Short History

"The people in the houses were rudely awakened by the din of our tanks, the clatter and roar of tracks and engines. [German] troops lay bivouacked beside the road, military vehicles stood parked in farmyards and in some places on the road itself. Civilians and French troops, their faces distorted with terror, lay huddled in the ditches, alongside hedges and in every hollow beside the road. We passed refugee columns, the carts abandoned by their owners, who had fled in panic into the fields. On we went, at a steady speed, towards our objective... The flat countryside lay spread out around us under the cold light of the moon. We were through the Maginot Line!"
-- Major General Erwin Rommel, commander of the 7th Panzer Division

The allies in Belgium are outnumbered and outmanoeuvred by the more modern German Army.

Once the channel ports are lost, the British-held perimeter shrinks down towards the beaches at Dunkirk.

Britain is humiliated but manages to evacuate 330,000 Soldiers from the beaches. France falls in 3 weeks.

The British Army evacuates from France at Dunkirk beach, 1940

SS Hantonia - Ship of Hope -

evacuated the De La Salle Boys from Guernsey soon afterwards

Altrincham

Brothers

Brother Family name Born on Died on Notes

Ralph Edward Edward CONLON 09.10.1910 15.11.1962 Member of 1940 Evacuation Group1

Chad Joseph John McNAMARA 11.09.1921 Member of 1940 Evacuation Group;1 left Institute

Philip Philip HASTINGS 17.04.1907 29.01.1969 Member of 1940 Evacuation Group1

Alan Maurice Maurice DUKES 02.06.1911 25.05.1986 Member of 1940 Evacuation Group1

Clarence Marcelin BENOISTEL 16.06.1887 21.05.1965 Member of 1940 Evacuation Group1

Dennis Bernard Bernard FRICKER 25.01.1897 28.02.1981 Member of 1940 Evacuation Group1

Osmund Desmond McDONAGH 17.06.1907 29.11.1989 Member of 1940 Evacuation Group1

Vincent Huby Thomas ELLENGER 14.05.1913 Member of 1940 Evacuation Group;1 left Institute

Aldhelm Mary Eric HEUMANN 15.06.1914 18.06.2009 Joined Community in August 1941

Francis Francis HODGSON Left Institute.

Hilary Charles AQUILINA-CLEWS 29.07.1918 21.11.1998 Maltese

Cyril Herv�bsp; DANIELOU 23.06.2005 French Brother; joined Community during 1942

Joseph Marcel LE CORRE French Brother; joined Community during 1942

Peter Pierre PELLIET 06.05.2003 French Brother; joined Community during 1942

Notes: 1. Included in the photograph of the Evacuation group to Hale 1940 on page 40 of The Nantes Brothers in England.

Sources: Edmund Damian, Brother, The Nantes Brothers in England (Oxford: De La Salle Brothers, 2007) pp.38–47; 103–4. Personnel

database of Brothers of the District of Great Britain and Malta.

Biographies

Brother Biography

Clarence Edmund Damian, Br, St John’s College Brothers 1908–1933, p.8.

Aldhelm Edmund Damian, Br, Brother Aldhelm Heuman FSC (200)

Alan Maurice Edmund Damian, Br, Brother Alan Maurice FSC (1996)

Osmund Anthony Porter, Br and Edmund Damian, Br, Brother Elwin Osmund (Desmond Michael

MacDONAGH) 1907–1989, (2010:February)

St Ambrose in 1964 - Colour Video

The summer fair in 1964, Brother Foley drawing the raffle at the brothers house, and the nearly-finished St Ambrose College school buildings of that era!

Recognise any faces? Were you there? This is a historical gem

http://www.st-ambrosecollege.org.uk/1235/old-ambrosians/old-photos/old-videos/