Around 1610, the Lord of Boisgeffroi, André Barrin, built a double corps de logis. This structure, which was renovated, converted and redesigned by its various owners, would go on to become the current Command Post of the North West region.

Until its sale in December 1702 by André Barrin's daughter, the mansion remained in the possession of this rich family.

The new owner was René Le Prestre, seigneur of Lézonnet, and the mansion was renamed de Lézonnet in 1731, before becoming the Hôtel de Châteaugiron in 1733, since René Le Prestre had acquired the domain of Châteaugiron among others. He converted the original structure, giving it its current appearance.

In 1797, the mansion was sold when the de Lézonnet family left Rennes. Throughout the first half of the 19th century, the mansion was owned by the Comtesse de Martel and her son-in-law Alexandre Roznyvinen de Piré, who lived in half of the building, with tenants occupying the rest.

In 1860, Princess Napoléone Élisa Bacciochi, Napoleon's niece, bought the hotel and restored it to a single residence in its original splendour. It is her we have to thank for the sumptuous inlaid floors and the chandeliers as well as the staircase and pedimented canopy on the facade. Before her death in 1869, she bequeathed the mansion on the rue de Corbin to the imperial prince.

A military property

Under Napoléon III, the War Department bought the Hôtel de Châteaugiron on the 31st July 1869.

At the fall of the Second Empire, the mansion became the headquarters of the 16th infantry division and later of the 10th Army Corps and the 10th Regional Division.

From 1871 up to the modern day, the mansion has continuously been the headquarters and residence of successive generals, except for the period where the property was occupied by the German authorities (20th June 1940 - 4th August 1944).

After the Liberation, the mansion was the headquarters of the 3rd Regional Division and then of the Defence of Rennes Military Authorities.

In 2000, it became the command post of the North West Region.
 

This historical monument, administered by the Ministry of Defence, is part of a Defence Culture Protocol, signed on 17th September 2005.

Ministère de la défense

Secrétariat Général pour l'Administration

Direction de la Mémoire, du Patrimoine et des Archives

14 rue Saint-Dominique 00450 Armées

E-mail: dmpa-sdace-bacm@sga.defense.gouv.fr

A private initiative, the wrecks museum in Port-en-Bessin, in Calvados, opened its doors in 1990. It exhibits submarines sunk during the landing and retrieved from the sea floor. At the end of the Second World War, a number of wrecks littered the sea bed and jutted out of the sea along the Norman coasts, representing a permanent danger to vessels. All of these wrecks were given up by the allies to the French government which is committed to their removal.

Consequently, contracts and bills of sale were bequeathed by estates to countless companies. Massive demolition yards were set up along the coast and millions of tonnes of scrap iron were extracted from the sea over the 20 years following the landing. In 1970, Jacques Lemonchois was appointed by the State to bring to the surface a number of wrecks that presented a significant danger and obstacle to navigating vessels.

A difficult and perilous operation that became a great feat of performance for Jacques and his team. Through their passion, they managed to save from demolition, and preserve using a special treatment process, all of the wrecks which you can see in the museum today. They are dedicated to the memory of all those men who paid with their lives for the mammoth Operation Neptune.

Musée des épaves sous-marines (Submarine Wrecks Museum)

Route de Bayeux 14520 Commes on the D6 to Bayeux, exit at the town centre.

Tel: +33 (0)2 31 21 17 06

Opening times and days 10 am – 12 pm and 2-6 pm weekends and public holidays in May, 10 am – 12 pm and 2-6 pm June to September

Annual holidays: October to April

Admission: €6; €3 (visitors aged 7-16)

Source: Musée des épaves sous-marines (Submarine Wrecks Museum)

[align=center]Sénans who chose Free France 22 - 26 June 1940[/align] June 1940: following defeat and the signature of the armistice, not all Frenchmen gave up. Gradually, individual or collective acts of resistance developed, the most famous being the "18th June Appeal", broadcast from London by General De Gaulle, an appeal repeated several times in the days that followed. The inhabitants of Sein were among the first to respond; they were among the earliest of the "Free French". Sein is a small island off the south-west tip of Brittany, facing the Pointe du Raz, with a population of around a thousand. In June 1940, most of the men were mobilised or called to work on the mainland. A garrison of 24 men was also stationed there. The island received information from the few ships that docked or the rare wireless sets. This communication became increasingly difficult until only scraps of news arrived, rumours of an ever-deteriorating situation. Residents of the island (Sénans) learned that Rennes and Brest had fallen and saw the first soldiers pushed back by the German advance. Many ships sailed via the island, such as the Zénith which, via Ouessant and Sein, took a small troop of Chasseurs alpins to Great Britain. The threat was getting closer, with German gunfire and shelling increasing.

