TELE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, SATURDAY, JUNE 1. 1940 WITHDRAWAL OF ALLIED FORCES GOES ON The Last Stand in Flanders DROPPING SUPPLIES BY 'PLANE TO ISOLATED TROOPS Fog Hampers German Air Attacks The withdrawal of British and French troops from the Dunkirk area continued all day yesterday, and last night men were still arriving home in thousands. Some of the latest arrivals had been in action in the morning. In Flanders the great rearguard action being fought by the Allies continues. The area held by the British and French grows smaller, but the fighting is as violent as ever. Part of the French army which had been caught south of Cassel has reached the coast and the rest is trying to fight its way through. In the Dunkirk region, the French Air Ministry announced last night. French bombers have dropped munitions and other supplies by parachute for isolated troops. Early this morning it was revealed that squadrons of the R.A.F. Component, flying with great daring, had dropped water, ammunition, and hand-grenades to the garrisons of Allied troops and marines who were holding out in Calais. Twelve Enemy 'Planes Down The Air Ministry announces: Throughout yesterday Thursday and last night relays of R.A.F. bombers maintained their pressure on the enemy's lines of communication. Bridges, tanks motorised columns, and troops were subjected to Intense bombing attacks which facilitated the withdrawal operations of the Allied armies. One of our aircraft is missing. Bombing operations have been continued with great intensity throughout to-day Friday. Formations of our fighters maintained offensive patrols over the Dunkirk area yesterday Thursday. Weather conditions were unfavourable, and there was a marked decrease in enemy air activity. One Dornier bomber was shot down. To-day Friday these patrols have continued. Reports so far received show that our fighters have destroyed twelve enemy aircraft and damaged three others. Apart from these activities over the Flanders battle area, to which the main effort of the Royal Air Force has been directed, our heavy bombers last Thursday night carried ont offensive operations against military objectives in North-west Germany. Many direct hits on enemy troop concentrations and motorised columns on the Nieuport road on the Belgian coast were made yesterday by aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. The Germans say that yesterday they were somewhat hampered in their attacks against the Allied troops who were being evacuated because of dense fog over the Channel. VIOLENCE OF BATTLE NO LESS On an ever-lessening stretch of the Flanders plain Allied troops ire lighting as fiercely as ever to cover the withdrawal of British, French, jnd Belgian forces by sea. The two flanks of the Allied armies are partly protected by the flooding that has been carried out in the plains. In the east the flooded area extends from Nieuport to Ypres and m the west from Gravelines almost u St. Omer. Between these flooded lines the B E F. and the French are holding the "Corunna" line and "righting like cits." as it was said in London last night. Roughly the area still held by the Allies is that to the west of Yser and the entrenched camp of the ?un-l.irk area. FRENCH FIGHTING THROUGH , , . . which had been cut Off by the Germans in their advance eastwards from Cassel, is fighting iting its way A considerable through to Dunkirk, said contingent (two divisions, it is m Pnris hat alreadv reached themcrmin bridcehend south of the coast, and the others "are still trying to cet through, thou difficult one. The French Ministry of Information spokesman said that the whole of Prioux's army was fighting a marvellous battle. Its losses were lelative" rather than catastrophic Dunkiik itself. fortified and entrenched on land, covered by the -u;ns of the navies and protected, trom the air by the R.A.F.. is holding j nit. Little is lett ot me ports, iockss and. quays ionowins icircaicu man bombardments. The importance of the continued resistance in Flanders in giving the French time to consolidate their positions along the Somme and the Aisne was again emphasised in Paris yesterday. The French military spokesman said that the Germans would find the northern Allied resistance had 14 lasted too long for the good of the Nazis" when they turned to the Somme-Aisne front. The Abbeville sector was reported to have been "completely cleaned up" after several days of Allied operations. The French had taken several hundred prisoners and many anti-tank guns, lorries, and cnnnlv trains. Thp spokesman explained that the French Jiave recaptured the western . part of Abbeville a triangular sec- tion bordered on the north and east bv the river and on the west oy tne S'omme Canal. At another point near thV Somme estuary French troops ,.a e jri": foothold on the nortn gaining : a foothold on th nor n 1 .r, rnccinO tho TIVBr ; bank Opposite Amiens they are 5? nrK-1v attacking the last