Dunkirk

“ Since this article was written Dunkirk has faced a new peril from the blow struck in her direction by the powerful German armies around Ypres, to the southeast; but the author's vivid and sympathetic description of the daily life of the little city remains as true as in the Winter days when it was penned for Current History Magazine.
In the track of the wind stands the plucky little City of Dunkirk, still flapping the flags of courage and constancy in the face of an increasingly rabid enemy. It is the only city of France that is subjected to bombardment from land and sea and sky. ”

“ Only seventeen years before the period of our story, the Fearnought, of Dunkirk, cannonaded Arbroath with red-hot shot; and much, about the same time, the notorious renegade Paul Jones kept all the Scottish seaboard in alarm with his fleet.
Now the wild blast that tore round the sea-beaten cliff on which the castle stood, increased in fury; the waves grew whiter as the lurid sun went down, enveloped in clouds ”

“ Dunkirk is suppos'd to be one of the strongest Fortresses of Europe, either by Sea or Land, the French King, by vast Labour, Art and Cost, having made it to be so, and accordingly regards it with a careful Eye, always keeping in it a good Garrison, with all manner of Plenty for the Defence of it. ”

“ Dunkirk forms with Bergues, Bourbourg and Gravelines a group of fortresses enclosed by inundations and canals. A chain of forts to the eastward is designed to facilitate the deployment of an army, concentrated within the fortified region, towards the Belgian frontier.
The harbour of Dunkirk (see Dock) is approached by a fine natural roadstead entered on the east and west, and protected on the north by sand-banks. From the roadstead, entrance is by a channel into the outer harbour, which communicates with seven floating basins about 115 acres in area and is accessible to the largest vessels. ”

“ In vain the English seamen whistled for a wind. Noon passed by, and still they remained becalmed. Whether it was their whistling or not produced the breeze, one sprung up towards evening, and the brave Benbow steered after the French. Again they were discovered, and again lost sight of. Once more their white canvas was seen ahead, and hopes were entertained that they would be overtaken before they could reach the shelter of Dunkirk, towards which they were steering. They, however, made good use of their heels, and before a shot could reach them they had run into Dunkirk. ”

“ I got to know well the road from Dunkirk, with its bordering of mud and ditch, its heavy transports, its grey gunboats in the canals that followed it on one side, its long lines of over-laden soldiers, its automobiles that travelled always at top speed. I saw pictures that no artist will ever paint—of horrors and beauties, of pathos and comedy; of soldiers washing away the filth of the trenches in the cold waters of canals and ditches; of refugees flying by day from the towns, and returning at night to their ruined houses to sleep in the cellars ”

“ DUNKIRK (Fr. Dunkerque) , a seaport of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Nord, on the Straits of Dover, 53 m. N.W. of Lille on the Northern railway. Pop. (1906) 35,767. Dunkirk is situated in the low but fertile district of the Wateringues. It lies, amidst a network of canals, 681 immediately to the west and south of its port, which disputes with Bordeaux the rank of third in importance in France. The populous suburbs of Rosendaël and St Pol-sur-Mer lie respectively to the east and west of the town; to the north-east is the bathing resort of Malo-les-Bains. ”

“ If we promised her safe conduct to Dunkirk, she would go with us. She had wanted to go to Dunkirk for some weeks, but the Germans would not let her pass the lines. We suspected nothing wrong, for she admitted she was aware that her husband is in Dunkirk, and she wanted to get to him. ”

“ Dunkirk is well built, and the streets being spacious it makes a favourable impression on the mind of the traveller, who is perhaps more liable to the force of a first impression than most others. Some of the churches and public buildings are handsome and the number of inhabitants is estimated at 22,000. Its name is said to originate from a church built here by the Duns in 646, and in Flemish its name signifies the church of the Duns. There is much similarity between many words in the English and Flemish, but the latter cannot claim the praise of agreeableness. ”