Warned by a keeper of the Ar-Men lighthouse that an appeal by a French General was to be broadcast that evening on the BBC, the islanders and those present on the island assembled on 22nd June around one of the radios to listen to the speech. After listening to the message the choice was quickly made. Five ships were available right away. They sailed on 24th and 26th June. The first, the Velleda, left with the garrison and the first Sénans aboard, followed by the Rouanez ar Mor, then the Corbeau des mers, the Maris Stella and the Rouanez ar Péoc'h. Some islanders followed on smaller craft. 128 Sénans finally assembled in England. Some of them would not see their island or their families again until 1944. Initially, the Sénans were assigned to the Courbet, which had the job of protecting the port of Plymouth before most of them were dispersed to serve in the Free French Navy. The Germans occupied the Ile de Sein from the beginning of July, laying mines and barbed wire. Severe restrictions were applied to movement both on the island and the surrounding seas. Physical conditions were difficult, even after the mobilised men returned. In spite of this, assistance was raised for the families of the islanders who had gone to England.

A Sénan native stands before a granite Cross of Lorraine.

A monument dedicated to the Free French Forces was erected at Men-Neï. Sculpted by Quillivic, in clear view of the lighthouse overlooking it, it bears two inscriptions: "Kentoc'h Mervel" (I’d rather die) & “Le soldat qui ne se reconnaît pas vaincu a toujours raison” (The soldier who does not recognise defeat is always right).

On 7 September 1960, General de Gaulle, President of the Republic, paid an official visit to the Île de Sein to inaugurate this monument of remembrance and gratitude. It was a solemn moment, with the huge aircraft carrier Clemenceau just off the island and a helicopter landing. The giant of a man stepped off. The Sénan people were all there to welcome “their” General. The women were wearing their Sunday best, even the Mayor, Mrs Kerloc'h, who was also wearing a jibilinenn bonnet. A chorus of Sénan singers, vibrant with contained emotion, sang “Le Libéra”. Everyone was singing and, with their voices they sang the trials and tribulations they had suffered twenty years earlier, their dedication, their loyalty, death, hunger, injuries and especially their thirst for victory.

General de Gaulle was touched by the sight and understood the message of these simple people, so strong, so natural and so spontaneous. On the rostrum set up in his honour, he thanked the men and woman standing there with their proud, handsome faces looking up at him. “Here is the sea, in perpetual motion. Here is the sky, constantly changing. And here is the granite of Brittany, which never changes. When the time came, the Île de Sein was an example for us all. The movement at the time was natural and spontaneous, because it was for the island and its children, and because over the centuries, you have been confronted with struggles and because it was a question of you and your courage. With the “Le Libéra” that you sang earlier, I understood your sacrifice back in 1940. That remains in Sein and it remains in the spirit of all of France. France has been through many misfortunes, but thanks to its efforts, thanks to yours, it has undergone rebirth. In our dreams, France is what we have always wanted it to be: great, prosperous and fraternal. I have come here in the name of France to pay tribute to the Île de Sein, to this land of courage and exemplarity, to my companion, the Île de Sein. For the rest of my life, I will carry an imperishable memory of this ceremony.”

Then, to the population’s emotional applause, President de Gaulle raised his arms in an immense V for victory. He then visited the town hall and wrote in the registry, “To the Île de Sein, my companion, I offer my best wishes, with all my heart”. General de Gaulle held the Île de Sein and its residents in high esteem. For example, in his office in rue Solferino in Paris, he always kept nearby a gift that the people of the island had given him on 12 June 1949. It was a statue of a Breton woman made of Quimper faience, a work by R. Micheau-Vemez. He had placed it on a pedestal table, in full view, and the face on the ceramic constantly reminded him of his companion, a single word representing the entire Sénan community for him.

Sein is still in the news and is linked to the memory of the illustrious general. In 2002, a copy of the Mouez Enez Sun from November 2000 was given to the Charles de Gaulle Museum, located in the house where he was born in Lille. This monthly is the local paper on the Île de Sein. This issue of the Mouez Enez Sun reported on the ceremonies organised in the General’s memory upon his death in 1970, thirty years earlier.

