Everything about Operation Ariel totally explained
Operation Ariel was the name given to the
World War II evacuation of Allied forces from western
France following the collapse of this country by the invasion by
Nazi Germany.
Operation
Ariel commanded by
admiral William Milbourne James C-inC,
Portsmouth Command began on
June 14 being conducted from the ports of
Cherbourg and
St Malo, ending on
June 25 1940 in accordance with the armistice terms signed by the French Government. During this time, further to the south in the
Bay of Biscay area, evacuations were also being carried out from
St Nazaire,
Brest and
Nantes led by
Admiral Sir Martin Eric Nasmith C-inC, Western Approaches Command.
Over 215,000 British, French, Polish and
Canadian soldiers were evacuated, to be combined with the 338,226 men that were evacuated from
Dunkirk (the
miracle of Dunkirk, as
Winston Churchill called it). The British evacuation of Dunkirk through the
English Channel was codenamed
Operation Dynamo.
Operation
Ariel was less desperate in some ways, and less well known, than the earlier heavy fighting around Dunkirk during the German invasion in
1940 (when a lull in the fighting allowed an unexpectedly large number of French and British soldiers to escape to Britain). The only major loss during the evacuation from western France occurred off
St Nazaire on 17 June. The liner
RMS Lancastria was bombed and sunk, by
Junkers Ju 88s of
Kampfgeschwader 30 killing some 5,800 personnel.
On the final day of the evacuation, 25th June, Canadian destroyer
HMCS Fraser was rammed and sunk by the anti-aircraft cruiser
HMS Calcutta in the
Gironde estuary, leading into
Bordeaux. About 4,000 were awaiting evacuation.
Further Information
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