France was in its death agonies. The Commander-in-Chief of the
French Army, General Gamelin, had been dismissed. General Maxime
Weygand, fresh from Syria, had been appointed in his place.
Meanwhile, nothing could stop the pell-mell advance of the
Wehrmacht. The RAF Advanced Air Striking Force, consisting
mainly of Fairey Battles, along with a number of Blenheims, had
been decimated as they were committed to the bombing of bridges
which the retreating armies had failed to blow up. Several
squadrons of Hurricanes were operating as cover for the BEF, and
had been holding their own in the air, but so continuously that
their losses too were now very serious.  Still, the BEF was
managing to retreat along with substantial French forces to
Dunkirk. On 24th May, the evacuation from France began with
1,000 men being picked up at Boulogne. That same day, the
British Government began planning the evacuation from Dunkirk.
The early estimates were that we would be unlikely to get more
than 30 to 40 thousand troops safely a