Post by Administrator on May 26, 2020 8:05:49 GMT
Today is the 80th anniversary of Dunkirk
A different perspective
Everyone knows about the evacuation of Dunkirk and the brave fleet of little ships who saved the 338,000 men from the beaches of Normandy and everyone should remember it. The arrival of the men back to Britain is usually the end of the story, but here’s an aspect of that important part of our history that very few know about or remember.
As Operation Dynamo was planned the women of the Women’s Voluntary Service were called on to what turned out to be their ultimate test of endurance and selfless devotion to duty.
While the little ships sailed away from the docks the women of the WVS set up canteens at all the main ports along the coast and major rail junctions across the country. This was not a simple story of serving a few cups of tea, this was an operation on a grand scale. It was not just the WVS members local to the ports, members were transported from far and wide to help. Stocks of food were depleted at the ports as thousands of refugees had already been fed there so WVS centre organisers arranged for the transport of tea, coffee and food to be sent to the docks.
When the first of the little ships returned the exhausted and traumatised men were taken to cinemas, churches and halls of every type. The women took over and often as the men fell exhausted they would remove their equipment, shoes and socks, wash their feet, wash and mend their uniforms while they slept. They provided them with food, tea and coffee, cigarettes and postcards to write for their loved ones. One lady in Kent was commended for arranging for 10,000 postcards to be sent on behalf of the returning men. After a brief but necessary rest the men would be placed on the trains which would transport them all across the country to their homes or barracks. As soon as one batch had left another arrived, it was relentless and a short way across the Channel they could hear the bombs falling on the thousands left behind and see plumes of smoke from the French coast.
Just one team of six or seven women were allowed into the actual docks to help the crews of the little ships and the men too badly injured to be transported right away. For days they worked brining hot drinks, food and giving comfort to the injured. Headquarters pleaded with the powers that be to allow extra helpers to go into the docks but because of security and danger their requests were denied. Finally it was considered too dangerous to continue as the raids moved closer to the mainland and they were moved back.
It was not just the rescued men who were helped, the WVS opened a hostel for relatives of the seriously injured men. A property was leant and all equipment donated and run by the volunteers of the WVS.
As it was not just the British men who had been evacuated, but French and Belgians there was a need for translators and again the WVS stepped up with teams of French speakers to help.
I mentioned that the ladies of the WVS had set up canteens at major rail junctions, well this was to serve the numerous trains transporting the troops to their homes or barracks. Here tea and sandwiches were passed to the men in the trains as they stopped briefly at the junctions. This did not go unnoticed, Major-General Montgomery commended the ladies of the WVS at Frome for feeding 15,000 men every 24 hours for a week.
Assistance was also given to Montgomery when his 3 rd Division arriving back from Dunkirk was scattered over several towns and villages with no transport for the staff to keep in touch. Within an hour 15 cars and drivers had been set up with a rota in place to transport the staff wherever they needed to go for a fortnight until their own transport was in place.
So you see the story did not end with the arrival of our troops back on British soil, so when you next see a multi-million pound blockbuster all about Dunkirk please give a thought to the women who exhaustively and selflessly worked in the background who will not be forgotten.
VIA: Karen Wiles - Home Front History
"A miracle" - is the best description of what happened at Dunkirk in May and June 1940.
Hundreds of thousands of troops were rescued from the German advance in the nick of time.
The troops were desperately needed back on the home shores to help defend against a Nazi invasion. They were rescued from the harbour and beaches near to Dunkirk by a curious assembly of many different types of craft. Many of the little ships, such as motor yachts, fishing boats and all manner of other such craft, were privately owned.
At the time the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said it was "a miracle of deliverance".
The Little ships of Dunkirk
Early in the Second World War, in late May 1940, the Allied forces of British, French and Belgian troops were trapped by the invading German army on the coast in the area around Dunkirk. The desperate rescue that followed – controlled from Dover Castle – saved the Allied cause in Europe from total collapse, and was the biggest evacuation in military history.
