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Tunnels' role in Dunkirk evacuation
remembered

by Graham Tutthill

Seventy years ago, secret tunnels below
Dover Castle
became the nerve centre for one of the most dangerous and desperate
operations of the Second World War.

Operation Dynamo was the code-name given to
the Dunkirk evacuation, and on May 26 1940, Vice-Admiral Bertram
Ramsay and his naval staff worked around the clock to plan and
implement the evacuation of thousands of troops - including the
British Expeditionary Force - who were trapped at Dunkirk and under
fierce attack by the Germans.

What happened over the next nine days was
later hailed a miracle as 338,000 stranded soldiers were
rescued from the beaches and harbour at Dunkirk, and brought them
back to safety.

To mark the anniversary, a week of events is
planned in the secret wartime tunnels giving visitors the chance to
feel the tension and drama of those days, to see some of the
equipment that was used and to experience the conditions in which
the servicemen and women lived and worked.

The highlight will be a three-day event, over the May bank
holiday weekend (May 29 to 31) when the castle will be occupied by
military and civilian wartime personnel as they re-create the
frenzy of activity that took place in 1940.

And children will be invited to make
individually-named paper replicas of each of the 700 "little ships"
that took part in the evacuation to go on display in Ramsay's
casement from June 4, marking the final day of Operation
Dynamo.

On Friday June 4, a special memorial service
attended by veterans will be held in St Mary in Castro church at
the castle, before a parade to Admiralty Lookout.

Among those taking part will be members of
Ramsay's family and a wreath will be laid at the statue of Admiral
Sir Bertram Ramsay which stands next to the lookout, and the
castle's guns will be fired in tribute.

Two-page picture special in this week's Dover
Mercury.