Operation Bungalow (i)

'Bungalow' (i) was a British minor naval undertaking to evacuate men of General the Lord Gort’s British Expeditionary Force from Boulogne on the north-eastern coast of France (23 May 1940).

The first ships to enter the harbour were the destroyers Keith and Vimy.

Undertaken as Generalleutnant Rudolf Veiel’s 2nd Panzerdivision of General Heinz Guderian’s XIX Corps (mot.) within Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt’s Heeresgruppe 'A' neared the port after the corps' breakthrough at Sedan on 14 May in 'Sichelschnitt' and swift advance toward the English Channel coast, the operation reflected the fact that the German forces had split the Allied armies into two parts and that the northern part would soon be destroyed unless it was speedily evacuated.