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Bertram RamseyAdmiral
Date of Birth: 20.01.1883
Country:  Great Britain |
Content:
- Birth and Early Career
- Rear Admiral and Conflict
- World War II
- Operation Dynamo
- Evacuation Success
- Evacuation of the French
- Final Evacuation Attempt
- Recognition and Legacy
- Operation Husky
- Success at Sicily
- Operation Neptune
- Detailed Planning
Birth and Early Career
British Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay (1883-1945) was born at Hampton Court Palace in Hampton on January 20th, 1883. He joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1898. During World War I, he rose to the rank of commander (1916) and commanded a destroyer in the Dover Patrol and along the Belgian coast.
Rear Admiral and Conflict
In 1935, Ramsay was promoted to rear admiral and appointed chief of staff of the Home Fleet. His uncompromising independence led to conflicts with some senior officers, and he retired from the Navy in 1938.
World War II
When World War II broke out, Ramsay was recalled to active duty. In 1940, he commanded the naval base at Dover. When German forces invaded the Netherlands, his destroyers were sent to Holland with British troops to disable ports. British ships evacuated the Dutch royal family and valuables. Similar operations were soon required in Belgium. Ramsay's destroyers off the coasts of the Netherlands and Belgium evacuated troops, bombarded shore targets, provided cover for shipping, and repelled air attacks.
Operation Dynamo
On May 20th, his ships landed two battalions of Guards at Boulogne to delay the German advance along the coast, which threatened the British Expeditionary Force. Three days later, his destroyers took off the remnants of these troops, facing gunfire even from tanks. Ramsay prepared to evacuate Calais as well, but the garrison was ordered to fight to the end "in a gesture of Allied solidarity."
As the British Army retreated towards Dunkirk under enemy pressure, the Admiralty took drastic action. Ramsay was tasked with carrying it out. He gathered a flotilla of assorted vessels, hoping to evacuate 45,000 men. Doubts remained whether this could be achieved with enemy superiority on land and in the air.
On the evening of May 26th, Operation Dynamo commenced. Ships had been crossing to Dunkirk even before the Admiralty order. With the harbor's quays damaged, beaches were used where men boarded small boats, and the eastern mole where larger ships could berth. By midnight on May 27th, only 7,669 men had been taken off. However, the next day, it proved possible to land stores and medical supplies.
Troops were embarked quickly on ferries and destroyers, thanks to good organization. Ramsay's flotilla was joined by numerous trawlers, drifters, and other small vessels that took men off the beaches. In a day, 47,310 soldiers were evacuated. But on May 29th, enemy shelling and bombing sank three and damaged seven destroyers. The Admiralty, fearing for the destroyers, ordered all modern capital ships away. At Ramsay's urgent request, he was allowed to keep fifteen destroyers, but these were soon recalled as well. The use of more shallow-draft vessels made it possible to increase greatly the number of men evacuated.
Evacuation Success
Ramsay's trawlers cleared three channels. The shortest, along the French coast, had to be abandoned. Initially, the longest (87 miles) was used, but on May 29th, the admiral switched to the middle route (55 miles). For three days, the Germans failed to notice the change. When 53,823 men had been evacuated on May 30th, an elated Ramsay ordered "the evacuation to be intensified to the utmost" and hoped to get all the troops off by June 1st. However, a strong onshore wind hampered embarkation, and only when the seas subsided on May 31st could 68,014 men be taken off.
Success was facilitated by the improvised shore headquarters, where the flagship communicated with the port and beach parties. This experience was used later in landing operations. On June 1st, the Germans heavily bombed Dunkirk. Four destroyers and a ferry were sunk. Other ships rescued those on board. Casualties were heavy. Nevertheless, 64,429 men were landed in England. Rearguard British forces remained ashore.
Evacuation of the French
Ramsay intended to evacuate French troops as well. To avoid heavy losses, he decided to do as much as possible by night, sending off all his available ships in the evening. During the day, 26,256 men were taken off. By nightfall on June 2nd, all British troops had been evacuated except the wounded. On June 2nd-3rd, 26,746 French troops were also evacuated; more might have been saved, but units were slow in coming to the embarkation points.