“ For if the picturesque landmarks have disappeared, Dunkirk has by no means lost its sea prestige. It is the third port of France, and though its position is singularly exposed it is largely through its harbor that the British Army has been revictualed since the beginning of the war. This renders still more remarkable the fact that not one ship has been lost between Dunkirk and the English port of clearing. One does not appreciate at first glance all that this implies. It means for one thing that some one must sit tight at Dunkirk. ”

“ We came then to Dunkirk in the space of four days, and I was much put to it how I should get safely over into England with the King's letter. For the English warships were ever on the watch for the King's emissaries, and one of them, a sloop, was riding not so far out in full view of Dunkirk. In this difficulty Ashlock was of the greatest service to me, discovering qualities which I should never have suspicioned in him. For, espying a little pinnace drawn up on the beach, he said:
"The two of us could sail that across, sir." ”

“ Dunkirk, a fortress of the 'first class,' fortified on the modern system, and therefore to the careless spectator scarcely appearing to be fortified at all—is a place of such extreme platitude, that the belated wayfarer longs to escape almost as soon as he arrives. ”

“ The soldiers tell me that the duke of Ormond could not possibly take possession of Dunkirk, since the foreign troops have refused to march, and that the states will not suffer us to go through their towns. But I had a whisper from one who should know best, that Dunkirk might now have been ours, if right methods had been taken. ”

“ Subjected for three years to violent and frequent bombardments, Dunkirk was able, thanks to the admirable coolness and courage of her inhabitants, to maintain and develop its economic life in the interests of National Defence, thereby rendering invaluable service to the Army and Country. This heroic city is an example to the whole nation. ”

“ During the Great War of 1914-1918, Dunkirk was an extremely important revictualling centre for the Allied troops. It also played a great part in helping to keep the mastery of the North Sea, and as such, was constantly bombarded by the enemy. It was to reach Dunkirk and Calais, that the Germans made their furious thrusts at Ypres and on the Yser. Of all the towns not directly in the front-line, Dunkirk was probably the one which suffered most. ”

“ If I should say to a prime minister, "Sir, you have sufficiently provided that Dunkirk should be absolutely demolished and never repaired; you took the best advantages of a long and general peace to discharge the immense debts of the nation; you did wonders with the fleet; you made the Spaniards submit to our quiet possession of Gibraltar and Portmahon; you never enriched yourself and family at the expense of the publick." ”

“ At Dunkirk you might have a good meal within sound of the thunder of the guns of the British monitors which were helping the Belgians to hold their line. At Dunkirk most excellent pâtisserie was for sale in a confectionery shop. Why shouldn't tartmakers go on making tarts and selling them? The British naval reserve officers used to take tea in this shop. Little crowds of citizens who had nothing to do, which is the most miserable of vocations in such a crisis, gathered to look at armoured motor-cars which had come in from the front with bullet dents, which gave them the atmosphere of battle. ”

“ But as an associate in the war, Cromwell demanded a share in the spoil, and that share was nothing less than the possession of Mardyke and Dunkirk, as soon as they could be reduced by the allies. To this proposal the strongest opposition had been made in the French cabinet. Louis was reminded of the injuries which the English, the natural enemies of France, had inflicted on the country in the reigns of his predecessors. Dunkirk would prove a second Calais; it would open to a foreign foe the way into the heart of his dominions. ”

“ They next visited one of the hospitals, where an overworked but friendly English surgeon volunteered a similar suggestion. Dunkirk, he declared, would give them better opportunities than Calais.
The remainder of the day they spent in getting whatever news had filtered into the city and vainly seeking a competent man for chauffeur. On the morning of October eleventh they left Calais and proceeded slowly along the buoyed channel that is the only means of approaching the port of Dunkirk by water. The coast line is too shallow to allow ships to enter from the open sea. ”

“ If it falls, there will be a rush of Germans down this coast, first to capture Dunkirk, a few miles above here, and then Calais itself."
"In other words," continued Uncle John, "this is likely to be the most important battleground for the next few weeks. Now, the question to decide is this: Shall we disembark our ambulances and run them across to Arras, beginning our work behind the French trenches, or go on to Dunkirk, where we are likely to plunge into the thickest of the war? We're not fighters, you know, but noncombatants, bent on an errand of mercy. There are wounded everywhere." ”

