Dunkirk - 70 Years today!

[Portchullin Tatty]

You will hear a lot about Dunkirk over the next few days, as what Churchill described as the "miracle of deliverance" took place 70 years ago.

 

Getting 338,000 soldiers back to blighty was not all about about the little ships or indeed the Royal Navy, otherwise the port of Dover would have been stacked 20 high with bodies. Getting the soldiers dispersed around much of the UK proved to be a huge logisitical task that all of the grouping companies contributed to, but very much lead by the Southern. Indeed, a general was heard to remark that he wished that "the Army could operate with as few written instructions as the Southern Railway does in an emergency".

 

So given that today is the start of the anniversary, I think it is time to give my father's book an unashamed plug. If you are interested in the history of what the railways contibuted to the country, are a student of the Southern or merely want a good read about when we really did get a triumph from the jaws of defeat, then I can recommend Return from Dunkirk - Railways to the Rescue.

 

The Oakwood press site is here, Kevin Robertson also has a number of copies (and was selling them well I hear). http://www.oakwoodpress.co.uk/books/books_ra-ry.htm.

 

 

 

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