The Netherlands. Operation Aerial was the evacuation of Allied military forces and civilians from ports in western France. The operation took place from 15 to 25 June during the Second World War. The ship sank quickly but nearby vessels went to the rescue and saved about 2, passengers and crew while under air attack. The death toll is unknown because the passenger count broke down in the haste to embark as many people as possible.
Estimates of at least 3, dead make the sinking the greatest loss of life in a British ship. The British government tried to keep the sinking of Lancastria secret on the orders of the Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Some equipment was embarked on the evacuation ships but alarmist reports about the progress of the German Army towards the coast led some operations to be terminated early and much equipment was destroyed or left behind.
The official evacuation ended on 25 June, in conformity with the terms of the Armistice of 22 June agreed by the French and German authorities but informal departures continued from French Mediterranean ports until 14 August. From the end of Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk, Operation Cycle from Le Havre, elsewhere along the Channel coast and the termination of Operation Aerial, another , troops were rescued, bringing the total of military and civilian personnel returned to Britain during the Battle of France to ,, including , British troops.
The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force BEF from Dunkirk left a surplus of men on the lines-of-communication, base depots and other establishments among the , troops still in France. Sufficient lines-of-communication personnel for an armoured division and four infantry divisions and an Advanced Air Striking Force AASF were to be retained and the rest returned to Britain.