remaining , river, but reports that this had been The semi-official Telef ranee Agency said vesterdav that the Germans have lost 500.000 men since Mav 10. This figure is said to have been given in authentic German documents which have come to the knowledge of the French. Press Association War I Special. British United Press, and i Associated Press. rn. thm nan new man .Wins th. operation, of th. put w,.. u in Belgium d Northern France! THE MIRACLE OF THE B.E.F's RETURN Majority of Force Ordeal Fleet Street, Friday. In the grey chill of dawn to-day in a south-eastern port war correspon dents watched with incredulous joy the happening of a miracle. By every canon of military science the BJS.F. has been doomed for the last four or five days. Completely outnumbered, out-gunned, out-'planed, all but surrounded, it had seemed certain to be cut off from its last channel of escape. Yet for several hours this morning we saw ship after ship come into harbour and discharge thousands of British soldiers safe and sound on British soil. What will happen to the rearguard js still uncertain, but it is certain already that the majority of the Force will be saved. One cannot give numbers, but the pace of evacuation to England has undoubtedly been much faster to-day than it has been on any other day since it started a week ago we went down to our receDtion port last night by a train which took more than twice the usual time to cover the distance. The reason was easy to see. Again and again we stooped outside a station while the dim shape of a troop train shot past us nortnwara oound. When at last we reached the nort in the small hours, the chief hotel was packed and every- armchair in the lounge held its sleeping soldier or sauor, nuaaiea beneath overcoat or ground sheet. Most of us lav down for a couple of sleepless hours on the noor, and'were proud to do it. THE DAY'S FIRST BOATLOAD As the rising sun was turning the grey clouds to burnished copper the first destroyer of the day slid swiftly into the harbour, its silhouette bristling with the heads of the men who stood packed shoulder to shoulder on its decks. As it slowed down and drifted towards the dock side the soldiers on board shouted cheerful ribaldries to us who stood watching them with a mixture of pride and pity. They at anv rate did not regard themselves as the central hgures of tragic drama. The gangways were in position in no time on these ships all ceremony has been waived for the time being and the uncon scious heroes began to clamber upwards to the soil of England. One watched them with a pride that became almost pain as one cheerful, patient figure succeeded another. They had passed through nights and days of hunger, weariness, and fear, but nearly every man still had his rifle and a clip or two of ammunition : nearly all had brought away their full kit with them and what an agony its weight must have been at times ; most of them had shaved, and quite a number were carrying the extra burden of a Lewis NAVY'S SKILL AND ENDURANCE Destroyer Under Dive-Bombing Attacks for Hours Safely Home London, Friday Night. It is not too much to say that only sea power, only complete command of the sea, has made possible the magnificent withdrawal of the Allied troops from Northern France. Not yet can we detail the extent of that withdrawal, not yet can we disclose how far it has corresponded to hopes and expectations. But it can be said that by no other way than by sea could those armies have been extricated and that throughout this week j "j- " - j serious attempt to interfere with the j operations. The German air arm has , "ecu Clitl Liatcu 1U1 man. ui Proving that sea power was impotent . P -t P ,etely t do . an? naf completely to uo i s- J". w days 156 German machines 1 were lost. DIFFICULT CONDITIONS Such an operation involves collaboration not only between three different fighting Services but between the three Services of two nations speaking different languages. The geographical conditions along the Northern French coast make naviga- naroours tne least mistake in handling a ship might result in blocking the harbour and .making it unusable. And the work has had to as well as by day. The Navy, and with it scores of men of the Merchant Navy, has performed a miracle which, less than three days ago. the Jeremiahs were declaring was impossible The Navy is frank in its recognition of the help given by the HJVJ. in ' providing air protection. " They have undoubtedly reducea tne scale 01 attack from the stupendous, which tne enemy intenaeo. to someimng . . .. comparatively reasonable." one naval RAILWAY WAGES AGREEMENT An Increase of Three Shillings An increase of three shillings a week ' on the war wage now being paid to adult males in railway traffic grades was agreed upon by the Railway Executive Committee and the three railway trade unions in London last night. The terms of settlement also provide proportionate amounts to juniors and females and an 'increase