Operation Bungalow (ii)

'Bungalow' (ii) was the US contingency plan for the occupation of the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe in the French West Indies (1942).

The French West Indies, which for administrative reasons also controlled the small islands of St Pierre and Miquelon off the eastern coast of Canada, were governed for Vichy France by Vice-amiral Georges Robert, an officer recalled from retirement in August 1939 to become commander-in-chief of the French Atlantic Forces and then, after the fall of France in June 1940, high commissioner of the French West Indies. Robert was Anglophobic and anti-Free French, but for trading reasons retained good relations with the USA.

In November 1942 Amiral de la Flotte François Darlan, who was by then working with the Allies, wanted Robert to use his ships against the Germans, but Robert refused both this request and a US request to disarm the ships. The US Navy blockade which resulted led to civil and military unrest, and in July 1943 Robert resigned and was replaced by Henri Hoppenot, the representative of the French Committee for National Liberation.