“ Dunkirk (40) , the most northern seaport and fortified town of France, on the Strait of Dover; has manufactures and considerable trade.
Dunnet Head, a rocky peninsula, the most northerly point in Scotland, the rocks from 100 to 600 ft. high.
Dunnottar Castle, an old castle of the Keiths now in ruins, on the flat summit of a precipitous rock 11⁄2 m. S. of Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland, and connected with the mainland by a neck of land called the “Fiddle Head” ”

“ It rains every day. This may be a "providence," as the floods are keeping the Germans away. The sound of constant rain on the window-panes is a little melancholy. Let us pray that in singleness and cheerfulness of heart we may do our little bit of work.
EXPEDITION TO DUNKIRK
23 December.—Yesterday I motored into Dunkirk, and did a lot of shopping. By accident our motor-car went back to Furnes without me, and there was not a bed to be had in Dunkirk! ”

“ Frank was saying. “Can you see Dunkirk yet, Billy?”
“Oh! yes, easily enough. It isn’t such a great distance away from where the fighting is taking place. They’ve heard the roar of the big forty-two centimeter German guns at Dunkirk more than once this winter.” ”

“ In 1653 he was in command of the N. frontier, and frustrated all the attempts of Condé and the Spaniards to penetrate through Picardy; in 1654 he stormed the Spanish camp near Arras, and inflicted enormous loss on the enemy; and in 1658 forced Dunkirk to surrender, after destroying the Spanish army of relief. The fall of Dunkirk was followed by the capture of Bergues, Furnes, Dixmude, Oudenarde, Ypres, Comines, De Gramont, Ninoye, etc. ”

“ The French ministry seemed in no haste to redeem their pledge with respect to the reduction of Dunkirk, and to his multiplied remonstrances uniformly opposed this unanswerable objection, that, in the opinion of Turenne, the best judge, the attempt in the existing circumstances must prove ruinous to the allies. At last he would brook no longer delay; the army marched into the neighbourhood of the town, and the fort of Mardyke capitulated [a] after a siege of three days. But the Spaniards lay strongly intrenched behind the canal of Bergues, between Mardyke and Dunkirk ”

“ The sale of Dunkirk, the bad payment of the seamen, the disgrace at Chatham, the unsuccessful conclusion of the war all these misfortunes were charged on the chancellor, who though he had ever opposed the rupture with Holland, thought it still his duty to justify what he could not prevent. A building, likewise, of more expense and magnificence than his slender fortune could afford, being unwarily undertaken by him, much exposed him to public reproach, as if he had acquired great riches by corruption. The populace gave it commonly the appellation of Dunkirk House. ”

“ Five men-of-war, two transports, and twenty frigates, with about four thousand troops, were collected at Dunkirk, under the command of Admiral Fourbin, and it was decided that the prince should go to encourage his followers. On parting with him at Paris, Louis bade him adieu with the words: ‘The best wish I can make you is that I may never see your face again.’ The arrival of the prince at Dunkirk at once revealed to the English agents the purpose of the expedition, and on 28 Feb., when all was nearly ready, an English fleet, much more powerful than the French, appeared in the Channel. ”

“ Both Continental vessels and privateers were very successful, and by mid-summer of 1776 they had captured more than five hundred British soldiers. There was a Captain Conyngham, a brave and skilful seaman, who sailed from Dunkirk in May, 1777, in the brig 'Surprise,' under one of the commissions which Franklin carried with him to France for army and navy officers. (Those of you who have studied geography will, I suppose, remember that Dunkirk is in the north of France.) ”

“ Captain Conyngham with his prizes must leave Dunkirk and make his way to Spain. Through our friend Hortalez & Co. I have made arrangements for the disposal of our property there. It is not safe for him to remain in France. Are you too tired, Mr. Hodge,” he concluded, “to post back to Dunkirk at once? Our American friends there must be informed.” ”