of 8 a year for the adult male clerical staff. The settle-meat will operate from Monday. The executive ot the N.UJL, meeting later, decided to accept terms which aSect over 500,000 employees. it is highly probable, it is understood, that the otter two unions, the Railway Clerics' Association and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, will also approve. The settlement will mean the follow Will be Saved: Stories of the on Dunkirk Beach By E. A. MONTAGUE gun or a Bren gun. Their eyes were red with weariness above dark bags of tired skin, but they were still soldiers and still in good heart. The wonder of their self-discipline became all the greater when one heard their stories. They were of all units and ranks. , Some were in the position of the gunners whose battery had been shelled out of existence near Oudenarde, because our overworked fighter 'planes had had no time to deal with the German reconnaissance 'planes. Their battery commander had told them to do the best they could for themselves now that their usefulness had gone, and they had walked thirty miles to Dunkirk, there to take their chance on the Dunkirk beach, which will become as famous in history as the beaches of Gallipoli. ON DUNKIRK BEACH All the stories of the men skirt inarticulately round the beach at Dunkirk. It was, and is, the place to which the isolated but unbroken men came to wait their turn for the ships which came through shell fire and bombing to rescue them. It is a stretch of level sand backed by dunes. The sea in front of it is shallow for some way out, so that ships cannot come close in, and successive sand banks parallel to the shore catch at the keels of rowing-boats which come in at low tide. Many of the men have spent two or three or four days on this beach, hiding in hollows scratched in the sand or in communal dug-outs in the dunes from the German 'planes which have scourged them with bomb and machine-gun. Their nights have been sleepless, and they have lived only on biscuits and water. Yet even here discipline holds. Units have been told off to look after " beach organisation " and to detail men for embarkation whenever one of the gallant destroyers moors beside the jetty. At other times the various craft, which are risking their lives to rescue the soldiers, cannot come near the shore. When that happens the men must row themselves out in small boats or swim to the waiting ships. I met a Staff officer to-day who had spent the last twelve hours before his embarkation in the sea, continuously in water up to his waist, helping to push off the boats which had grounded on the sandbanks. For a large part of the time he was under fire. THE CONTINUING DANGER Even when the men have embarked their danger is not over. Every now and then among the men who climb the gangplank into England one sees stretcher-bearers carrying a still form, its face bloodless and remote in some dream of pain, its bandages FROM OUR NAVAL CORRESPONDENT officer told me to-day in discussing some aspects of the work that the Navy had done. INCREDIBLE LOADS Much of the embarkation had to be done from open beaches, wherever the parties of troops were found. All sorts of craft have been employed from destroyers downwards, and the loads that some of the vessels carried are wellnigh incredible. If you take a "large number" and then double it you may still underestimate the numbers of the men who had been " ferried " awav from Northern France not in one particular case out in dozens. It may perhaps be well to emphasise ons point. The German wireless has claimed the sinking of a 15.000-ton transport in the operations. No vessel of such size could be used off this coast, for the water is too shallow to float her. The work of withdrawal has been carried out bv small craft, not one of which had any armour protection against bombs. The intensity of the aerial attack under which the work of embarkinfl and transporting the troops has been j aone may De pictured from just one detailed account of one ships adventures in one day. She went across the Strait of Dover with three other destroyers and on the way was attacked six times by dive bombers. She lay off the coast for a time providing antiaircraft fire coverage for the ships that were embarking men. and then went into the harbour to pick up her own quota. While she was alongside the quay high-bombing attacks were carried out. but no one was hurt. As the destroyer came out of the harbour twelve further dive-bombing atxacJts were launched at her. No direct hit was made, but the explosion ; ot a near-miss burst some of her j steampipes. She lost way and was ing total increase since the last agreement early this year : Traffic Grades: Adult males. 7s. a week ; junior males, 3s. 6d-; adult remain, 5s. 3d. ; junior females. 2s. StL . Salaried Staff: Adult males. 18 a year ; junior males. 9 ; adult females. 