Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay.
Bertram Home Ramsay was born in London in 1883 to an
old Scottish family. He entered the Royal Navy in 1898, joining the
‘Britannia’ and passing out as a midshipman the next year.
In August 1915 he received his first command, the ‘M
25’, a small monitor. Thus he began his association with the Dover
Patrol, and for the next two years he spent most of his time off
the Belgian coast, supporting the left flank of the armies. In October
1917 he transferred to the command of the destroyer ‘Broke’, also of
the Dover Patrol. In this ship he took part in the Ostend operations
of 9 May 1918 (a follow up to the Zeebrugge
Raid), for which he was mentioned in despatches. He resigned from
the Navy in 1938 but was recalled with war threatening in 1939.
Ramsay hoisted his Vice-Admiral’s flag, as officer-in-charge,
Dover, on 24 August 1939. So the outbreak of the Second
World War on 3 September found him at his post and commanding waters
very familiar to him. Familiar too must have been the early tasks which
came his way: the denial of the passage through the Straits of Dover
to submarines; defence against possible destroyer raids; protection
of cross-Channel military traffic. And other repetitions of 1914 - 1918.
With the German assault on France and the Low Countries,
Dover at once became the centre of great activity, but the climax came
when, with the collapse of France, Ramsay was ordered to bring the British
soldiers home from Dunkirk.
“Operation Dynamo” lasted from 26 May to 4 June 1940 and evacuated 338,226
British and allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk. On completion
of this great achievement, Ramsay reported on the operation to the King
in person, and was rewarded by the honour of the K.C.B. from the King.
On his return to Dover, Ramsay found his problems multiplied
tenfold by an enemy in possession of the French coastline. For nearly
two more years he strove to maintain control of the waters under his
command in the face of air attack, the assaults of hostile small craft,
and cross-Channel bombardment. Throughout the autumn of 1940 Dover was
in the forefront of precautions against invasion. They were anxious
days but Ramsay remained fresh, fit and imperturbable. Despite losses
coastal traffic was kept going. At the end of 1940 he was mentioned
in despatches for his services.
Ramsay left Dover 29 April 1942 to take up his appointment
as Naval Force Commander for the invasion of Europe but when this was
postponed he was transferred to command the Algerian landings in North
Africa, which began in November of that year. In July 1943 he prepared
the amphibious landings in Sicily as Naval Commanding Officer, Eastern
Task Force. In 1944 he was appointed Naval Commander in Chief for “Operation
Overlord”, much to the relief of General Eisenhower who thought Ramsay
an exceptionally able commander. “Operation Overlord” officially began
on 6 June 1944, D-Day, and one million soldiers were landed on the coast
of France, a marvellous testimony to Ramsay’s ingenuity. His next project
involved the invasion of the island of Walcheren in Holland.
On 2 January 1945 Ramsay left his headquarters on a
flight to Brussels to attend a meeting with General Montgomery. His
aircraft crashed on taking off and Ramsay was killed instantly. He was
buried at St.Germain-en-Laye. He was made a grand officer of the Legion
of Honour by the French, and in June 1945 his widow was in Paris to
receive his insignia. In November 2000 an statue of Ramsay was erected
at Dover Castle very close
to the tunnels where he planned
the Dunkirk evacuations.
