The fighting in France in the spring of 1940, and the evacuation at Dunkirk was never just a British experience—it was a desperate fight for survival shared by people of many nations which included the British, French, Belgians, and Canadians. Among them were Nova Scotians who served with Canadian and British units, squadrons or vessels. As soldiers, sailors and airmen, they found themselves thrust into one of the most pivotal moments of the war. The Battle of France (also known as the Western Campaign or the Fall of France) refers to the German Invasion of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, which took place from May 10 – June 25, 1940. During this struggle, the Dunkirk evacuations, code-named Operation Dynamo, were undertaken between May 26 and June 4, 1940. Invading France using a swift military strategy called Blitzkrieg "lightning war", Germans bypassed France’s heavily fortified Maginot Line by pushing through Belgium and the Ardennes Forest, catching the Allies off guard. Their forces quickly overwhelmed French and British troops, forcing them into a desperate retreat toward the coast. By late May, hundreds of thousands of British and French soldiers were trapped at Dunkirk, surrounded by German forces. With no clear escape route, the situation was dire. However, the Allies launched a dramatic evacuation that saw over 330,000 troops rescued by a fleet of military and civilian boats. Despite it being a retreat, this evacuation preserved much of the British Army, allowing them to regroup and continue fighting in the war. Operation Dynamo was coordinated by Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay from his headquarters in the dynamo room beneath Dover Castle. Working for 9 days straight, Ramsay and his staff planned the rescue of the trapped men. The evacuation plan used both naval vessels and civilian boats to navigate the shallow waters near the beaches. In 2004 and 2007, members of the Wartime Heritage Association visited Admiral Ramsay’s secret underground tunnels and command centre beneath Dover Castle. Many people may not realize that some Nova Scotians were already serving in British Army units in France at this early time in the war. Around 100 Canadians, mostly from Halifax, Nova Scotia, had enlisted in the British Army’s Manchester Regiment in the UK before the war and were actively serving by the spring of 1940. Others joined different British Army regiments, such as Clyde Reginald Cruickshanks of Halifax, who served with the Royal Ulster Rifles. The Rifles were deployed in 1939 and like peer- regiments in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), suffered heavy casualties in the fighting and were forced to retreat to Dunkirk. Daniel "Dannie" Serrick was a Canadian soldier from Halifax, who enlisted in the Manchester Regt in 1938 and was evacuated from Dunkirk in May 1940. Captain Peter Innes Lowe of Halifax was successfully evacuated from Dunkirk while serving with the Royal Canadian Artillery of the BEF. He later died in 1944 in the Pacific Theatre of War. While many soldiers were saved, over 330,000, some were unfortunately captured by the enemy or killed during the Battle of France. Some 40,000 French and 40,000 British troops were captured, and approximately 11,000 British (including Canadians) were killed. Sergeant Francis William McCarthy served with the Manchester Regt. and was captured, and become a prisoner of war. Liberated at the end of the war, he died Aug 7, 1947, from TB contracted while a POW. Francis is credited with having designed the insignia of the West Nova Scotia Regiment (WNSR). Lance Corporal Clyde Reginald Cruickshanks of Halifax was not evacuated either; he taken prisoner on May 26, 1940. He survived the war as a prisoner of war, and was liberated in April of 1945. Private Harold Morris served with the 3rd Petrol Field Depot of the Royal Army Service Corps in France, and was captured by advancing German forces. Sadly, he died while still a POW on December 26, 1944. Private William Douglas Adams served with the Manchester Regt, and died sometime between May 10 and May 19, 1940. Due to the chaotic Battle of France, the exact details of his death are not known. Private Thomas McCarthy died sometime between May13 and May 21, 1940, also serving with the Manchester Regiment. Another Nova Scotia connection to the events of the Battle of France and Dunkirk, is the story of Pilot Officer Jack Elmer Hatfield of Tusket in Yarmouth Co., NS, who died May 28, 1940. Jack served with the RAF’s 264 Squadron as an air gunner. On May 28th, Hatfield had taken off from RAF Manston in Kent with Pilot Officer Alexander McLeod in Boulton Paul Defiant fighter L7007 to patrol Dunkirk. They failed to return from combat with BF109s, having been shot down in the English Channel north west of Dunkirk. Jack was the first Nova Scotian to die in aerial combat. The Wartime Heritage Association’s honorary board member Eric May, A Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Veteran, served as Telegraphist Air Gunner during WWII and trained in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, during the war. Prior to his Naval Royal enlistment and transfer to Canada for training, Eric grew up in the ‘Garden of England’, the