5s. 3d. a week ; junior females, 2s. StL The three unions bad claimed an increase of 6s. a week, bringing the total advance up to 10s. UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' VOTE At the """ftTT tV"'f""' general meeting of the IbackMbr TJrrfwrsitv Union. yesterday, a resolution was carried by zvb ftw to 43 r-tr -ran support to the nation's effort to win the war. white and brilliantly stained. It is a man who has been hit by one of the shells from the German shore batteries, or by a bomb from the 'planes which on occasion have pursued the ships to within a few miles of the British coast Yet they sur vive in their tens of thousands and are able to joke and sing as they march ashore. Their condition is astonishingly good. Perhaps one man in a thousand is shaking with nerves and obviously fit for nothing but hospital. The rest are clearlv tired, hungry. and in most cases footsore. They walk stiffly, and some of them obviously find it painful to walk at all. THEIR ONE COMPLAINT 'PLANES But there is nothing wrong with them which a few days' rest and good feeding will not put right, and their fighting spirit is quite unweakened. Men who were really exhausted would not be able to talk to reporters : these men can and apparently enjoy doing it. and without being bombastic they make it clear that they are still as good soldiers as ever they were. They are most comforting to see and hear. Their only bitterness is about the lack of R.A.F. 'planes to defend them from the German bombers, and that, alas ! is no news to us The long string of steel-helmeted men passes steadily but swiftly up the gang-plank and away into the station, where they will be put into trains, fed, and dispatched to depots, where they can be reorganised and rested. A few stretcher cases are hoisted out of the ship in slings, the litter of forgotten kit is cleared away into sorting sheds, and in no time the ship is ready to return to Dunkirk. But long before it is ready another has drawn up alongside, and as often as not the men on the second ship are being unloaded across the decks of the first. British ships and French and Dutch, warships, drifters, trawlers, yachts, barges, they bring their loads across the hostile Channel and then go back undaunted into the inferno, where Navy and Air Force and Army are fighting furiously to keep open the last loophole of escape for our men. All the selfless courage of two nations is being thrown into the resistance at Dunkirk, and it looks as if it will not be spent in vain. B.E.F. MEN GO ON LEAVE The returning B.E.F. men are being given short leave of absence. They come from all sorts of units, and besides giving them a well-earned rest the short leave will enable the authorities to adjust matters. drifting towards the sandbanks when another destroyer took her in tow. More dive bombers came at the nair of them, and once she was clear of the shoal water the captain decided that he must not exoose the other ship to risk while towing. So he transferred his troops to her and sent her away. He dropped anchor to prevent his ship from drifting towards the shoals and lay there, a stationary target, while his engineers toiled at the repair of the damaged steampipes Attack after attack was levelled at them without a single hit being achieved. For an hour and a half they lay there. Then the I PJ,eted tne rePairs and raised steam. oiuiiu a lew minutes tne aestroyer was bowling along for the English coast at 20 knots. LAUNDRY WORK UNDER FIRE Stories like that could be told by the dozen of the adventures of the Navy in the past four days. Here is one that shows, I think, the all but incredible coolness and imperturbability of the seamen under the inferno of attack to which they have been subjected. A small craft which had already made two trips to the withdrawal area in the course of the day set off in the evening for a third crossing. Or. the beach they found a party of Army nurses and embarked them in the dusk. When the nurses came on board it was seen that they were soaked to the skin, their Uniforms and aprons all bedraggled. The seamen quickly rigged up a dormitory for them in a corner of a messdeck, piled up blankets for the girls to wrap themselves in, and told them to have a good sleep. When the nurses were roused later to go ashore they found their uniforms all washed, pressed, and ironed, neatly laid out ready for them to put on. As an example of coolness under fire that seems to me to rank high. WORKMEN'S FARES The Railway Executive Committee have arranged that as a war-time emergency measure, workmen's tickets will be issued at any time on Sundays for journeys bstwean places of residence and daces of employment to an applicants producing a works pass, shut cexuficate, or other means of identification associated with the Place at wniea tne went Hum performed. Thess arrangements will begin to-morrow (June 2). ON OTHER PAGES Tke B: -Canaaaa" Um (ky ism list ffiaaawl OhotsrM ff ItV MajlrfT A. dm V. R.A.F. AIDS CALAIS GARRISON Water and Ammunition Delivered by Parachute BOMBERS