Journals during evacuation of Dunkirk

Hello my name is Francis Martin. When I was 18 I left home to fight in the war. I was stationed in Dunkirk when things started to get serious. I decided it would be a good idea to keep records of the important events that I was witnessing. Here's what happened:

26 May, 1940

Today was the first day of what the british call Operation Dynamo. From the looks of it, they are evacuating troops from the beaches and from Dunkirk Harbour. However, not French troops. They are evacuating men from the British Expeditionary Force. It looks like they are making progress, but it doesn't seem like they have enough ships. I would guess only a couple thousand troops will get out today. I hope they evacuate us French troops soon, as the Germans are coming! I hear the Germans are advancing near Dijon, my hometown. I hope my family is okay. I got a letter from my mother saying what was happening. She said they were going to try and find a way out of the war zone. This was two weeks ago, and I haven't heard from them since.

30 May, 1940

By now about 125.000 troops have been taken out. The rescue effort has really picked up. Now they are rescuing French, as well as British troops. They have sent in more boats, from all around, and of all different sizes. They are putting troops on very tiny boats, maybe even as little as 15 feet. It seems as though they are just using any floating object they can find. As far as the soldiers go, men stand in the water for hours on end waiting to board the ships. Some hold their belongings over their heads, but others just get everything wet because they are shoulder-deep in water. While we are al waiting to be taken, there have been several heavy aerial attacks by the Luftwaffe. They hit us hard, but we have still been able to manage to proceed with the evacuations. So far the evacuation has been much more successful than originally planned, I think mostly because we overestimated the arrival of German troops.

4 June, 1940

Today the last of us were evacuated from the Harbour. We were able to get almost 339.000 troops out of Dunkirk before the germans arrived. There were two french divisions, however, who stayed behind to supervise the evacuation. When the Germans arrived, they were captured and eventually surrendered. I was very lucky to be on one of the last boats out. The boat was very uncomfortable, because they packed as many people aboard as possible. The final hours of evacuation were very frantic and many people stood in the water and waited. People were rushed onto the boats, as we tried to save as many people as we could. As far as my family goes, I still haven't heard from them. Oh well, I'm sure they're fine. When I get back to base I will write to them again. While we have lost three destroyers, and the Royal navy has lost six, I still think this evacuation has saved hundreds of thousands of lives, including my own. For that I am thankful.

After this I was repatriated and shuttled to Normandy, where I was eventually captured and made a POW. I'm still here in this camp just trying to survive. I sure hope this dreadful war ends soon.