Don’t forget the Navy

THE film Dunkirk is remarkable in that, in dealing with the events of Operation Dynamo, it marginalises the role of the Royal Navy and the British Mercantile Marines.

Of the 338,000 men who were lifted from the beaches, more than 270,000 were conveyed in Royal Navy destroyers, minesweepers and trawlers, and in personnel ships with Merchant Navy crews.

Most of the 39 British destroyers involved made several trips: Venomous rescued 4,140 men in five trips; Worcester saved 4,350 men in six trips; and Malcolm lifted 5,851 men in eight trips. Four destroyers were lost to air attack.

In the film, the naval contribution is reduced to a handful of helpless vessels floundering mid- Channel, awaiting destruction from the air unless rescued by a passing Spitfire.

The feats of the Spitfires seem to take up most of the film, with the Hurricane erased from the story.

Dunkirk is certainly worth seeing, but it should be viewed as entertain-ment, not history.

GEOFF HEWITT, Preston, Lancs.