they withdrew to the United Kingdom from Brest, and Saint-Malo on 18 June. The Royal Canadian Navy assisted with the evacuation of the BEF, the 1st Canadian Division, and additional Allied troops in a series of naval forays known as Operation Cycle and Operation Ariel. Saint Pierre and Miquelon After the fall of France, the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, located off the coast of Newfoundland, pledged allegiance to Vichy France. The Canadian government considered the possibility that the Axis might use Saint Pierre and Miquelon as a base of operations. The colony's proximity to Canada and Newfoundland could offer German submariners an excellent position to re-supply and coordinate attacks upon Allied convoys. This was helped by the fact that the islands were able to communicate to the French mainland by means of wireless communication and transatlantic cables. The governments of Newfoundland and the UK considered an invasion of the islands in consultation with Canada. However Canada's War Cabinet refused to initiate an action for fear of offending the US. A Free French flotilla landed 230 sailors on the islands on 24 December 1942. Saint Pierre and Miquelon administrator Gilbert de Bournat offered no resistance. A plebiscite on the island later voted overwhelmingly to endorse the Free French administration. Defence of the United Kingdom From France's collapse in June 1940 to the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941, Canada supplied Britain with urgently needed food, weapons, and war materials by naval convoys and airlifts, as well as pilots and planes who fought in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz. During the Battle of Britain between 88 and 112 Canadian pilots served in the RAF, most had come to Britain on their own initiative. For political necessity an "all Canadian" squadron, No. 242 Squadron RAF, was formed under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan at the start of the war and the squadron served in the Battle of France. They were later joined by No. 1 Squadron RCAF in June 1940 during the Battle for Britain and they were in "the thick" of fighting in August, by the end of the battle in October 1940, 23 Canadian pilots had been killed. Squadrons of the RCAF and individual Canadian pilots flying with the British RAF fought with distinction in Spitfire and Hurricane fighters during the Battle of Britain. By 1 January 1943, there were enough RCAF