Site internet

http://www.mairie-iledesein.com/a_visiter.htm

"Fort de la Crèche" is a former coastal battery set up on the site of a former Napoleonic fort, Fort de Terlincthun, built in 1806 and dismantled in 1864. This coastal battery was built in 1879 following the principles of Séré de Rivières to defend the port of Boulogne.
It comprised the northern defences, supplemented southward by the Tour d'Odre (still occupied by the French National Navy today), Mont de Couppe and Cap d'Alprech Batteries, built during the same period. Demilitarised in 2002, "Fort de la Crèche" is now owned by the Conservatoire de l'Espace Littoral et des Rivages Lacustres (French Coastal Protection Agency).

The “Fort de la Crèche” Association, under contract, has taken on the mission of preserving, restoring and animating this built heritage. From the month of April through the month of September, it organises guided tours hosted by volunteers. It welcomes groups year round by reservation. Along with the building from 1879, the site also presents the modernisation carried out on the military facilities – occupied by the French Army and then the French Navy – from 1930 to 1940.

 

The Germans then occupied the site, building bunkers on top of the old French platforms and integrating it into the “Atlantic Wall".

The tour itinerary that is being set up will be a 200-year journey through Time with a "reading" of the landscapes and buildings.


Fort de la Crèche
Association Fort de la Crèche (AFLC) BP 25 62930 Wimereux

Entrance to the Fort on the D 96 road between the La Crèche roundabout and Terlincthun at Wimereux. Guided tours only.

Quizz : Forts et citadels

Set up on the initiative of the Spahis Association, the Spahis Museum in La Horgne (Ardennes) shows the importance of the North African troops, and the Spahis in particular, in French military history.

Its site also has significance. Between 13 and 15 May 1940, in the village of La Horgne, the 3rd Mounted Spahis Brigage, held back the 1st Armoured division of the German army in Gudérian.

The museum is split into six key displays:

Horses, man's bestfriend, in life and at death; the men in the Spahi regiments, their origins, culture and different faiths; the sociability of the Spahis who forged a commendable community; the Ardennes in 1940 and the start of the Second World War; the Battle of La Horgne, a dramatic but symbolic episode in the missions undertaken; the memory and recognition of the sacrifice of these soldiers.

The museum also displays fighting uniforms and ceremonial dress of the Spahis, an officer’s saddle, a variety of everyday objects used by the Spahis, weapons and military decorations.

Opening times

Saturday, Sunday and public holidays from 15 May to 15 September.

Every day in Jult and August from 10 am to 12 pm and 2-7 pm.

History and Learning Centre – Spahis Museum

08430 La Horgne

Tel: +33 (0)3 24 35 68 42 / 24 57 32 04

Le Burnous – Spahis Association

18, rue de Vézelay 75008 Paris, France

Email: le.burnous@wanadoo.fr

Le Burnous

Sites and sources: http://crdp.ac-reims.fr ; http://legioncavalerie.free.fr ; http://perso.wanadoo.fr/le.burnous ; http://www.ardennes1940aceuxquiontresiste.org

Erected in 1950 on the initiative of the "Burnous", a friendly association of Spahis, the national memorial in La Horgne pays tribute to the courage, nerve and sacrifice of the Spahis who have died in the theatres of operation since 1830.

La Horgne, a village devastated in 1940, was the scene of fierce warfare between sections of the 1st Panzer division of Guderian’s army which, on 13th May 1940, penetrated the French lines in Sedan, and the Spahis.

The men of the 3rd Spahis Brigade (3BS) under Colonel Marc, who had to slow down the German advance, those of the 2nd Regiment of Algerian Spahis under Colonel Burnol, and the 2nd Regiment of Moroccan Spahis under Colonel Geoffroy, held their positions around the village of La Horgne until 15th May. Subject to the attacks of the 1st Panzer division, the Spahis were surrounded and forced to fall back at 17:00 hours.

Several hundred men were killed or wounded, went missing or taken prisoner, along with two corps leaders, the colonels Burnol and Geofrroy. On 15th May 1940, the 3rd Spahis Brigade resisted the German armoured vehicles of the 1st Panzer division for 10 hours. The survivors were grouped into squadrons and took part in the fight until the armistice.

Inscription on the monument: "To the glory of the Spahis killed on the field of honour. Here on the 15th of May 1940, the 3rd Brigade of Mounted Spahis (2nd Algerians and 2nd Moroccans) sacrificed their lives to break the advance of the 1st German Armoured Division. La Horgne, 15th May 1940."

Le Burnous

Association amicale des spahis

18, rue de Vézelay

75008 PARIS

E-mail: le.burnous@wanadoo.fr

A path comprising 7 stages was inaugurated on 30th May 2010 during the commemorative ceremonies. It presents the historical context, the Spahis, the day of 15th May 1940, the epilogue, the fate of the village of La Horgne, the commemoration and the enemy.

