At the end of the 17th Century, France was in conflict with the League of Augsburg. Along with his Dutch allies, the Prince of Orange, who had become William III, King of England, imposed a maritime blockade on the kingdom of Louis XIV. Corsaires departing from the port of Saint-Malo broke through the Anglo-Dutch barricade in a spectacular storming action. Faced with the enemy threat, the Sun King decided to equip the islands off the Saint Malo coast and in 1689 gave Vauban the task of establishing a wall of artillery around this strategic position at the entrance to the Channel.

The Conchées islands extend two nautical miles to the north west of Saint-Malo. Beaten by winds and currents, the Fort de la Conchée is anchored to the Rocher de Quincé. Part of the protection system for St Malo, and the structure furthest from the port, this small fort was designed to enable enemy ships attempting to bombard St Malo to be taken from behind, by securing an access route to the harbour out of reach of Cézembre's canons: " the Passe aux Normands".
Construction of the building began in 1692 from plans that Vauban had entrusted to Siméon de Garangeau, who was appointed director of fortifications in Saint-Malo. On the 27th November 1693, the English seized the fort as it was being built, but failed in their attempt to destroy the city of St Malo using the famous infernal machine, a vessel loaded with explosives which ran aground on the reefs before reaching the city's ramparts. Considered to be finished in 1695, the Fort de la Conchée resisted another attack that same year from the English fleet, commanded by Admiral Berkeley. With a surface area of 1,600 m², the fortification has the appearance of a stone vessel with rounded edges, concealing curved internal vaults. The stonework of the thick ramparts has been reinforced not only to strengthen the fortification against enemy fire, but also in order to protect the small rock supporting the building from the onslaught of waves. On the lower level, a monumental entranceway, with the King's arms carved into the rock, provides direct access to one of the fort's lower chambers. On the upper level, artillery terraces housed gunwale canons (above the parapet, due to the elevated position of the structure's ground floor), which allowed the gunners to reach the hulls of the enemy ships. At the end of the 18th century an oven was built inside the structure to heat the Meusnier cannonballs. Protected from enemy projectiles by a stone base and equipped with a semi-circular vault enabling the cannonballs to be heated by reverberation, this oven allowed the constant heating of several dozen cannonballs in just one hour. It also acted as a deterrent at a time before the invention of vessels with armoured hulls. In fact, just the smoke from such an oven was often enough to make any attacker head off back to sea.
During the Second World War, the Fort de la Conchée was taken over by the occupying troops and used as a training target by the heavy German batteries. It suffered a lot of damage, most notably in 1943, when fire from one of these batteries seriously damaged the southern gable of the structure and destroyed the officers' living quarters on the terrace. In 1944, Saint-Malo was occupied by the German garrison of Colonel von Aulok and, from the 6th August onwards, was heavily bombarded by the allied army Most of the city was destroyed, the ramparts seriously damaged and all the fortification's living accommodation reduced to nothing. When allied troops took back possession of the Fort de la Conchée, the former war machine was in ruins and no longer had any defensive purpose.
Saint-Malo Tourist Information Office Esplanade St-Vincent 35400 Saint-Malo tel. + 33 (0) 8 25 16 02 00 fax. + 33 (0) 2.99.56.67.00 e-mail: info@saint-malo-tourisme.com

In the far south of the Pyrénées Orientales region, the Côte Vermeille (‘Vermilion Coast’) hugs the Mediterranean sea and is sheltered by the Albera Massif to the west. Nestled in the bottom of a cove along this rocky coastline, the village of Collioure is rich in historic monuments that mix together religious art and military architecture.

