Figure 1.--Here an exhuted French mother and her two very young children, are sleeping on straw in a temporary shelter at Nantes. THey have been evacuated from the besieged city of St. Nazaire. They and thousands of other civilkins were evacuated when the Americans tied to take St Nazaire (October 23-28, 1944). The town was already one of the most damaged cities in France because of the Alled bombing. The evacuation occured during a temporary truce that allowed for the safe passage of civilians caught in the crossfire. St. Nazaire was a major target because it was an imprtant U-boat base and shipbuilding facilities. The press caption read, "St. Nazaire evcues find asylum at Nantes: A French mother and two children sleep on straw in a billet assigned them in a school at Nantes after they were permitted to flee besieged St. Nazaire under terms of a daily truce arrangement at the latter city when both sides ceased firing to permit evacuation of 5,000 residents, Oct. 23 to 28. Doll was brought by family in their flight." The photogrph was transmitted November 1, 1944 Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps (GD31938).

Saint-Nazaire is a port and commune in western France, specuically Brittany. It is a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary along the Atlantic Ocean. The town is at the south of the second-largest swamp in France, called "la Brière". Given its location, the city has a long tradition of boh fishing and shipbuilding. Chantiers de l'Atlantique is one of the largest shipyards in the world, constructing notable ocean liners at a time hat they were imprtant in rnsport. St. Nazaiee was important during World War I. After America entered the War, it was one of the major ports through which the American troops entered France (1917). The World War II story was very different. It was the Germans that used the port. The Saint Nazaire U-boat base is one of five bases that the Germans built the Atlantic coast during World War II. The first U-boat to reach St. Nazaire was U-46 under Oblt. Engelbert Endrass (September 1940). St. Nazaire became the base for two U-boat Flotillas. The 7th Flotilla moved from Kiel (January to June 1941). The 6th Flotilla was moved from Danzig (February 1942). A cursory look at the map reveals what a huge improvement this made in U-boat operations in the Atlantic. The Germans built a massive 295m wide, 130m long and 18m high bunker containing 14 U-boat pens. It took 16 months (1941-42). They used almost 0.5 million cubic meters of concrete with reinforced steel. The protective roof was 9.6m thick at its strongest point. Here the U-boats were safe even during the heaviest Allied air raid. The massive bunker also held supplies and munitions as well as hundreds of men, their offices and workshops. The massive U-boat bunker was built on the site of the existing transatlantic port. The air raids failed to significantly damage the U-boat bunker, but largely destroyed the town which was one of the most damaged French citioesd during World War II. Unable to destroy the U-boat bunker by air, the Royal Navy stage surely the most dramatic raid of the War--Operation Chariot. The British rammed HMS Campbeltown, one of the Ameicn bases for dstoyers sjips, packed with a huge hidden explosive charge into the St. Nazaire dock (March 1942). The Kriegsmrine was using St. Nazaire not only as a U-boat base, but as a dry dock for ship repairs (Tirpitz was scheduled for repairs there). Destroying the dry dock not only force German ships to make a long, dangerous voyage back to the Reich, but impacted the U-boat campaign. The St. Nazaire dry dock out of commission for the rest of the War. The St. Nazaire U-boat base was fully operational (October 1942). The peak of operation was (July-September 1943). Unfortunately for the Germans, it was just at this time that the Allies began achieving significant U-boat kills (July 1943) and Adm. Dönitz had to withdraw the U-boats from the Atlantic. The U-boats would return, but never in the same numbers and which much reduced effectiveness. Rather than the hunters, the U-boats became the hunted as Allied naval power and technology expanded. After the D-Day breakout and the liberation of France, the port remained in German hands the German forces withdrew from the Loire-Inférieure (August 1944). It became the Saint Nazaire Pocket. The German defenses were centered on the port and the submarine base as far as Saint-Omer-de-Blain and from La Roche-Bernard in the north to Pornic in the south.

Sources

Gautier, Michel Alexandre (2015), Poche de Saint-Nazaire: Neuf mois d'une guerre oubliée [The Saint-Nazare Pocket. Nine months of a forgotten war] (Geste éditions: 2015), 424p.

Created: 7:24 PM 2/26/2025
Last updated: 7:24 PM 2/26/2025