Operation Aerial was the evacuation of Allied forces and civilians from ports in western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

from 15 to 25 June 1940 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The evacuation followed the Allied military collapse in the Battle of France against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Operation Dynamo Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

, the evacuation from Dunkirk, and Operation Cycle, an embarkation from

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

, finished on 13 June. British and Allied ships were covered from French bases by five

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF) fighter squadrons and assisted by aircraft based in England, to lift British, Polish and Czech troops, civilians and equipment from Atlantic ports, particularly from St Nazaire and Nantes. On 17 June, the evaded RAF fighter patrols and attacked evacuation ships in the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

estuary, sinking the

Cunard Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...

liner A low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER) is a type of galactic nucleus that is defined by its spectral line emission. The spectra typically include line emission from weakly ionized or neutral atoms, such as O, O+, N+, and S+. ...

and troopship HMT which was carrying thousands of troops, RAF personnel and civilians. The ship sank quickly but nearby vessels went to the rescue and saved about 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 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 A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

. Some equipment was embarked on the evacuation ships but lack of reliable information about the progress of the German Army towards the coast, rumours and alarmist reports, led some operations to be terminated early and much equipment was destroyed or left behind. The official evacuation ended on 25 June, in conformity with the terms of the

Armistice of 22 June 1940 The Armistice of 22 June 1940 was signed at 18:36 near Compiègne, France, by officials of Nazi Germany and the Third French Republic. It did not come into effect until after midnight on 25 June. Signatories for Germany included Wilhelm Keitel ...

agreed by the French and German authorities but informal departures continued from French Mediterranean ports until 14 August. From the end of Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk, Operation Cycle from Le Havre, elsewhere along the Channel coast and the termination of Operation Aerial, another were rescued, bringing the total of military and civilian personnel returned to Britain during the Battle of France to British troops.

Background

Royal Navy

The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from Dunkirk left a surplus of men on the lines-of-communication, base depots and other establishments among the still in France. Sufficient lines-of-communication personnel for an armoured division and four infantry divisions and an

Advanced Air Striking Force The RAF Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF) comprised the light bombers of 1 Group RAF Bomber Command, which took part in the Battle of France during the Second World War. Before hostilities began, it had been agreed between the United Kingdom a ...

(AASF) were to be retained and the rest returned to Britain. Naval operations in the Norwegian Campaign and the evacuation of Dunkirk had suffered losses, which temporarily weakened the Home Fleet, particularly in smaller vessels needed to escort evacuation ships from the French Atlantic coast. Losses inflicted on the surface ships of the '' Kriegsmarine'' made it impossible for the Germans to challenge British naval supremacy in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

and the Bay of Biscay. Seven German submarines patrolling off the west coast of France made no attempt to interfere and only the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' was used against the evacuations. Operation Aerial was commanded by Admiral William Milbourne James, the

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Sir Thomas Williams's tenure, his succes ...

. James lacked the vessels necessary for convoys and organised a flow of

troopship A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

s, storeships and motor vehicle vessels from

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, coasters to ply from Poole and the Dutch ''

schuyt A Dutch barge is a traditional flat-bottomed shoal-draught barge, originally used to carry cargo in the shallow '' Zuyder Zee'' and the waterways of Netherlands. There are very many types of Dutch barge, with characteristics determined by regio ...

s'' to work from Weymouth, while such warships as were available patrolled the shipping routes. Demolition parties sailed in the ships but it was hoped that supplies and equipment could be embarked as well as troops.

RAF

After Dunkirk, the AASF squadrons in France had been moved to the area between

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Le Mans during the lull before ''

Fall Rot ''Fall Rot'' (Case Red) was the plan for a German military operation after the success of (Case Yellow), the Battle of France, an invasion of the Benelux countries and northern France. The Allied armies had been defeated and pushed back in th ...

'' (''Case Red''), the German offensive over the Somme and Aisne rivers. From the new bases the AASF was able to operate anywhere along the front, but after the German breakthrough on 11 June,

British Air Forces in France British Air Forces in France (BAFF) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) Command set up on 15 January 1940 under the command of Air Marshal Arthur Barratt, to provide unified command of the RAF in France. The Royal Air Force Component of the British E ...