LINK
A different perspective
Everyone knows about the evacuation of Dunkirk and the brave fleet of little ships who saved the 338,000 men from the beaches of Normandy and everyone should remember it. The arrival of the men back to Britain is usually the end of the story, but here’s an aspect of that important part of our history that very few know about or remember.
As Operation Dynamo was planned the women of the Women’s Voluntary Service were called on to what turned out to be their ultimate test of endurance and selfless devotion to duty.
While the little ships sailed away from the docks the women of the WVS set up canteens at all the main ports along the coast and major rail junctions across the country. This was not a simple story of serving a few cups of tea, this was an operation on a grand scale. It was not just the WVS members local to the ports, members were transported from far and wide to help. Stocks of food were depleted at the ports as thousands of refugees had already been fed there so WVS centre organisers arranged for the transport of tea, coffee and food to be sent to the docks.
When the first of the little ships returned the exhausted and traumatised men were taken to cinemas, churches and halls of every type. The women took over and often as the men fell exhausted they would remove their equipment, shoes and socks, wash their feet, wash and mend their uniforms while they slept. They provided them with food, tea and coffee, cigarettes and postcards to write for their loved ones. One lady in Kent was commended for arranging for 10,000 postcards to be sent on behalf of the returning men. After a brief but necessary rest the men would be placed on the trains which would transport them all across the country to their homes or barracks. As soon as one batch had left another arrived, it was relentless and a short way across the Channel they could hear the bombs falling on the thousands left behind and see plumes of smoke from the French coast.
Just one team of six or seven women were allowed into the actual docks to help the crews of the little ships and the men too badly injured to be transported right away. For days they worked brining hot drinks, food and giving comfort to the injured. Headquarters pleaded with the powers that be to allow extra helpers to go into the docks but because of security and danger their requests were denied. Finally it was considered too dangerous to continue as the raids moved closer to the mainland and they were moved back.
It was not just the rescued men who were helped, the WVS opened a hostel for relatives of the seriously injured men. A property was leant and all equipment donated and run by the volunteers of the WVS.
As it was not just the British men who had been evacuated, but French and Belgians there was a need for translators and again the WVS stepped up with teams of French speakers to help.
I mentioned that the ladies of the WVS had set up canteens at major rail junctions, well this was to serve the numerous trains transporting the troops to their homes or barracks. Here tea and sandwiches were passed to the men in the trains as they stopped briefly at the junctions. This did not go unnoticed, Major-General Montgomery commended the ladies of the WVS at Frome for feeding 15,000 men every 24 hours for a week.
Assistance was also given to Montgomery when his 3 rd Division arriving back from Dunkirk was scattered over several towns and villages with no transport for the staff to keep in touch. Within an hour 15 cars and drivers had been set up with a rota in place to transport the staff wherever they needed to go for a fortnight until their own transport was in place.
So you see the story did not end with the arrival of our troops back on British soil, so when you next see a multi-million pound blockbuster all about Dunkirk please give a thought to the women who exhaustively and selflessly worked in the background who will not be forgotten.
VIA: Karen Wiles - Home Front History
"A miracle" - is the best description of what happened at Dunkirk in May and June 1940.
Hundreds of thousands of troops were rescued from the German advance in the nick of time.
The troops were desperately needed back on the home shores to help defend against a Nazi invasion. They were rescued from the harbour and beaches near to Dunkirk by a curious assembly of many different types of craft. Many of the little ships, such as motor yachts, fishing boats and all manner of other such craft, were privately owned.
At the time the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said it was "a miracle of deliverance".
The Little ships of Dunkirk
Early in the Second World War, in late May 1940, the Allied forces of British, French and Belgian troops were trapped by the invading German army on the coast in the area around Dunkirk. The desperate rescue that followed – controlled from Dover Castle – saved the Allied cause in Europe from total collapse, and was the biggest evacuation in military history.
LINK