A poignant event to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the massive evacuation of allied troops from the beaches of France in 1940 was shoved aside by a migrant boat under escort.
On Wednesday, 66 ‘Little Boats’ — the seaworthy survivors of the nearly 1,000-strong flotilla of ships and boats that rescued the British Expeditionary Force as well as the remains of the French, Polish, Dutch, and Belgian Armies in 1940 — set off from Kent to Dunkirk in France to commemorate the history-changing Operation Dynamo. Yet this well known act of remembrance was shoved aside at the command of the French navy, which was escorting a people smuggler’s boat loaded with migrants into British waters.
Brexit leader Nigel Farage, who is Kentish, responded to the development, remarking: “This says it all about the destruction of our history and our values. The aggressive young males on their way over have nothing in common with us.”
A flotilla of Little Ships sail out of Ramsgate, Kent, during ‘Dunkirk 85’, the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships (ADLS) commemorative cruise to Dunkirk, to mark the 85th anniversary of Operation Dynamo, when the Little Ships were among those who answered the call to send small vessels to Dunkirk to help rescue some of the nearly 340,000 British, French and Belgian troops stuck there. Picture date: Wednesday May 21, 2025. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)
Wednesday was a major day in the English Channel for the ongoing migrant crisis there which, despite promises by both the now defeated Conservative Party and now ruling Labour, continues to roar on without pause. The day set a new record for the year for the highest number of arrivals, with 825 known to have landed on British soil from 13 boats. Tragically, two people also died on the migrant boats, the latest victims of callous people smugglers who take advantage of Britain’s weak borders to make big money selling illegal passages on dangerous, unseaworthy boats.
It is not clear whether the deaths were on the smuggler boat being escorted by the French navy at the time of the Dunkirk diversion, however.
The flotilla of ‘Little Ship’ Dunkirk veterans were told by marine radio, possibly by UK Border Force, reports The Daily Telegraph: “There is a [French] warship on our head with a migrant [boat] close by. And we’ve been requested to give one nautical mile distance from that vessel, over.”
On nine days between 26 May and 4 June 1940 over 336,000 troops that were being pushed into the sea by Nazi Germany were rescued by the combined efforts of the Royal Navy and a massive flotilla of small craft, taken up from civilian use. The operation was shielded from the Luftwaffe above by the Royal Air Force, but even so a number of small boats and destroyers were sunk.
The small boats were essential because their shallow draft permitted them to sail right up the long Dunkirk beach without grounding, allowing the stranded soldiers to board without drowning. In most cases, the troops were then carried out to waiting destroyers in deeper water, which ferried the soldiers back to England, hundreds of men at a time.
The ‘Little Ships’ varied from relatively large paddle-steamer passenger ferries right down to the smallest, a 15-foot fishing boat now preserved in London. Various classes of boat included fireboats, RNLI lifeboats, barges, and pleasure yachts.
Most requisitioned boats were crewed by Naval officers and ratings, but in one famous case the owner of a yacht refused to let it go except under his own command. He, Charles Lightoller, had been the second officer of the RMS Titanic and rescued 127 soldiers at Dunkirk.
While the evacuation effort was seen as a great success, having grabbed the hope of continuing the war with Nazi Germany from the jaws of utter defeat, much was left behind on the beaches of France. The British Expeditionary Force, which was the best part of Britain’s pre-war professional army, saw nearly 70,000 killed in France and it was forced to leave almost all of its equipment behind.
Remarkably, this included 64,000 motor vehicles, 20,000 motorcycles, and 2,500 large guns, including the most modern types of anti-aircraft guns. The sheer volume of equipment left behind as well as spares and ammunition was a significant boost to Nazi Germany, and some of these weapons were immediately pressed into service against the British.
Despite an effort by soldiers waiting to be collected on the Dunkirk beaches to sabotage whatever they left behind, even driving military trucks into the sea, in some cases British equipment was still turning up in the hands of the German military all the way through to 1945.
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