(

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

Arthur Barratt) was warned by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

to be ready for a quick getaway from France. The British squadrons were moved west to bases around

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

, Saumur, Rennes and Nantes, which were already full of French aircraft and severely congested. Barratt sent the light bomber squadrons back to England on 15 June and kept the five fighter squadrons to cover the evacuation of RAF ground staff and the three British divisions commanded by Brooke. After Marshal

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

requested an

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

on 17 June, Barratt had to defend seven ports on the Atlantic coast and sent the AASF anti-aircraft batteries to

La Pallice La Pallice (also known as ''grand port maritime de La Rochelle'') is the commercial deep-water port of La Rochelle, France. During the Fall of France, on 19 June 1940, approximately 6,000 Polish soldiers in exile under the command of Stanisła ...

and

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

, the least important embarkation harbours. Nantes and St Nazaire, the most important ports, were covered by 1 Squadron, 73 Squadron and 242 Squadron, with a small detachment covering

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

and Cherbourg were protected by 17 Squadron and 501 Squadron from the

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

Dinard Dinard (; br, Dinarzh, ; Gallo: ''Dinard'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, northwestern France. Dinard is on the Côte d'Émeraude of Brittany. Its beaches and mild climate make it a holiday destination, and this ...

across the bay from Saint-Malo, then later from the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, oft ...

squadrons from

RAF Tangmere RAF Tangmere was a Royal Air Force station located in Tangmere, England, famous for its role in the Battle of Britain, and one of several stations near Chichester, West Sussex. The famous Second World War aces Wing Commander Douglas Bader, a ...

were also available for Cherbourg and

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

prepared to escort returning ships. Once the arrangements were made, Barratt left for England and the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO), Air Vice-Marshal Douglas Evill took over.

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 The Beauman Division was an improvised formation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during the Second World War, which fought in France against the German 4th Army in June 1940, during (Case Red), the final German offensive of the Batt ...

and more than and line-of-communication troops, had been cut off in the south by the German dash to the sea. By the end of May, medical stores had been removed from

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

and a demolition party landed, ready to blow up the port infrastructure. A big depot at

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. On 9 June, the French commander at Le Havre contacted the 10th Army and the

51st (Highland) Division The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as ...

with a message that the Germans had captured Rouen and were heading for the coast. Ihler, the

IX Corps 9 Corps, 9th Corps, Ninth Corps, or IX Corps may refer to: France * 9th Army Corps (France) * IX Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars Germany * IX Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial Germ ...

commander and Major-General

Victor Fortune Major General Sir Victor Morven Fortune (21 August 1883 – 2 January 1949) was a senior officer of the British Army. He saw service in both World War I and World War II. He commanded the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division during the Battle ...

, commander of the 51st (Highland) Division, decided that the only hope of escape was through Le Havre and abandoned the plan to retire through Rouen. The port admiral requested enough ships from the Admiralty to remove but this contradicted the plans of the French supreme commander,

Maxime Weygand Maxime Weygand (; 21 January 1867 – 28 January 1965) was a French military commander in World War I and World War II. Born in Belgium, Weygand was raised in France and educated at the Saint-Cyr military academy in Paris. After graduating in 1 ...

. General

John Dill Sir John Greer Dill, (25 December 1881 – 4 November 1944) was a senior British Army officer with service in both the First World War and the Second World War. From May 1940 to December 1941 he was the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS ...

(

Chief of the Imperial General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Board. Prior to 1964, the title was Chief of the Imperial G ...

) hesitated, ignorant that Weygand's delay in issuing the orders had made it impossible. Karslake had also urged several times that the retirement be accelerated but had no authority to issue orders. Only after receiving a message during the night from Fortune, that the 51st (Highland) Division was participating in a retreat by IX Corps towards Le Havre, did Dill learn the true situation. 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 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. A Royal Navy demolition party had been in Le Havre since late May; the port was severely bombed by the on 7 June; two days later, the Admiralty sent orders for an evacuation. James sent a

flotilla leader A flotilla leader was a warship of late 19th century and early 20th century navies suitable for commanding a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships, typically a small cruiser or a large destroyer (known as a destroyer leader). The flotil ...

