|
Source: Orde
HMS Hebe at Dunkirk
|
|
28.5.40 |
1830 |
Ordered to
raise steam and proceed to La Panne, using route Y. Experienced
difficulty in finding the Whistle Buoy marking the channel off
Bray-Dunes. |
|
29.5.40 |
0110 |
Having
eventually found the buoy, HEBE anchored off La Panne. (On passing the
Whistle Buoy a heavy explosion occurred about ¼ mile to the eastward.) |
|
|
0350 |
Using ship's
boats embarked troops until dawn, by which time about 100 troops had
been embarked, including a number of stretcher cases. HEBE then
proceeded. |
|
1010 |
Arrived
Dover.
Disembarked 150 troops. |
|
1410 |
Proceeded for
La Panne by route Y. |
|
1840 |
Off Whistle
Buoy. Heavy dive bombing raid in progress. |
|
1900 |
HEBE attacked
by 3 Heinkels. After the attack, picked up a wounded RAF officer, and
proceeded to Dunkirk harbour, where Capt E W Bush RN who had been
acting as S.N.O. (afloat) was embarked. |
|
2115 |
Embarked
survivors from a troop ship (the Crested Eagle, a wooden ship that had
caught fire) which had been sunk in the raid at 1900. There were
several severe casualties suffering from burns. |
|
2128 |
By 2128hrs, Admiral
Ramsey could take no chances; he radioed the temporary command ship,
the minesweeper H.M.S. HEBE and instructed them to intercept
all personnel ships approaching Dunkirk not to close harbour and to go
to Eastern beach to collect troops from ships. |
|
2230 |
Arrived at La
Panne under the orders of Captain Bush. |
|
30.5.40 |
0045 |
Received a
signal from the destroyer Esk to send a boat for the Rear Admiral
Dover (Rear Admiral Wake-Walker OBE) and staff. |
|
|
0100 |
Rear Admiral
Dover and staff embarked in HEBE (Capt Bush then made a general
situation report to Rear Admiral Dover, who had been appointed SBNO
(afloat)). Troops embarked from boats between La Panne and Bray. |
|
1000 |
Proceeded
alongside at
Dunkirk
and filled to capacity. The Rear Admiral Dunkirk landed to see the SNO
Dunkirk (Capt W G Tennant, MVO) but he was away on a visit to Lord
Gort at La Panne. The HEBE left Dunkirk under the orders of R. A.
Dover. |
|
1530 |
Off Bray, the
Rear Admiral Dover and his staff transferred to the destroyer Windsor (but
Capt Bush took passage in HEBE "to stress the vital necessity for
boats and crews if any numbers were to come off from the beaches").
The HEBE proceeded by route X to
Dover. |
|
2000 |
Arrived
Dover.
Disembarked 270 troops. |
|
2345 |
Disembarkation
complete |
|
31.5.40
|
0618 |
Sailed from
Dover,
with Capt Bush on board (carrying plans for the evacuation that night,
for delivery to Rear Admiral Dover). |
|
1035 |
Arrived at La
Panne. Embarked troops during the forenoon and afternoon from ship's
and other boats. The HEBE's motor boat capsized and was lost and a
whaler was sunk in collision. |
|
1200 |
HEBE came
under fire from shore batteries and moved further west. |
|
1700 |
Attacked by 4
dive bombers. 12 heavy bombs dropped by 3 of them; the 4th machine
gunned the ship. HEBE severely shaken by near misses and some damage
caused. One Heinkel shot down in flames. |
|
1800 |
Signal from
the shore, saying that GHQ would embark from La Panne beach. |
|
1830 |
Lord Gort and
his
ADC embarked (from the yacht Lahloo). During the embarkation
there was an air raid by about 40 aircraft, and considerable shelling
was directed onto La Panne beach, then 2 miles towards the eastward. |
|
2000 |
HEBE returned
to La Panne to continue embarkation of troops. |
|
2300 |
From this time
onwards the beach and town at La Panne was heavily bombarded and the
latter set on fire. |
|
1.6.40
|
0015 |
Lord Gort
transferred to the destroyer Keith (in the yacht Bounty). |
|
0300 |
Because of the
heavy bombardment of La Panne, Capt Bush ordered the troops there to
move to the westward. |
|
0350 |
HEBE proceeded
to Bray, but finding that all small boats were fully occupied, she
continued on to
Dunkirk
and filled up to 420 troops. A larger number was not taken as the ship
was short of ammunition and fuel. |
|
0420 |
Proceeded to
Dover
by X route. |
|
0830 |
Arrived
Dover.
Disembarked 420 troops. |
|
|
Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2295588
This extract from the above site is told by Paul Jackson whose
father Allan Jackson was a dispatch rider in the BEF.
Time and
again they would wade out to incoming boats which invariably filled up
and became dangerously overloaded. Officers on the boats were
threatening the troops to back off on the pain of being shot. This
went on for a long period-perhaps two days. Eventually my father
resolved that he would get off the beach no matter what. He decided he
would swim to a warship that was anchored some way off that was
collecting the troops being ferried in some of the small boats he was
regularly failing to board. Stripping off his uniform he put his pay
book and remaining smokes in his tin hat and began to swim. Of course
the ship was further out than it looked from the beach and he had a
terrific struggle even though he was a strong swimmer. I think I have
read that these ships were anchored a mile out to sea. The sea was
cold and no food and little sleep for days had taken their toll.