Le Burnous

War monument :

08_La Horgne  

08_La Horgne_2

From the 17th century to the present day, this abbey has enjoyed a rich and eventful history. It is currently home to Ministry of Defence departments. History Pentemont Abbey was founded in 1217 at Beauvais, by Philippe de Dreux. Transferred to Paris in 1672, at the wishes of King Louis XIV, the Abbey then settled in the former buildings of the Order of the Word Incarnate; on the site of what is now 104 rue de Grenelle. In 1745, Abbess Marie-Catherine Béthisy de Mézières entrusted the reconstruction of the Abbey to Constant d'Ivry, architect to the Duc d'Orléans and known for his work on the Palais-Royal. The buildings were completed in 1783, but a lack of finance prevented their decoration. Later, in 1835, the building of the extension to rue de Bellechasse meant the demolition of part of the buildings. Up until the Revolution, Pentemont Abbey served as a convent for nuns, as well as an educational establishment for the daughters of nobility. Some apartments were also reserved for ladies of good standing seeking rest. This was the case when Joséphine de Beauharnais stayed here, while the case of her separation from her husband was heard.

After the Revolution, the building was used for military purposes. The abbey buildings housed the National Guard, then the Imperial Guard under the First Empire, before becoming the barracks for the Cent Gardes under the Second Empire. In 1915, Pentemont Abbey was put at the disposal of the Pensions Department of the Ministry of War, which became the Ministry of War Pensions, Bonuses and Benefits in 1920. The building still houses Ministry of Defence departments to this day. Main courtyard The buildings to the left and at the far end of the main courtyard were built in the 19th century, for military purposes. Today they house Ministry of Defence departments. The building on the right, from the 17th century, was the main building of Pentemont Abbey. The first-floor windows at the centre of the facade, used to open into the Abbess's salon. The monumental entrance on the ground floor, which used to lead directly to the Abbey chapel, was converted into the grand salon between the wars.
War memorial and commemorative plaques The war memorial bears the inscription "From veterans to their comrades who gave their lives for their country. In memoriam". It is accompanied by a stele, dedicated to Ministry of Veterans' staff and the victims of war who died for France. Four commemorative plaques to députés and Veterans' Ministers (André Maginot, Robert Lasalle, Albert Aubry and Henri Frenay) are mounted on the building at the far end of the courtyard. There is also a plaque to the victims of the attack on the UTA DC 10 on 19th September 1989. This site is closed to the public, except on heritage days. This historical monument, under the administration of the Ministry for Defence, is part of a Defence Culture protocol, signed on 17th September 2005. Click here to see the list of other buildings included ...
Ministère de la défense Secrétariat Général pour l'Administration Direction de la Mémoire, du Patrimoine et des Archives Bureau des actions culturelles et muséographiques 14 rue Saint-Dominique 00450 Armées E-mail: [email=dmpa-sdace-bacm@sga.defense.gouv.fr]dmpa-sdace-bacm@sga.defense.gouv.fr[/email

In the 16th century, the harbour of Toulon was surrounded by a system of defences designed to protect its access, firstly by sea and then by land, as offensive artillery gradually increased its range. Constructed between 1672 and 1680, at the end of the 17th century this fort provided effective protection for the port of Toulon as well as for the shores of the Seyne. The name Eguillette seems to come from the presence in the area of soft water lakes (ayguades), where ships would come to take on fresh supplies. Unlike the round structures of the forts of Balaguier and the Royal Tower, the Eguillette Tower is square and flanked by two oblique wings: a corridor and an open air battery with parapets and embrasures, behind which 22 canons commanded the harbour with their grazing fire. The Fort de l'Eguillette is a fort with a low battery: at the time when the navy used sailboats, it was used to fire on the hulls of the ships. With the advances in artillery during the middle of the 19th century, the right-hand battery was casemated with stone vaults. The left-hand battery, which could be turned against the arsenal in the event of seizure of the fort, was filled in. The Fort de l'Eguillette is now rented by the town of Seyne-sur-Mer.

Ministry of Defence General Secretariat for Administration "Direction de la Mémoire, du Patrimoine et des Archives" (Management of Remembrance, Heritage and Archives) 14 rue Saint-Dominique 00450 Armées E-mail: dmpa-sdace-bacm@sga.defense.gouv.fr Toulon Tourist Information Office Place Raimu 83000 Toulon Tel.: +33 (0) 4 94 18 53 00