ATTACK GERMAN TROOPS Squadrons of the Royal Air Force, flying with great daring, have dropped water, ammunition, and hand-grenades to the Allied garrison which is holding out at Calais, the Air Ministry News Service announced early to-day. The feat recalls the dropping of flour into the beleagured garrison of Kut-el-Amara by the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. It was late at night when orders were received at an air-field in the South of England that the water and ammunition should be taken to the garrison of the citadel by air. Water was taken first. Each aircraft was loaded with two containers, which were fitted in the bomb rack. The containers, cylindrical in shape, each carried ten gallons and were fitted with parachutes that opened automatically as soon as they were released from the aircraft. As dawn was breaking twu sorties, each of ten aircraft left with water. In twenty minutes they were approaching Calais. It could be seen that the town was in flames, and the smoke palls to some extent obscured the aircraft's target. The leading 'planes met with only light anti-aircraft fire, but those that followed encountered heavy fire. One was lost, and most of those behind the leaders were hit several times. As they passed over the citadel the pilots came DIRECT HITS ON The Air Ministry news service states : Many direct hits on enemy troop con centrations and motorised columns on the Nieuport roads on the Belgian coast were made by aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm, operating with the Coastal Command, yesterday evening. The aircraft were out to attack roads on which the Germans were bringing up troops and ammunition trucks. They found the roads crowded. Diving to 2,000 feet, they made simultaneous attacks on two roads. Scores of heavy bombs were dropped. As the smoke of the explosions cleared the pilots saw craters in one road at an important DISQUIETING SIGNS OF ITALY'S INTENTIONS Contraband Control Talks Broken Off From our Diplomatic Correspondent London, Friday, i A further disquieting sign of the Italian Government's intentions is that Sir Wilfrid Greene's recent mission to negotiate an agreement with Italy about the working -f Allied contraband control has been without result. After seven days' negotiation in Rome he brought back with him, as he thought, on Sunday an agreement in principle. It was that Italy was prepared to accept Navicerts, which meant that Italian cargoes would be examined at their ports of origin in future and would not be detained at Allied control bases. It was hoped that the agreement In principle could be worked out technically and in detail to become a complete and satisfactory instrument. We have now been informed that the discussions are broken off. It is to be presumed that the Italian representatives on the Anglo-Italian joint standing committee were negotiating without the authority of the Italian Government, or that they were subsequently disavowed. Whatever the cause. Sir Wilfrid Greene's work and that of the Italian delegates with whom he negotiated will bear no fruit. It may be recalled that this is the second time we have come within sight of an economic agreement with Italy, only to lose it at the last moment. Some two months ago negotiations for a war trade agree ment were far advanced, but suddenly broke down from similar suspected causes. A TUKMDIC-POIMT Hitherto there have been prolonged periods in Anglo-Italian relations when there have been benign economic pockets in a political storm area. Much importance and a good deal of hope have been attached by this country to the favourable influences, for we settled our differences with Italy finally, as we hoped, under Mr. Chamberlain's Premiership. We desired only the promise of peace and good relations with Italy which it was hoped would then follow. Lord Halifax, the Foreign Minister, now. as then, has always striven for friendship, but economically as well as politically the barometer now registers storm. ANTI-AIRCRAFT CRUISER SUNK OFF NORWAY The Secretary of the Admiralty regrets' to announce the loss of H M-S. Curlew (Captain B. C. B. Brooke), sunk as a result of a bombing attack some days ago off the north coast of Norway, During the recent successful operations in the 'Narvik area warships have been heavily engaged in bombarding enemy positions on land and in protecting occupied coastal areas and convoys. They bare been exposed to incessant twwg attacks, in the course of which many enemy aircraft have been destroyed. The confined and dangerous waters off this coast restrict freedom of so greatly tbat occasional are inevitable. Difficulty experienced fa asmtatoing names at survlrurs has pteimted this t from beinar made before. and five ratings lost their xtves. down to as low as SO feet to make sure of their aim. An officer who led one of the parties of aircraft said that he could see the smoke from the burning town for 20 miles. "As far as I could judge