, , across the Channel, accompanied by six British and two Canadian destroyers, smaller craft and many Dutch . A hasty plan was made to block Dieppe harbour and on 10 June, (Captain G. A. Garnon-Williams) escorted three blockships to the port. Two were sunk in the approach channel but the third ship hit a mine just outside, which prevented it being sunk at the entrance to the inner harbour. Beach parties landed at Le Havre to take control of the evacuation on 10 June and after a 24-hour postponement, the evacuation began on 11 June. The embarkation was hindered somewhat by the damage to the port caused by bombing; the troopship was damaged and had to be beached. Electric power to the docks was cut, rendering the cranes on the docks useless; loading vehicles via ramps was tried but was too slow. On 12 June, RAF fighters began patrolling the port, deterring more raids and an attempt was made to save the transport and equipment by diverting it over the Seine, via the ferry crossings at Caudebec or the ships at Quillebeuf at the river mouth. The quartermaster of the 14th Royal Fusiliers succeeded in getting the transport away. The greatest number of troops were removed on the night of and the evacuation was completed by dawn; of troops evacuated, of 'A' Brigade were taken to Cherbourg and the 154th Infantry Brigade sailed via Cherbourg to England.

St Valery-en-Caux

On 10 June British destroyers reconnoitred the smaller ports to the east of Le Havre. was damaged by artillery fire from the cliffs near St. Valery-en-Caux during the evening. Troops not needed to hold the perimeter at St Valery moved down to the beaches and the harbour but no ships arrived; thick fog prevented them from moving inshore. An armada of ships and craft had been assembled but few had wireless and the fog obscured visual signalling. Only at Veules-les-Roses were many soldiers rescued, under fire from German artillery, which damaged the destroyers , and ''Ambuscade''. Near dawn, the troops at the harbour were ordered back into the town, only to discover that the local French commander had already negotiated a surrender. A total of and soldiers were rescued but over of the 51st (Highland) Division were taken prisoner on 12 June.

Prelude

2nd BEF

On 2 June, Brooke visited the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

, having returned from Dunkirk on 30 May and was told by Dill to go back to France to assemble another BEF. In the emergency, the force would be the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division and 1st Armoured Division, already in France, with the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division and the

1st Canadian Infantry Division The 1st Canadian Division (French: ''1re Division du Canada'' ) is a joint operational command and control formation based at CFB Kingston, and falls under Canadian Joint Operations Command. It is a high-readiness unit, able to move on very short ...

from Britain, to be followed by the 3rd Infantry Division as soon as it was re-equipped. The II Corps headquarters was spread around Britain after its return from Dunkirk and his first choice of chief of staff was busy with General Lord Gort, the former BEF commander, writing dispatches. Brooke warned Dill and the secretary of state for war, Anthony Eden, that the enterprise was futile, except as a political gesture. He was told that on return to France he would come under the authority of Weygand. In France, Fonblanque was still in command of the lines-of-communication troops of the original BEF and lieutenant-generals Henry Karslake and James Marshall-Cornwall were assisting with command. A

brigade group Brigade Enterprises Limited is a real estate and property development company that is based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. The Brigade Group also has operations in Mangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chikmagalur, Ahmedabad and a r ...

(the 157th (Highland Light Infantry) Brigade) of the 52nd (Lowland) Division departed for France on 7 June and Brooke returned five days later. 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 then a second formation of followed by On the Marne, attacked a concentration of German troops and tanks, followed by an attack by which lost six aircraft and then a third attack by from

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

, that lost another four. RAF attacks continued through the night, with over the Seine, of Paris, the Marne and road and rail communications and woods reported by the French to be full of German troops. Fighter sorties had been hampered by bad weather and were limited to coastal patrols. Next day, attacks resumed against German units south of the Seine but the weather had worsened and fewer sorties were flown. A raid by with fighter escort was made on Merville airfield for a loss of ; 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, 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. 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 Conches-en-Ouche (, literally ''Conches in Ouche'') is a commune in the Eure ''département'' in northern France. Geography It is located by the Rouloir river, southwest of Évreux in the Normandy region. The town is located on a plateau known ...

