 Of these some 215,000 were British and 123,000 were French, of whom 102,250 escaped in British ships.On 26 May, Anthony Eden told General Lord Gort, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the BEF, that he might need to "fight back to the west", and ordered him to prepare plans for the evacuation, but without telling the French or the Belgians.Gort had foreseen the order and preliminary plans were already in hand.