In addition to its royal palace built between the 13th and 18th centuries, and its 17th century church known for its phallic bell tower, Collioure is overlooked by Fort Saint-Elme, south of the port. Fort Saint Elme, like the fort in Salses, was erected between 1538 and 1552 by King Charles V to protect the Spanish Kingdom (Castile and Aragon) and help fight the French in Italy and lead the war up to the north of France and Burgundy. Importantly Charles V was the great grandson of Charles the Bold (Duke of Burgundy), a Burgundian prince who was desperate to take back Dijon (Duchy of Burgundy) occupied by Louis XI in 1477. To fight in the north, it was important to be protected in the south.

Saint Elme (St. Elmo in English) is the patron saint of sailors and the fort does actually resemble a ship protecting Collioure and Port-Vendres.

Its star shape also prefigured the architectural style of Vauban. In the mid-16th century, Charles V built a fortified redoubt around the medieval keep, not that this offered any resistance to Vicomte de Turenne. Often called simply Turenne, he captured the fort in 1642 after a siege that lasted several weeks and allowed the defenders to leave with “all arms and flags flying”, in other words with the honours of war. After Collioure was annexed to France by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, Vauban came to inspect the region’s defence system and decided to reinforce the fortifications by building barrack buildings protected by moats.

Fort Saint-Elme was further modernised in the late 18^th century with the addition of a water tank and a network of underground tunnels to protect the inhabitants from artillery fire. Invaded by the Spanish in December 1793, the fort was soon after besieged by French troops led by General Dugommier.

Situated on a crest overlooking the fort, a battery, converted into a redoubt in 1844, is a still-standing testament to this siege that ended in May 1794 following the victory of the French, who reclaimed Collioure and its fortifications.

Fort Saint-Elme was a private property from 1913 and requisitioned in 1942 by the occupying troops before it was pillaged in 1944 when they decamped. Entered in the inventory of historic monuments in 1927, the fort is now open to the public.

Collioure Tourist Information Office

Place du 18 juin 66190 Collioure

Tel: +33 (0)4 68 82 15 47

Fax: +33 (0)4 68 82 46 29

Email: contact@collioure.com

Getting there: 30 km (19 miles) from Perpignan via the N114.

Collioure Tourist Information Office

Fort Saint Elme

In 1815, the Congress of Vienna sentenced France to return Savoy to the King of Piedmont-Sardinia, allied with Austria. Victor-Emmanuel I used a proportion of the ample compensation paid by France to fortify the Alpine barrier and block the French army's passage into Italy.

Since the glacial rock bar allowing access into Piedmont was no longer protected since Napoleon had destroyed the fortress of Brunetta de Susa in 1796, the decision was made to reinforce the protection of the routes between France and Italy around Esseillon.

Dominating the Arc Valley along two kilometres over Modane, the rocky foothills of Esseillon, a natural defensive barrier a hundred metres high, blocks the access to the Haute-Maurienne Valley and Mont-Cenis Pass, between Savoy and Turin. In 1817, excavation was started to strip the rock intended to hold the future constructions. At the heart of the grandiose mountains of Haute-Maurienne, the huge construction of a military town was entrusted to a young captain from Piedmont, Olivero.

Educated on Austrian defence systems, he put into practice the theories of Marquis de Montalembert, a French artillery general in the 18^th century: the forts were designed to block the enemy’s path following a line of defence perpendicular to the direction of their progression. Five structures were erected, the way the valley flared placing everything out of the reach of enemy artillery stationed on the surrounding summits. Named after the first names of members of the royal family of the House of Savoy, these thick-walled forts flanked by breaks making crossfire possible. They form a majestic architectural ensemble that effectively fulfilled its role of blocking the path through Mont-Cenis Pass, the gateway into Italy, until 1860.

In this year, marked by Savoy's reannexation to France, the crenellations cut into the fort walls, mainly directed towards France, now served no purpose. The defence structures in Esseillon were modified by the French, in such a way as to counter invaders coming from the East.

In 1871, drilling started on the Fréjus Rail Tunnel, transferring the border defence fortifications to the valley around Modane. Stripped of any strategic interest and weakened by shells, these remote and cold imposing structures perched at over one thousand five hundred metres altitude were downgraded to a site for holding disciplinary battalions or prisoners. The fortifications were saved from fire until the Second World War.