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 front either side of the

Mortagne-au-Perche Mortagne-au-Perche () is a commune in the Orne department in Normandy, north-western France. Heraldry Population People *Geoffrey II, Count of Perche and Mortagne, grandfather of Queen Margaret of L'Aigle. * Marie of Armagnac, duchess of ...

–

Verneuil-sur-Avre Verneuil-sur-Avre (, literally ''Verneuil on Avre'') is a former commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton. History Following the revolt of ...

road. German forces followed up quickly and on 16 June, the Tenth Army commander, General

Robert Altmayer Marie-Robert Altmayer (1875–1959) was a French army corps general. He was the eldest son of the divisional general Victor Joseph Altmayer (1844–1908) and elder brother of general René Altmayer. They were of German descent. He commanded caval ...

, ordered the army to retreat into the Brittany peninsula.

Breton redoubt

On 29 May the Prime Minister of France,

Paul Reynaud Paul Reynaud (; 15 October 1878 – 21 September 1966) was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. Reynaud opposed the Munich Agreement of ...

, replied to Weygand, rejecting his recommendation that an armistice be considered and asked him to study the possibility that a national redoubt could be established around a naval port in the Brittany peninsula to retain freedom of the seas and contact with French allies. The idea was discussed by the French and British governments on 31 May and an operational instruction was drawn up on 5 June, in which Brooke was appointed to command the new BEF ("2nd BEF") being prepared for France. Plan W, the original plan to land the BEF in 1939, was used with the 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division being directed to Cherbourg and to assemble at Evreux, ready to support the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division north of the Seine. On 6 June, Weygand issued orders to begin work on the redoubt under the command of General

René Altmayer Félix-René Altmayer (1882–1976) was a French general. His father Victor Joseph Altmayer and elder brother Robert Altmayer Marie-Robert Altmayer (1875–1959) was a French army corps general. He was the eldest son of the divisional general Vic ...

. 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 The Anglo-French Supreme War Council (SWC) was established to oversee joint military strategy at the start of the Second World War. Most of its deliberations took place during the period of the Phoney War, with its first meeting at Abbeville on ...

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 Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department. Geography Th ...

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. Altmayer had reported that work had begun on defences, civilian labour had been recruited and 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.

Evacuations

Cherbourg and Saint-Malo

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France 1939-1940 F4847

Initially headquarters in England were reluctant to accept that evacuation was necessary, and on 15 June

Alan Brooke Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, during the Sec ...

was told by Dill that "for political reasons" the two brigades of the 52nd Division under Drew could not be embarked from Cherbourg at present. After further telephone discussions that day with Dill and Eden, when he said shipping and "valuable hours" were being wasted, he got permission to embark the gunners but not the infantry. Most of the 52nd Lowland Division and the remnants of the 1st Armoured Division embarked from 15 to 17 June. The Beauman Division and Norman Force, both improvised formations, left on the evening of 17 June. The rearguard battalion was evacuated in the afternoon of 18 June. A total of were rescued from Cherbourg and taken to Portsmouth. At Saint-Malo, mostly of the 1st Canadian Division, were evacuated from all but being British; no-one was killed and no ship was damaged. 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.

Brest

The evacuation from the southern ports on the Bay of Biscay was commanded by Admiral Sir

Martin Dunbar-Nasmith Admiral Sir Martin Eric Dunbar-Nasmith, (1 April 1883 – 29 June 1965) was a Royal Navy officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth force ...

