I’ve been getting more feedback than usual on my song and reporting on the the capture of and brutal treatment of the 51st Highland division in 1940. Some has been angry and disputatious.

Reader Legerwood has written of three uncles:

I have often wondered how many young men from the village, who had joined the TA, ended up being killed or captured at Dunkirk and, like my uncles, spending the rest of the war in a POW camp. As a result of those years in a camp in Poland and the forced march back to Germany ahead of the advancing Russians my uncles never enjoyed the best of health during the rest of their lives.

and Capella wrote of his father:

Peter Scott, the ornithologist and wartime naval commander, said he was ordered by Churchill to return to Britain without the 51st. As well as the physical and mental toll of being a prisoner of the Naz*s for 5 years, and it was life-long, what would now be called PTSD, the troops also suffered from the blanket disregard of the official story of the war. It was clearly an embarrassing episode to be forgotten.

Ignore the critics John. This is one of the greatest tragedies to befall Scottish troops at the hands of the people who believe, “No great mischief if they fall.” (General Wolfe)

I’ve had a look and found:

During the Dunkirk evacuation (Operation Dynamo, May–June 1940), most of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was rescued from northern France. However, the 51st (Highland) Division—primarily Scottish Territorial Army units including the Black Watch, Seaforth Highlanders, Gordon Highlanders, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, and Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders—had been detached and placed under French command in early May to support defenses south of the main BEF perimeter. After fierce fighting along the Somme and Bresle rivers against Erwin Rommel’s 7th Panzer Division, about 10,000 men of the division reached Saint-Valéry-en-Caux on the Normandy coast, hoping for evacuation. Due to poor weather, heavy German artillery, Luftwaffe attacks, and the French army’s collapse, only around 1,400–2,000 were rescued. The rest surrendered on June 12, 1940, becoming known as the “Forgotten 51st” or a deliberate sacrifice to buy time for the Dunkirk miracle.

As a sub-lieutenant aboard the destroyer HMS Broke (D83), Scott served as an embarkation officer during Operation Cycle, the follow-up evacuation from western French ports like Le Havre and Saint-Valéry-en-Caux (June 10–13, 1940). On the night of June 10–11, he led a reconnaissance boat into Saint-Valéry-en-Caux harbor, confirming that the Highlanders had not yet arrived but were expected the following night. He went ashore early on June 11 to organize the evacuation of wounded soldiers, successfully rescuing some (about 55 troops were taken aboard Broke that day). However, German forces overran the area during the day, preventing a full-scale rescue and leading to the division’s capture.

Scott later recounted this in his 1961 autobiography, The Eye of the Wind, and other writings, framing it as a heartbreaking abandonment ordered from higher command (ultimately tied to Winston Churchill’s decisions to prioritize Dunkirk and support the collapsing French lines). He is quoted as saying the experience of abandoning the Highland Division was “one of the darkest days of his life,” reflecting the moral weight of leaving brave allies behind amid the chaos.

This account aligns with survivor testimonies, unit war diaries, and official reports, such as those from the Portsmouth Command describing failed naval efforts from June 10–12. Historians like Saul David (Churchill’s Sacrifice of the Highland Division: France 1940) and veterans’ memoirs emphasize the division’s “unknowing sacrifice” to hold the line, with Scott’s personal involvement underscoring the human cost.

The 51st was later reconstituted and fought with distinction at El Alamein, Sicily, and Normandy, earning praise from Bernard Montgomery as “the finest division” under his command.

Sources at: https://x.com/i/grok?conversation=1995202541806850549