Read Online World War II: The Autobiography by Jon E. Lewis - Free Book Online
Authors: Jon E. Lewis
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appr. 1,400 men only 425 spent the night in this church.
21 May. Roused out of it at 6 a.m. and put on road. I’m just beginning to realize that I’m a prisoner. We have had nothing to eat since Sunday and today is Tuesday. My water-bottle is empty now. Hope they give us something to eat soon. Got nothing to eat today.
On the same day that Pexton was captured, the panzers of German Army Group A reached the mouth of the Seine at Abbeville in France, cutting the Allied army in half. The encircled British Expeditionary Force beat a retreat to Dunkirk, to begin one of the most famous evacuations in history.
DUNKIRK: THE VIEW FROM THE BOATS, 1 JUNE 1940
Commander C.H. Lightoller, RNR (Retd)
The evacuation was carried out by an armada of 222 naval units and 665 civilian craft. These vessels succeeded in bringing back to Britain 224,585 British and 112,546 French and Belgian troops. Among the civilian vessels was the yacht Sundowner owned by Commander Lightoller. Lightoller had been in history once before: as the senior surviving officer of the Titanic.
Half-way across we avoided a floating mine by a narrow margin, but having no firearms of any description – not even a tin hat – we had to leave its destruction to someone better equipped. A few minutes later we had our first introduction to enemy aircraft, three fighters flying high. Before they could be offensive, a British destroyer – Worcester, I think – overhauled us and drove them off. At 2.25 p.m. we sighted and closed the twenty-five-foot motor-cruiser Westerly, broken down and badly on fire. As the crew of two (plus three naval ratings she had picked up in Dunkirk) wished to abandon ship – and quickly – I went alongside and took them aboard, giving them the additional pleasure of again facing the hell they had only just left.
We made the fairway buoy to the Roads shortly after the sinking of a French transport with severe loss of life. Steaming slowly through the wreckage we entered the Roads. For some time now we had been subject to sporadic bombing and machine-gun fire, but as the Sundowner is exceptionally and extremely quick on the helm, by waiting till the last moment and putting the helm hard over – my son at the wheel – we easily avoided every attack, though sometimes near lifted out of the water.
It had been my intention to go right on to the beaches, where my second son, Second-Lieutenant R.T. Lightoller, had been evacuated some forty-eight hours previously; but those of the Westerly informed me that the troops were all away, so I headed up for Dunkirk piers. By now divebombers seemed to be eternally dropping out of the cloud of enemy aircraft overhead. Within half a mile of the pierheads a two-funnelled grey-painted transport had overhauled and was just passing us to port when two salvoes were dropped in quick succession right along her port side. For a few moments she was hid in smoke and I certainly thought they had got her. Then she reappeared, still gaily heading for the piers and entered just ahead of us.
The difficulty of taking troops on board from the quay high above us was obvious, so I went alongside a destroyer (Worcester again, I think) where they were already embarking. I got hold of her captain and told him I could take about a hundred (though the most I had ever had on board was twenty-one). He, after consultation with the military CO., told me to carry on and get the troops aboard. I may say here that before leaving Gubitt’s Yacht Basin, we had worked all night stripping her down of everything movable, masts included, that would tend to lighten her and make for more room.
My son, as previously arranged, was to pack the men in and use every available inch of space – which I’ll say he carried out to some purpose. On deck I detailed a naval rating to tally the troops aboard. At fifty I called below, “How are you getting on?” getting the cheery reply, “Oh, plenty of room yet” At seventy-five my son admitted they
21 May. Roused out of it at 6 a.m. and put on road. I’m just beginning to realize that I’m a prisoner. We have had nothing to eat since Sunday and today is Tuesday. My water-bottle is empty now. Hope they give us something to eat soon. Got nothing to eat today.
On the same day that Pexton was captured, the panzers of German Army Group A reached the mouth of the Seine at Abbeville in France, cutting the Allied army in half. The encircled British Expeditionary Force beat a retreat to Dunkirk, to begin one of the most famous evacuations in history.
DUNKIRK: THE VIEW FROM THE BOATS, 1 JUNE 1940
Commander C.H. Lightoller, RNR (Retd)
The evacuation was carried out by an armada of 222 naval units and 665 civilian craft. These vessels succeeded in bringing back to Britain 224,585 British and 112,546 French and Belgian troops. Among the civilian vessels was the yacht Sundowner owned by Commander Lightoller. Lightoller had been in history once before: as the senior surviving officer of the Titanic.
Half-way across we avoided a floating mine by a narrow margin, but having no firearms of any description – not even a tin hat – we had to leave its destruction to someone better equipped. A few minutes later we had our first introduction to enemy aircraft, three fighters flying high. Before they could be offensive, a British destroyer – Worcester, I think – overhauled us and drove them off. At 2.25 p.m. we sighted and closed the twenty-five-foot motor-cruiser Westerly, broken down and badly on fire. As the crew of two (plus three naval ratings she had picked up in Dunkirk) wished to abandon ship – and quickly – I went alongside and took them aboard, giving them the additional pleasure of again facing the hell they had only just left.
We made the fairway buoy to the Roads shortly after the sinking of a French transport with severe loss of life. Steaming slowly through the wreckage we entered the Roads. For some time now we had been subject to sporadic bombing and machine-gun fire, but as the Sundowner is exceptionally and extremely quick on the helm, by waiting till the last moment and putting the helm hard over – my son at the wheel – we easily avoided every attack, though sometimes near lifted out of the water.
It had been my intention to go right on to the beaches, where my second son, Second-Lieutenant R.T. Lightoller, had been evacuated some forty-eight hours previously; but those of the Westerly informed me that the troops were all away, so I headed up for Dunkirk piers. By now divebombers seemed to be eternally dropping out of the cloud of enemy aircraft overhead. Within half a mile of the pierheads a two-funnelled grey-painted transport had overhauled and was just passing us to port when two salvoes were dropped in quick succession right along her port side. For a few moments she was hid in smoke and I certainly thought they had got her. Then she reappeared, still gaily heading for the piers and entered just ahead of us.
The difficulty of taking troops on board from the quay high above us was obvious, so I went alongside a destroyer (Worcester again, I think) where they were already embarking. I got hold of her captain and told him I could take about a hundred (though the most I had ever had on board was twenty-one). He, after consultation with the military CO., told me to carry on and get the troops aboard. I may say here that before leaving Gubitt’s Yacht Basin, we had worked all night stripping her down of everything movable, masts included, that would tend to lighten her and make for more room.
My son, as previously arranged, was to pack the men in and use every available inch of space – which I’ll say he carried out to some purpose. On deck I detailed a naval rating to tally the troops aboard. At fifty I called below, “How are you getting on?” getting the cheery reply, “Oh, plenty of room yet” At seventy-five my son admitted they
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