Following on from marking the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe day earlier this month on 8th May, today marks 80 years on since the evacuation of Allied soldiers commenced from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940. This is essentially a repost from 5 years ago but the sentiment remains true and strong.
The Dunkirk evacuation, code named Operation Dynamo, was decided upon when large numbers of British, French, and Belgian troops were cut off and surrounded by the German army. The event is renown for the use of a flotilla of 800 small ships used to assist in the ferrying of some 338,226 soldiers to safety.
The Southern Railway played very much an unsung role in Operation Dynamo, as once back on English shores the soldiers that did not require immediate hospitalisation or were already based at local South Eastern England barracks were dispersed across England away from the main reception ports of Margate, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Dover, and Newhaven. During the nine period of Operation Dynamo the Southern Railway laid on and coordinated an amazing number of special trains comprising of : 327 from Dover, 82 from Ramsgate, 75 from Margate 64 from Folkestone and also 21 ambulance trains.
These trains, known as ‘Dynamo Specials’ moved 180,982 troops, many of these services were routed via Redhill, Guildford and Reading, in order to bypass the capital and avoid congestion. Where possible during this period the Southern Railway maintained its usual passenger services with the except of some ‘omnibus replacement services’ to free the most heavily utilised routes between Guildford, Redhill and Tonbridge. Not only was coordination required of the departing trains but also the routing of the return empty stock workings and the necessary prepared engines required to keep the transportation of soldiers as quick and efficient as possible.
The Southern Railway mustered at very short notice nearly 2000 additional carriages, many borrowed from other railway companies including 47 complete rakes from the LNER, 44 from the LMS and 40 from the GWR. Also 180 engines and crews were required from across the network, to operate these services.
To avoid delay at Dover and Ramsgate it was decided that the soldiers, many of whom had not eaten properly for days, would be fed on the trains. Just simply feeding the men provided Southern Railway with a major logistical problem, therefore certain rail stations were designated feeding stations. These stations included Headcorn, Tonbridge and Paddock Wood Although the Royal Army Service Corps were primarily responsible many local Women’s Voluntary Service members were involved to provide food and drink, much of which was also donated or paid for with monies rasied from the local communities. Due to the number of trains involved only an eight-minute stop for soldiers to be provide with food and drink that bearing in mind this could have been 550 per train, was again an impressive feat. Trains often had to pull into a siding at these food stops to ensure that any ambulance trains had priority over the use of the main lines.
Given that Southern Railway had practically no time to organise and plan such an activity, what it achieved without the use of modern day communication systems was very impressive; improvisation and word of mouth were the order of the day. One unknown Army general was famously heard to say: “I wish the Army could operate with as few written instructions as Southern Railway does in an emergency.”
The Southern Railway, as well as coping with troops from Dunkirk, was also evacuating no less than 48,000 school children from the coastal areas due to fear of a German invasion. It should not go unmentioned that a number of the Southern Railway’s shipping fleet and crew, varying from cross channel passenger vessels, Isle of Wight ferries and cargo vessels were actively involved out on the channel itself, with a number being either badly damaged or lost to enemy action.
We should also pause to remember the 68,000 of our soldiers whom didn’t make it home safely from this particular French campaign.
I hope this post goes just a little way to remember and honour the part that the Southern Railway played in the overall success of Operation Dynamo out of what was a defeat in military terms in Flanders.
Thank you Graham for this, the staff of the Southern Railway at that time deserved much greater recognition for what they were able to achieve. I still think we as a nation still haven’t come to terms with what Dunkirk really meant for GB and your point about the men who did not make it back is well made.
Thanks for this Graham. I shared it with my mother who is 94 and was a 14 year old girl living in Margate during the Dunkirk period. She has clear memories of it. She emailed this back to me, “I remember being stopped at a level crossing in Westgate and seeing one of the trains go through dirty faced happy young men relieved to be safe and home! There were also a lot of very dirty bare feet hangIng out of the windows and clouds of cigarette smoke! I was 14 coming up to 15 made a big impression.” She also recalls the stream of ambulances carrying the wounded from the harbour to the Sea Bathing Hospital.
Hi Trevor
Many thanks for the kind words and the lovely message back from your mother
Thank you for the reminder Graham. You also provide some interesting detail which was new to me.
Although the Southern did take the brunt of the effort on getting the troops home, all of the railway companies contributed.
I refer you to Return from Dunkirk – Railways to the Rescue: Operation Dynamo (1940) by Peter Tatlow
Hi, I was in no way intending to diminish the efforts played by all the railway companies at this time, however my blog concentrates on the Southern Railway.