Editing Boulogne-sur-Mer (section)

===World wars===

{{see also|Battle of Boulogne (1940)|Operation Wellhit}}

[[File:Memorabilia relating to H.G. Bagster, item 2.jpg|thumb|300px|A "[[Laissez-Passer|special pass]]" issued for travel within Boulogne by the [[British Red Cross]] in May 1917, during [[World War I]]]]
During the [[First World War]], this was the entrepôt for the first unit of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] to land in France and for many others thereafter. Boulogne was one of the three base ports most extensively used by the Commonwealth armies on the Western Front throughout the First World War. It was closed and cleared on 27 August 1914 when the Allies were forced to fall back ahead of the German advance, but was opened again in October and from that month to the end of the war, Boulogne and Wimereux formed one of the chief hospital areas.

Until June 1918, the dead from the hospitals at Boulogne were buried in the Cimetiere de L'Est, one of the town's cemeteries, the Commonwealth graves forming a long, narrow strip along the right hand edge of the cemetery. In the spring of 1918, it was found that space was running short in the Eastern Cemetery in spite of repeated extensions to the south and the site of the new cemetery at Terlincthun was chosen.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4800/BOULOGNE%20EASTERN%20CEMETERY | title=Boulogne Eastern Cemetery | publisher=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]] | access-date=13 August 2014 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101195547/http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4800/BOULOGNE%20EASTERN%20CEMETERY | archive-date=1 November 2014}}</ref> It also was the site of an Allied (French and British) armaments production conference.

[[File:BoulogneBarges1940.jpg|thumb|270px|German invasion barges in Boulogne Harbour during the [[Battle of Britain]] in summer 1940]]
On 22 May 1940 during the [[Battle of France]], two British [[Brigade of Guards|Guards]] battalions and some [[pioneer (military)|pioneers]] attempted to defend Boulogne against an attack by the German [[2nd Panzer Division]]. Despite fierce fighting, the British were overwhelmed and the survivors were evacuated by [[Royal Navy]] [[destroyers]] while under direct German gunfire.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/brigade-guards/16709-2nd-battalion-irish-guards.html |title=2nd Battalion Irish Guards. – World War 2 Talk |publisher=Ww2talk.com |access-date=3 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727223832/http://ww2talk.com/forum/brigade-guards/16709-2nd-battalion-irish-guards.html |archive-date=27 July 2011  }}</ref> On 15 June 1944, 297 aircraft (155 [[Avro Lancaster]]s, 130 [[Handley Page Halifax]]es, and 12 [[De Havilland Mosquito]]s) of the [[Royal Air Force]] bombed Boulogne harbour to suppress German naval activity following [[D-Day]]. Some of the Lancasters carried [[Tallboy bomb]]s and the harbour and the surrounding area were completely destroyed. In August 1944 the town was declared a "fortress" by [[Adolf Hitler]] but it succumbed to [[Operation Wellhit]], the assault and liberation by the [[3rd Canadian Infantry Division]] in September. In one incident, a French civilian guided the Canadians to a "secret passage" leading into the walled old town and by-passing the German defenders.<ref name=offhist>{{cite web
 |last        = Stacey
 |first       = C P
 |title       = Clearing the Coastal Belt and the Ports September 1944 – Operation "WELLHIT"; The Capture of Boulogne
 |work        = Official History of the Canadian Army
 |publisher   = Department of National Defence
 |year        = 1966
 |url         = http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/CA/Victory/Victory-14.html
 |access-date  = 24 June 2009
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100112084021/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/Canada/CA/Victory/Victory-14.html
 |archive-date = 12 January 2010
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

To replace the destroyed urban infrastructure, affordable housing and public facility projects in functional, [[brutalist]] building styles were carried out in the 1950s and 60s.