Final Evacuation Attempt
Despite the tired crews of his ships, Ramsay ordered a final attempt on the night of June 3rd-4th. Nine destroyers, five transports, and two dozen smaller vessels went in to take off 30,000 men still trapped in the pocket. They succeeded in embarking 26,175 from harbor moles, but 3,000 men remained ashore holding out in Dunkirk. This marked the end of Operation Dynamo.
Recognition and Legacy
Largely thanks to Ramsay's determination and organizational skills, 338,226 troops were embarked instead of the 45,000 originally planned. The Royal Navy suffered heavy losses. However, the seamen's self-sacrifice saved the British Expeditionary Force from ignominious surrender and demonstrated that it could stand up to the German war machine. Ramsay was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.
Operation Husky
In the summer of 1942, as the Allies began planning for the invasion of mainland Europe, Ramsay, as head of the British naval forces, helped prepare the plan for the Normandy landings, which was eventually assigned to General Dwight D. Eisenhower. However, this plan was postponed. At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, despite American proposals to cross the English Channel, the Allies decided, because of the shortage of shipping and trained troops, to limit themselves to landings in Sicily to use the island as a steppingstone for an invasion of Italy.
On May 13th, the Combined Chiefs of Staff approved a plan whereby the British 8th Army would land on five sectors from the outskirts of Syracuse to Cape Passero, while the American 7th Army would land 30 miles away on three sectors of the island's southern coast. Overall command of the naval side of the operation was given to Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, the Eastern Task Force, which was carrying the British landings, was commanded by Admiral Ramsay, and the Western Task Force, which was taking the Americans, was commanded by Vice Admiral Kent Hewitt.
Success at Sicily
Ramsay had the difficult task of coordinating the actions of five British convoys sailing from ports in the Middle East, from Malta, and even directly from the UK. They had to deliver, land, and support 115,000 British troops. In Operation Husky, the acceleration of the landings was achieved for the first time by carrying part of the troops to sea directly in amphibious craft. In early July, Ramsay and his staff arrived in Malta. On July 4th, the order was given to launch Operation Husky, and on July 9th, the convoys sailed.
Thanks to deception measures, casualties on the crossing were light. South of the island, at the control point, Ramsay took over command of the landings. The invading troops encountered calm seas and were well ashore by nightfall, despite some confusion in landing. Minesweepers cleared channels to the captured ports of Syracuse and Augusta, enabling supplies to be landed from day one. Despite enemy air and submarine activity, ship losses were comparatively light. For the successful landings, the flag officer was awarded the Knight Commander of the British Empire.
Operation Neptune
In October 1943, the Allies selected Ramsay to command Allied naval forces in the European invasion. He was promoted to full admiral. The flag officer was able to devote his energy and experience to preparing Operation Neptune, as the naval part of Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, was designated on September 7th. The main features of Overlord had been worked out at the Quebec Conference (August 1943), but not until December 6th did the US President, appoint Eisenhower as supreme commander. Both he and Field Marshal Montgomery immediately advocated expanding the landings.
Early in 1944, it was decided to increase the strength of the assault troops, which required substantial adjustments to the plans drawn up by the Admiralty and Ramsay. There were not enough crews for the additional ships, so the landings in the south of France, also planned for May, had to be postponed for a month. Moreover, some of the fighting ships had to be provided by the United States.
Detailed Planning
In mid-February 1944, Ramsay issued his first directive outlining the plan. The final version, a document of 700 pages, was completed on April 10th. Two operational commands were established to capture a lodgement on the Continent. The first, consisting of British ships, was to land three divisions of the British 2nd Army at three sectors; to the west, American troops of the US 1st Army were to be put ashore at two points by the American Western Task Force. Two more task forces were to follow the assault forces, and then a continuous flow of transports was to be organized. In all, 1,213 ships of all types and 4,126 landing craft of various kinds were involved in the operation, as well as hundreds of requisitioned merchant ships, mainly with British and