, the Commander-in-Chief of

Western Approaches Command Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches was the commander of a major operational command of the Royal Navy during World War II. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command,' were responsibl ...

based in Devonport. The evacuation was made more difficult by a lack of information from Brest, St Nazaire and Nantes. Brest is a port city in the

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

département in Brittany in north-west

, where a sense of urgency was communicated by the Cabinet in London and the evacuation was conducted quickly, albeit with some confusion; guns and vehicles which could have been removed were destroyed needlessly. The Germans were known to be in Paris and advancing southwards, but information about German progress was inaccurate, mainly being rumour. The ships, including the ''Arandora Star'', ''Strathaird'' and ''Otranto'' rescued and personnel, mostly RAF ground crew from and the ships with room to spare were sent south to St Nazaire and the French wrecked the harbour facilities with assistance from the British demolition party. The French ships sailed and on 19 June the demolition party was removed aboard the destroyer .

St Nazaire and Nantes

Saint-Nazaire in Brittany is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the Loire-Atlantique department and Nantes is the capital of the Pays de la Loire region, in the same and is the largest city in Brittany. Operations at St Nazaire, at the mouth of the

, where there were strong tides and other hazards to navigation and Nantes upriver, took place concurrently. Vague and contradictory information led the navy to believe that men were en route to Nantes but not when they would arrive. To lift so many men, Dunbar-Nasmith assembled the destroyers , and and the liners , , , RMS , the Polish ships and and several commercial cargo ships. The ships had to anchor in Quiberon Bay, north-west of the Loire estuary, despite having no anti-submarine defences. The evacuation began on 16 June, with 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, and . 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. 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 The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

flew to RAF Tangmere. The last troops left for Plymouth at on 18 June in two convoys comprising merchant ships; much equipment was abandoned after alarmist reports led to the convoys sailing in haste. In the afternoon, Dunbar-Nasmith heard that troops were approaching the port and sent six destroyers and seven troop transports to St Nazaire, which arrived on 19 June but only appeared; no German forces were in hot pursuit. 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 Austin 7 is an economy car that was produced from 1923 until 1939 in the United Kingdom by Austin. It was nicknamed the "Baby Austin" and was at that time one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad. ...

. The rear parties then departed in transport aircraft, a few hours before German tanks arrived. (On the journey home during the night of ''Floristan'', a merchantman with on board, of the and civilians in its convoy, was attacked by a 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.)

''Lancastria''

On 17 June, there were still about 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 ''Lancastria'' of the Cunard Line. ''Lancastria'' was normally permitted to carry and 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 including embassy staff, men from Avions Fairey in Belgium and their families. As the boarding progressed, a soldier heard Sharp and his chief officer, H. Grattidge, say that 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 about distant; at ''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 more German bombers appeared, while the RAF Hurricanes were at the far end of their 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. 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

strafed Strafing is the military practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. Less commonly, the term is used by extension to describe high-speed firing runs by any land or naval craft such ...

by German bombers, which also dropped flares on patches of oil and burned alive some of the shipwrecked men. While ''Lancastria'' was on its side, the hull was covered by men who could not swim, singing '' Roll Out the Barrel'' until they sank with the ship, about fifteen minutes after the bombing. As time passed, exhaustion and despair led people in the sea to give up and slip underwater. About were rescued but more than women and children were killed.

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 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 and a contingent of British nurses. Dunbar-Nasmith sent ships twice more, which picked up 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.

Other Atlantic ports

Bordeaux and Le Verdon-sur-Mer are ports on the Garonne River in the Gironde départment in

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

. Bayonne at the confluence of the

Nive The Nive (; eu, Errobi; oc, Niva) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by t ...

and Adour rivers and St Jean-de-Luz are ports and communes in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlant ...

, all four ports being on the south-west coast of France. was stationed off

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

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 (

Lieutenant-Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

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 The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Pola ...

and his cabinet were given preferential treatment. ''Berkeley'' was replaced by the cruiser and sailed for England with the

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples inc ...

s. Evacuation continued at the nearby ports of Le Verdon at the river mouth and Bayonne, where on 19 June, the Polish ships ''Batory'' and ''Sobieski'' took about 9,000 Polish soldiers on board and the British and took on everyone they could find and sailed for St Jean-de-Luz on 20 June. The evacuation at St Jean de Luz ended ''officially'' at on 25 June, just after the deadline set by the terms of the

