St Malo 1940

[Drew5233]

Ships which sailed from St. Malo as part of Op Aerial berthed at Southampton, Weymouth, Plymouth and Jersey.

Sourced from BEF Ships, before, at and after Dunkirk by John de S. Winser.

Just shout if you need anymore help - France and Flanders in 1940 is my thing with over 700 BEF war diaries, around 500 BEF related files and 200 ish books on the subject from Regimental Histories to Campaign books in my collection

[ScouseBoy]

Try  www.convoyweb.org.uk                   Type in  port  St Malo     in June 1940     say  10th june to 17th June   and see departures.

[Jon Blair]

Thank you everyone for adding all this extra information.  I was lucky enough to be given copies of diaries kept by 2 of the crew of RFC113 by the families of Bill Cox (Master) and Clary Glendewar (Engineer) The other crew members were Ted Cox and Harry Le Boutillier and a RN Radio Officer (unknown) So I can confirm that RFC113 was the last boat to leave St Malo under the command of Commander (later Admiral) Howard Johnston on the 18th June 1940.  RFC113 made 2 trips to St Malo on the 17th and 18th June and shepherded the Jersey Yacht Club volunteers home taking one boat in tow along the way.  RFC113 only left on the 18th after Commander Howard Johnston and his men had successfully demolised the port and rendered it unusable to the approaching German Army. On this final trip they carried various evacuating servicemen and at least one female, a school teacher.

Very happy to keep sharing and adding to the information in the public domain with everyone, so pleased the story keeps growing - do you think RFC113 was the boat your father was on Chris ?

I have attached a  press report published in the Straits Times in 1940 about the event.

[Alizar]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but there seem to be some knowledgeable folk commenting so we thought it might be a good place to start. 

My family are trying to trace a ship that took my mother (then aged and her family from St Malo to Portsmouth in May 1940.  She thinks it was a British Navy destroyer.  The dates of her families escape from Belgium would suggest that the ship may have been part of convoy SA.42 (found thanks to earlier links on this thread).  Does anyone have any more information about this  convoy or ships in the area at the time?  If not what's the best place for us to look next?

Many thanks

[Drew5233]

Hi

Do you know the date and are you sure it was May and not June?

[Alizar]

They left Belgium on the 18th May and took 4-5 days to travel across Northern France and then waited near St Malo for no more than a day or 2 so pretty certain it was nothing to do with Aerial.

[Drew5233]

So between 27th and 28th May would you say?

[Alizar]

Possibly as early as the 25th or 26th but 27th or 28th would be plausible.

[Drew5233]

I've had a look through four of my books but nothing is jumping out that early at St Malo. Try Roy Martin on WW2 Talk (tell him Drew sent you). He is by far the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to ships around the coast of France during 1940.