Operation Ariel
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Operation Ariel was the name given to the World War II evacuation of French and British forces from western France following the collapse of this country by the invasion by Nazi Germany.
Operation Ariel commanded by Admiral 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 an additional 215,000 British, French, Polish and Canadian soldiers were evacuated to be combined with the 338,226 men that were evacuated, amidst constant bombing, 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. Estimates of the numbers on board vary between 4,000 and 9,000 Allied troops and nationals. There were 2,477 survivors.
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.
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