, with the sailing of the cargo ships , and , loaded with troops and civilians; about 19,000 people were lifted from Bayonne and St Jean de Luz, most being Polish troops. On the final day of the operation, the Canadian destroyer was accidentally rammed and sunk with many losses by the anti-aircraft cruiser in the Gironde estuary. Evacuations continued informally from the Mediterranean coast of France, until 14 August. On 23 June, the Admiralty gave orders that every available ship was to take anyone who could be squeezed on board to Gibraltar, thence to Britain. Small cargo ships organised by two destroyers removed about 10,000 Allied troops and civilians from 24 to 26 June, thence to Britain.

Aftermath

Analysis

In 1953,

Lionel Ellis Lionel Frederic Ellis CVO CBE DSO MC (13 May 1885 – 19 October 1970) was a British Army officer and military historian, author of three volumes of the official ''History of the Second World War''. Between the two World Wars, he was General ...

, the British official historian, wrote that by the end of the informal evacuations on 14 August, another had been evacuated after the rescue of in Operation Dynamo, a total of of whom British troops. In 2001, Brodhurst wrote that many civilians escaped from French Atlantic and Mediterranean ports to England via Gibraltar and that civilians left the Channel Islands from Brodhurst gave figures of troops and civilians evacuated. Although much equipment was lost, cycles. of ammunition, of stores, of petrol, and were recovered during Operation Aerial and the earlier evacuations. German submarines could have sunk British ships in the Bay of Biscay, many of the troopships being unescorted and out of range of England-based fighters but the seven in the area did not intervene. The ''Luftwaffe'' managed to sink ''Lancastria'' but German operations against Aerial showed a lack of co-ordination between the ''Luftwaffe'' and ''Kriegsmarine''. Brodhurst wrote that the success of the operation was due to the professionalism of the Royal Navy, the decisions of middle-ranking officers like Ramsay and the conduct of the navy and civilian crews, who took grave risks to rescue the army. 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. 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 the 51st (Highland) Division from Le Havre, the 52nd (Lowland) Division from Cherbourg, the 1st Canadian Division from Brest and of the Beauman Division from Cherbourg, in all, with 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 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. Of the 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 of ammunition recovered, Karslake had been given a priority list of small-arms ammunition,

25-pounder The Ordnance QF 25-pounder, or more simply 25-pounder or 25-pdr, was the major British field gun and howitzer during the Second World War. Its calibre is 3.45-inch (87.6 mm). It was introduced into service just before the war started, combin ...

shells and the chemical warfare equipment dumped at

Fécamp Fécamp () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. Geography Fécamp is situated in the valley of the river Valmont, at the heart of the Pays de Caux, on the Alabaster Coast. It is aroun ...

. 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 of other stores saved, only material returned to Britain during May had been unloaded from ships and the 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 The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot a ...

stacked petrol tins in the Fôret de Savernay from and then set fire to it on 16 June. 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. Karslake wrote that in 1939, General

Edmund Ironside Edmund Ironside (30 November 1016; , ; sometimes also known as Edmund II) was King of the English from 23 April to 30 November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign was marred by ...

, the

(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 The Phoney War (french: Drôle de guerre; german: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germa ...

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.

Casualties

From May to June, including the period of Operation Aerial, the ''Luftwaffe'' lost and the RAF lost killed, wounded, died of wounds or injury, injured, lost at sea or taken prisoner and including shot down, destroyed on the ground or written off. The AASF lost the Air Component Command Command

In the course of the operations from 5 to 18 June, the AASF lost Battles, two Blenheims and Fighter Command lost a

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

, and three Blenheims. During the Battle of France, the British army suffered killed, died of wounds, wounded, missing or taken prisoner and died of injury or illness; navy casualties could not be separated from operations elsewhere in the world. German casualties in the battle (only a few of the ''Luftwaffe'' losses occurring during Operation Aerial), were and missing.

Notes

Footnotes

References

* * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aerial, Operation 1940 in France Battle of France Conflicts in 1940 Evacuations Aerial