Eventually he reached the ship which had landing nets thrown over the
side. However, he did not have the strength to pull himself up the
nets and just hung there for grim life still in the cold water.
Eventually a sailor spotted him and scrambled down the nets and
carried my father bodily up the nets in a fireman's hold and deposited
him on the deck. I am sure my dad was grateful for the rest of his
life to this man. Either this sailor or another then went away and
returned with a spare set of naval overalls for my dad who was cold
wet and naked on the deck.
This ship was in fact HMS HEBE a minesweeper and I have since learnt
that it was the ship that evacuated General (Viscount?) Gort from
France. I also read somewhere that almost the entire ship's company
came down with battle fatigue as a result of the horrendous
experiences at Dunkirk. I don't know if that is true, but I am sure
everyone on that ship was a hero to return to Dunkirk, time after
time.
|
|
2.6.40 |
The following
extract also appears on the BBC website at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/U605265
Personal
Page of Ian Kinloch Bryce (a 17 year old midshipman on the Fleet
minesweeper HMS Fitzroy).
Waking up
on 2nd June, after a good night’s sleep, the buzz went round that
volunteers were needed to make up crews in ships which had suffered
losses, so the navigator in Fitzroy, David Shaw, Sub-Lieut RN, and I,
made ourselves available. At first, we were sent to the Fleet
Minesweeper HMS “HEBE”, back, the previous day, from serving as a sort
of command ship offshore, for General Gort (C in C of the BEF) and his
staff. She was now berthed alongside in Dover. For about two hours in
the forenoon David and I sat in the Ward Room of HEBE under very
strange conditions, sipping coffee and waiting for decisions to be
taken in other parts of the ship. Officers would come and go,
exchanging a friendly word, but behaving in a withdrawn and fearful
manner. I now know a lot more about post traumatic stress, but I
barely recognised it then.
The Junker JU 87 Stuka had an air-activated siren fitted to each wing,
causing an increasing scream as it plummeted from the sky. This
deafening during the Stuka’s dive added a new and terrifying dimension
to bombing. Having experienced Stuka attacks, albeit infrequently, I
could understand why the HEBE’s crew felt devastated, after being
subjected, as they had been, over many days, to such terror tactics.
Being aware of their recent ordeal, I realised that these men were
shocked beyond belief and I want to show my understanding and sympathy
now, by quoting from what I read forty years later.
In their capacity as command ship off Bray-Dunes, few of the crew had
slept for five days. In the evening of the 31st the ship’s
sub-lieutenant collapsed, going into fits and convulsions. Next day,
27 members of the crew came down the same way. Finally, as HEBE
returned to Dover on the morning of June 1st, the ship’s surgeon
collapsed too, mumbling that he could not face another trip to
Dunkirk. Under these sad circumstances HEBE was ordered to rest, the
only cure, and proceeded down channel to Portsmouth.
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|
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Extract from The Royal Naval Medical Service, JLS Coulter, P328
Coupled with
the usual background of the incidents of battle, continued loss of
sleep was the factor which contributed most toward psychological
disturbances. It seems probable that, had sleep not been denied to
the crews of so many ships through force of circumstances, there
would have been hardly any hospital admissions for psychiatric
reasons as a result of this operation. In actual fact, there were
probably many more hospital admissions than were warranted by the
number of genuine cases because, under the conditions existing at
Dover, admission to hospital was often the only means of securing
sleep, rest and regular meals for some men who were obviously badly
in need of relief. There came a time when some seamen had been on
almost continuous watch for six days. The type of case in which
exhaustion and not lack of courage was the factor involved is
illustrated by one seaman who showed a marked generalised tremor and
was unable to walk. This man had been on watch for some six days and
nights and had also dived overboard to rescue a drowning soldier.
Individual hysterical manifestations were rare and very few are
recorded. … The need for isolating such few cases as did occur, in
order to avoid others becoming infected by such symptoms, is shown
by events in H.M.S. HEBE. On Saturday June 1 Hebe was damaged by
bombs during the evacuation of Dunkirk. No one in her had slept for
five days and nights. One young officer suddenly had an attack of
hysterical epilepsy on the bridge. Some
30
members of the ship's company
now became similarly affected with generalised clonic movements and
incoherent mumbling. The Medical Officer who had to deal with these
cases himself finally succumbed to this mass suggestion. It is in
point that these psychological manifestations did not appear until
the ship's crew ceased to be actively engaged and found themselves
safely in harbour after a long period of physical and mental fatigue
had culminated in the last severe air attack. It is also on record
that in H.M.S. Hussar, men became hyper‑emotional and broke down and
wept when given an order.
The
measures adopted for controlling threatened psychological breakdown
in these ships varied, but always called for the combined efforts of
Doctor and Commanding Officer working hand in hand. Reassurance by a
Medical Officer frequently proved successful when combined with the
natural leadership of the professional naval officer and senior
rating. In fact, in many ships it called for skilful judgement and
resolution to decide how far it was possible or wise to drive a
ship’s company suffering from prolonged strain.
|
|
|
|
Total troops transported 1,140 |
|
|
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The following
awards were made: |
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|
|
DSC Lt Cdr J B G Temple RN |
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|
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DSM C.P.O. S F Piggot |
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Mention in
Despatches E.R.A. 3rd class H B Biles |
