Footsteps of WWII · Dunkirk & the Channel coast
Zuydcoote and Bray-Dunes beach wrecks
Landing beach · 29–30 May 1940
The story
On 29 May 1940 the Thames paddle steamer HMS Crested Eagle, serving as an anti-aircraft ship, left the East Mole with about 600 men, including survivors of the bombed Grenade and Fenella. Bombs set her stern on fire less than a mile out and her captain, Lieutenant Commander Bernard Booth, ran her ashore opposite the Zuydcoote sanatorium; about 200 survivors were picked up. A few hundred metres away lies the Devonia, bombed on 30 May and beached to serve as a jetty. Further east at Bray-Dunes, soldiers drove lorries into the sea at low tide to build improvised piers.
What to look for
At low tide, the blackened ribs and paddle-wheel frames of the Crested Eagle rise from the sand, with a plaque placed in 2015; the Devonia lies a few hundred metres east. On the Bray-Dunes seafront a monument honours the French 12th Motorised Infantry Division.
Plan your visit
Free. Wrecks visible only around low tide, best at spring tides: check tide tables (maree.info) first. Park on Rue de Wattrelos, Zuydcoote; the Crested Eagle is about 500 m from the beach access. Do not get cut off by the rising tide.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Fort des Dunes, Leffrinckoucke · 4 km
- Malo-les-Bains evacuation beach, Dunkirk · 8 km
- Dunkirk 1940 Museum (Bastion 32) · 8 km
- Dunkirk Memorial and Town Cemetery (CWGC) · 9 km
- East Mole (Jetée de l'Est), Dunkirk · 9 km
- La Plaine au Bois massacre memorial, Esquelbecq (Wormhout) · 22 km
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Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
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