John Maurice Dunderdale

HMS Venetia

HMS Venetia (D53) was a V-class destroyer. In May 1940, Venetia was transferred to Nore Command for operations related to the evacuation of Allied personnel from the Netherlands, Belgium, and France because of the successful German offensive there. On 12 May, in Operation J, she and the destroyer HMS Vivacious escorted the destroyer HMS Codrington as Codrington transported the Dutch Royal Family from the Hook of Holland into exile in the United Kingdom.

On 23 May 1940, Venetia and the destroyers Vimiera, Whitshed, Venomous, and Wild Swan arrived off Boulogne, France, to evacuate troops of the British Army's Irish Guards and Welsh Guards, who had been trapped there by advancing German troops and tanks of the 2nd Panzer Division during the Battle of Boulogne. Sixty German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers had recently attacked the harbour and French destroyers bombarding offshore, so they awaited the arrival of Royal Air Force fighter cover before attempting to enter the harbour. After it arrived at 19:20 hours, Whitshed and Vimiera entered the harbour first, taking aboard as many British soldiers as possible – over 550 men each – under fire from German forces before steaming back out of the harbour at 20:25 hours, with Whitshed completely destroying two German tanks at point-blank range with her 4.7-inch (120-mm) guns as she departed.

Venomous and Wild Swan entered the harbour next, at 20:35 hours, followed by Venetia at 20:40 hours. The Germans opened fire on Venetia with heavier guns as she entered the harbour, apparently in an attempt to sink her in the harbour entrance to trap Venomous and Wild Swan and bring the evacuation operation to an end. A German shell, probably from a tank, hit Venetia, starting a fire aft and prompting her crew to jettison her torpedoes and burning Carley floats. Another shell hit her "B" gun turret, blowing overboard and killing some of the men there, and German gunfire also inflicted casualties among the men on her bridge, causing her to go out of control and briefly run aground.

Gunners aboard Venomous, seeing that Venetia was in danger of being sunk, realized that the Germans had captured Fort de la Crèche on a hill overlooking the entrance and were using its coastal artillery to fire on Venetia. Venomous opened fire on the fort; her first salvo went over it, but her second salvo blew off one side of the fort and much of the hillside it was on, causing artillery pieces to roll down the hill and silencing the fort. Venomous also detected a German light field gun in the garden of a house and fired on it; her first salvo flattened all of the trees in the garden, set the house on fire, and caused German troops in the vicinity to flee.

All heavy German guns fell silent after this and, given a reprieve, Venetia, which had taken seven hits and been unable to embark any troops, quickly refloated herself and backed out of the harbour at full speed at 20:48 hours. Venomous and Wild Swan followed Venetia out of the harbour, also in reverse, carrying about 400 evacuees each, along the way knocking out a German tank and shooting up two German troop columns, then escorted the damaged Venetia to Dover, England. 7 Venetia crewmen were killed including Signalman John Dunderdale from East Kirkby, Nottinghamshire. (Wikipedia)

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