal Command 66 aircraft.[48] In the course of the operations from 5 to 18 June, the AASF lost 13 more Battles, two Blenheims and 15 Hurricanes; Fighter Command lost a Spitfire, 26 Hurricanes and three Blenheims.[49] During the Battle of France, the British army suffered 68,111 casualties, killed, died of wounds, wounded, missing or taken prisoner and 599 men died of injury or illness; navy casualties could not be separated from operations elsewhere in the world.[50] German casualties in the battle (only a few of the Luftwaffe losses occurring during Operation Aerial), were 27,074 killed, 111,034 wounded and 18,384 men missing.[51]
See also
Notes
- ^ Brother of Robert, the Tenth Army commander.[16]
- ^ Thistleglen was sunk in the battle of the Atlantic during convoy SC42.[33]
- ^ Brodhurst did not write that this was for Aerial or for all evacuations from France but the number is the same as that given by the official historian for the total of British troops evacuated from France.[40]
- ^ The material cost of the campaign was 2,472 guns destroyed or left behind, 63,879 vehicles, 20,548 motor cycles, 76,697 long tons (77,928 t) of ammunition, 415,940 long tons (422,610 t) of supplies and equipment and 164,929 long tons (167,576 t) of petrol were also destroyed or left behind.[41]
- ^ Karslake disclosed that he was the son of Lieutenant-General Henry Karslake, the commander of the British lines-of-communication troops in 1940 and that he had typed his father's report to the War Office soon after Operation Aerial.[44]
Footnotes
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 263–265.
- ^ a b c Ellis 2004, p. 302.
- ^ a b Richards 1974, pp. 147–148.
- ^ a b Richards 1974, pp. 147–149.
- ^ a b Ellis 2004, p. 296.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 264.
- ^ a b Karslake 1979, pp. 180–181.
- ^ a b Roskill 1957, pp. 231, 230.
- ^ Karslake 1979, pp. 181–182.
- ^ Karslake 1979, p. 182; Roskill 1957, pp. 230–231.
- ^ Roskill 1957, pp. 230–232.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 286–293.
- ^ Alanbrooke 2002, pp. 74–75.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 295.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 300–302.
- ^ a b Karslake 1979, p. 264.
- ^ Karslake 1979, p. 265.
- ^ Karslake 1979, pp. 265–267.
- ^ Alanbrooke 2002, pp. 82, 83.
- ^ Stacey 1956, p. 284.
- ^ Roskill 1957, pp. 232–234.
- ^ a b c Ellis 2004, pp. 302–303.
- ^ Ellis 2004, p. 304.
- ^ Brodhurst 2001, pp. 136–137.
- ^ Richards 1974, p. 149.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2006, p. 496.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2006, pp. 486–487.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2006, pp. 488–491.
- ^ Sebag-Montefiore 2006, pp. 491–495.
- ^ Fenby 2005, p. 247.
- ^ HDM 1940.
- ^ Worsfold 2022, p. 272.
- ^ a b Milner 1985, p. 71.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 304–305.
- ^ a b c d Ellis 2004, p. 305.
- ^ English 1993, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Warner 2002, p. 222.
- ^ Roskill 1957, p. 238.
- ^ Roskill 1998, p. 80.
- ^ a b c Brodhurst 2001, p. 137.
- ^ a b Ellis 2004, p. 327.
- ^ Karslake 1979, pp. 264–267.
- ^ Karslake 1979, pp. 236–238.
- ^ Karslake 1979, p. xi.
- ^ Karslake 1979, pp. 238–239.
- ^ Karslake 1979, pp. 239–240.
- ^ Karslake 1979, pp. 240–241.
- ^ Richards 1974, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Terraine 1998, p. 161.
- ^ Ellis 2004, pp. 325–326.
- ^ Horne 1982, p. 649.
References
- ISBN 978-1-84212-526-7.
- ISBN 978-0-85052-811-4.
- Brodhurst, R. "The Royal Navy's Role in the Campaign". In Bond & Taylor (2001).
- ISBN 978-1-84574-056-6. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- English, John (1993). Amazon to Ivanhoe: British Standard Destroyers of the 1930s. Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN 978-0-905617-64-0.
- Fenby, Jonathan (2005). The Sinking of the Lancastria: Britain's Greatest Maritime Disaster and Churchill's Cover-up. London, England: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-5930-9.
- ISBN 978-0-14-005042-4.
- Karslake, B. (1979). 1940: The Last Act: The Story of the British Forces in France After Dunkirk. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 978-0-85052-240-2.
- "Lancastria Sunk Says U.S.". OCLC 787793762 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- Milner, Marc (1985). North Atlantic Run. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-450-9.
- Richards, Denis (1974) [1953]. Royal Air Force 1939–1945: The Fight at Odds. Vol. I (pbk. ed.). London: ISBN 978-0-11-771592-9. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- OCLC 881709135.
- Roskill, S. W. (1998) [1960]. The Navy at War 1939–1945 (Wordsworth, London ed.). Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 978-1-85326-697-3.
- Sebag-Montefiore, H. (2006). Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-102437-0.
- Stacey, C. P. (1956) [1955]. Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific (PDF). Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Vol. I (2nd rev. online scan ed.). Ottawa: Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery. OCLC 606401122. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
- ISBN 978-1-85326-683-6.
- Warner, P. (2002) [1990]. The Battle of France, 1940: 10 May – 22 June (repr. Cassell Military Paperbacks ed.). London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-304-35644-7.
- Worsfold, David (2022). Operation Aerial: Churchill's Second Miracle of Deliverance. Devizes: Sabrestorm Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78122-022-1.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-08-037700-1.
- Cooper, M. (1978). The German Army 1933–1945, its Political and Military Failure. Briarcliff Manor, NY: Stein and Day. ISBN 978-0-8128-2468-1.
- Corum, James (1997). The Luftwaffe: Creating the Operational Air War, 1918–1940. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0836-2– via Archive Foundation.
- Fantom, Paul (2021). A Forgotten Campaign: The British Armed Forces in France, 1940 - From Dunkirk to the Armistice. Warwick: Helion. ISBN 978-1-914059-01-8.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-294-2.
- ISBN 978-0-306-81101-2.
- Harman, Nicholas (1980). Dunkirk; The Necessary Myth. London: Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-24299-5– via Archive Foundation.
- Hastings, Max (2009). Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940–45. Harper Press. ISBN 978-0-00-726368-4.
- Marix Evans, Martin (2000). The Fall of France: Act with Daring. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-85532-969-0.
- Martin, R. V. (2018). Ebb and Flow: Evacuations and Landings by Merchant Ships in World War Two (2nd ed.). via Amazon: CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1-984082-92-3.
- Whelan, P. (2018). Useless Mouths: The British Army's Battles in France after Dunkirk. Warwick: Helion. ISBN 978-1-912390-90-8.
- Winser, John de D. (1999). B.E.F. Ships before, at and after Dunkirk. Gravesend: World Ship Society. ISBN 978-0-905617-91-6.
External links
- Operation Aerial – Admiralty War Diary
- "Second BEF Home Again" – Pathé News reel
- Allied Warships of WWII, Destroyer HMCS Fraser at uboat.net (22 October 1940)