we passed right over the target and dropped the water in the citadel," he said. "We immediately turned and came back over the Channel, flying very low. One of our aircraft was seen to dive into the ground after the pilot had dropped the water. I got off lightly with only two tracer bullets through my tail, and the chaps following me had a far worse time. As I looked back when flying over the sea I could see tracers flying in every direction. " I was leading the ten aircraft that dropped the containers on the western part of the fort, and I could see the other ten aircraft dropping their loads on the eastern part. As far as I could see we were all right over the target." Later more aircraft, accompanied this time by dive bombers, who bombed the Germans while the other 'planes were carrying out their mission, dropped small-arm ammunition and hand-grenades into the citadel. Another officer who led one of these sorties said there were clouds at 1,000 feet near Calais, and the pilots had to go down to this height before releasing their loads Thj men holding the citadel could not be seei . but they would naturally be under cover with so many aircraft "in the au When the ammunition was dropped no fewer than thirty-nine aircraft werf concerned in the operation. TROOP COLUMNS junction. Houses near by were demolished. One pilot saw his bombs make a direct hit on a large open touring car escorted by two motor-cycle outriders. Other bombs fell directly on lorries and bodies of troops. Another flight saw similar results from their bombs. They watched a large red building at a road junction crumble into ruins, and a particularly fierce explosion followed their last salvo. Other bombs struck on the roads and on houses in a German-occupied village. The whole attack was made in face of heavy anti-aircraft fire, but none of our aircraft was harmed. More auccaaaes by Defiant Ejhtera on page 41 The period when there were favourable reports from responsible quarters that Italy's Intentions abroad were not so bellicose as home demonstrations suggested has now come to an end. So, too, have the assurances that Italy did oot intend to enter the war immediately or in the very near future. Latterly there have been a number of conversations between Count Ciano and the British French, and United Stales Ambassadors. Their results have been far from encouraging, in spite of the proofs given of the goodwill of the Allies and their desire to come to an understanding with Italy. MUSSOLINI IMPRESSED There can be little doubt that Mussolini has been enormously impressed bv the successes of the German Army. It may be pointed out that Mussolini's first thoughts of the Axis came from information about the military strength and sdvanced military preparations of Germany. He is even more impressed now than he was at that time. It seems that Mussolini Is convinced that Germany and Italy together could strike so decisively that the war would finish in a very short time. Mussolini, like Hitler, overlooks the vital Importance of sea power. In some Quarters it is considered possible that Mussolini is aiming at another Munich, but this Is not widely believed. It may be. however, that he has not yet completed his domestic propaganda campaign for "living space" and the other Italian related claims. This might still delay Italian action for seme time, but all military, naval, and civil preparations are being made by Italy for war. ITALIAN ENVOY SEES HITLER The Italian Ambassador in Berlin. Signor Dino Alfieri. was received yesterday by Hitler at his headquarters behind the Western Front. Ribbentrop, the Foreign Minister, was present. The French Ministry of Information spokesman yesterday confirmed reports that Italian journalists were leaving Paris. This, he said, did not mean war with Italy, but he thought it possible that the Italians would enter the fight within ten days, when a new German offensive was expected. Press Association War Special. Our Naval Correspondent writes: German air attacks on the -cruiser Curlew must have been attended with some element of luck, for she was specially equipped as an anti-aircraft snip, and her armament consisted of ten 4-inch high-angle guns, as well as the famous multi-barrelled pom-pom. We may learn later hew her destruction was encompassed. The fact that only nine lives were lost cut of a complement of 400 may be an indication. One case of rare luck for air attack has occurred during the recent fighting off the French coast. A German bomb dropped down the funnel of one of the destroyers which the Admiralty announced yesterday had bean sunk. The chances against such a shot are generally calculated in millions and. 'so far as can be ascertained, this-1 is the first authenticated instance. Evan, when the bomb exploded inside the boiler-room no damage was done to tha fnnneL It was. sttd upright in its place as the ship went down, About 400 survivors of the -Curlew arrived at ajwrt fa the Worth of Scot-