A considerable number of British troops remained in France after Dunkirk to the south of the River Somme. These numbered some 140,000 men, mostly logistic support and lines-of-communications troops, but also including the 51st (Highland) Division and the remnants of the 1st Armoured Division. On 2 June, Lieutenant General Brooke was ordered back to France to form a Second BEF together with two further infantry divisions to follow, a project which Brooke believed was doomed to failure. After learning that most of the 51st Division had surrendered, having been cut off at St Valery-en-Caux on the Channel coast, Brooke spoke to Churchill by telephone on 14 June and persuaded him to allow the evacuation of all the remaining British forces in France. In Operation Ariel, 144,171 British, 18,246 French, 24,352 Polish and 1,939 Czech troops were embarked in ships at several major ports along the west coast of France and returned to England, along with much of their equipment. The only major mishap was the sinking of the with the loss of perhaps 6,000 men. The last British troops left France on 25 June, the day the French Armistice came into force.