South East of England in Kent County. Living in Margate, Eric was only 15 in May of 1940. Margate was a coastal town and being so close to continental Europe in 1940 it was significantly different from previous years. The resident population was less than half of what it was in peacetime, as many holiday-makers were absent due to civilian evacuation initiatives. Dover, Deal, Ramsgate and Margate became the ports of arrival for the evacuated troops, and Eric remembers his experience in Margate, “During the evacuation of Dunkirk at the end of May 1940 some thousands of troops were landed at the end of Margate Pier and were marched, limped or carried along Margate seafront to the railway station in various states of disarray, weary and hungry. The following week after the evacuation had been completed, I was to experience a further horror and effect of war. It was the funeral of some of the valiant men who had died after landing at Margate. At the age of just fifteen my only experience of death was of a brother who died at the early age of 17 years in 1935. His funeral was dignified and his coffin was conveyed to the cemetery in a highly polished hearse. Not so the troops who had died in the defence of our country. I stood on Margate seafront near the clock tower and I first saw the military funeral procession lead by a band of pipers playing a slow march. I next saw something I have not forgotten or ever will ... a number of builders lorries, each carrying a number of coffins of the fallen. I cried.” Rear Admiral Robert Walter Timbrell, CMM, DSC, CD, Royal Canadian Navy (February 1, 1920 – April 11, 2006) who settled in Chester, Nova Scotia later in life, played a key part in the evacuations. He was still just 20 years old, when in May 1940 he was among 20 other junior officers who were ordered to take command of small boats to assist in the evacuation. The Association presented his story in our 2007 Time to Remember stage production – Tragedy and Triumph – Memories of WWII: “On May 29th, a young naval officer [Sub-Lieutenant] at the Naval Gunnery School on Whale Island, Portsmouth, was sent to Ramsgate with orders to take command of a motor yacht and assist in the evacuation from Dunkirk. [Timbrell was assigned a crew consisting of a Royal Navy petty officer, two London Transport (LT) bus mechanics, and six woodsmen from Newfoundland. The only equipment that was issued was a WWI revolver, an uncorrected magnetic compass and a chart of the (known) minefields. However, Llanthony did carry two tenders, which would later allow them to take 16 men at a time off the beaches.] As they crossed to Dunkirk, they met a disabled steamer, crowded with evacuated troops, and they towed it back to Ramsgate. Crossing followed crossing … men were carried to safety … the yacht was bombed, five of the crew were killed, the fuel pipes were severed and the engine died as they drifted to the Dunkirk beach. With help, they repaired the engines, patched up the damage, and returned to Kent with another group of soldiers. With a replacement crew they crossed again and again, drove off air attacks, and a German e-boat. On the final trip they managed to pick up a drunken British soldier who insisted on paying for his passage home. His ticket — a case of looted brandy.” The task completed, the yacht returned to Portsmouth riddled with bullet holes but still under the command of a young Bob Timbrell (1920-2006). He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery under fire, the first and youngest Canadian to receive the award in the Second World War. The Motor Yacht Llanthony, still sails to this day and takes part in the commemorative crossings to Dunkirk. It is estimated that Robert Timbrell was responsible for the evacuation of hundreds of men. A second seaman, Desmond ‘Debby’ William Piers, CM, DSC, CD (1913-2005) who was born in Halifax and also eventually rose to the rank of Rear Admiral, also served in Operation Dynamo. In June 1940, his vessel, HMCS Restigouche, was one of seven RCN destroyers evacuating troops from Dunkirk. As Restigouche departed St. Valery with wounded aboard, the ship received orders to aid in the evacuation of the 51st Highland Division. The Captain instructed Piers to send someone ashore to contact the Division Commander and coordinate the operation. Driven by a strong sense of duty and undeterred by the danger, Piers chose to go himself. The General, determined to hold the flank and protect others still evacuating, refused to leave. Under heavy small-arms fire, Piers managed to return to his ship just as German tanks overwhelmed the Scottish forces, reaching the nearby cliffs and bombarding the Allied vessels. Piers’ Dunkirk experience was also presented in the Wartime Heritage Association’s 2007 Time to Remember stage production of Tragedy and Triumph – Memories of WWII. These stories serve as a reminder that the Battle of France and Operation Dynamo were not exclusively British or European affairs. Canadians, particularly Nova Scotians and those with connections to the region, were deeply involved, caught in the fierce combat, the urgent evacuation, and the pivotal events of May 1940. Additional reading: Operation Dynamo and the Fall of France Motor Yacht Llanthony