Built between 1818 and 1828, Fort Victor-Emmanuel was the major component of the Esseillon defence system. Sat at the edge of a cliff at 1,350 metres altitude, the fort comprises a parallel series of eight, two-storey buildings, two of which were specifically batteries for cannons. The main entrance, reached by a wooden bridge extended by a metal drawbridge, led through to the headquarters building that housed the staff, the barracks, and logistics buildings, including two wells that supplied the garrison with water.

The fort’s fire plans were directed towards the village of Avrieux and the royal road connecting Chambéry to Turin, although a number of embrasures also flanked the area surrounding the Marie-Thérèse redoubt. A path suitable for motor vehicles bordered by projecting stones snaked inside the fort and facilitated the movement of batteries. Inside the building, a maze of staircases and vaulted galleries provided easy access for moving cannons about. On the Sardinian side, a ditch was bordered with caponiers, structures detached from the escarp.

A prison was built in 1833 for the purpose of holding Italian liberals. Initially conceived as a base station in the event of an attack, the fort was designed to hold a garrison of 1,500 men serving 35 cannons. A thriving hub, it also contained a hospital and a chapel. In June 1940, it was at the centre of the defence system of the 281st artillery regiment, before being used by the Italians, who started to imprison French resistance fighters there in 1943. During the course of winter 1944, Fort Victor-Emmanuel was used as a support base for the 6th battalion of Alpine hunter operating against the German troops entrenched at Mont-Cenis. Today, some entrance points into the fort are dangerous and are currently being reinforced as part of the general restoration programme of the complex.

Erected between 1819 and 1830, Fort Marie-Christine is the highest fort of the complex overlooking the structure in its entirety from an altitude of 1,500 metres. A typical perpendicular fortification structure popular with Marquis de Montalembert, rid of its traditional bastions, the hexagonal complex still maintains a perpendicular face to the enemy. Dedicated to defending the north side of the valley, the fort and its 20 cannons provided an effective flank of the Charles-Albert and Charles-Félix forts as well as the road leading to Aussois.
Encircled by a wall and preceded by a ditch in the east, and a vertiginous cliff to the west, the fort was built over three levels: a ground floor occupied by rooms used for logistics; a first floor where the army barracks were situated, and an upper level consisting of a covered terrace with cannon embrasures. The main entrance was protected by a weighbridge positioned under the crenellations at the guard posts. The central courtyard is surrounded by blockhouses surmounted with vaults that could hold up to 500 men. Originally, a secure passage was provided to Fort Charles-Albert by a long low building that is no longer standing today.

Entirely renovated, today Fort Marie-Christine offers visitors a number of features in addition to its historical interest and importance as a national monument. Housing a gîte and a restaurant, it is a fascinating place to stay and enjoy a meal. Also an activity centre, in 1987 it was made the fifth entrance to Vanoise National Park and offers climbing enthusiasts a range of well-established ascents for both novices and the more experienced.

Protected in the north by the Arc Abyss, to the west of the Saint-Anne Nant ravine, Marie-Thérèse redoubt is the only structure in the Esseillon defence system built on the left bank of the Arc Valley. Constructed from 1819 to 1825, this redoubt in the town of Avrieux was intended to block the Route Royale through Mont-Cenis Pass.

Within reach of the cannons at Fort Victor-Emmanuel, from the other side of the abyss, the structure resembles an irregularly-shaped horse shoe, the western end extended to house the entranceway and the weighbridge facing France. Designed to hold a garrison of two hundred men, the Marie-Thérèse redoubt was organised over two levels of vaulted blockhouses placed around a modest central courtyard. On the upper level, visitors can see triple embrasures, which can accept one cannon and two rifles. A shooting gallery buried in the counterscarp of the ditch thus guaranteed an efficient close defence system. Goods were initially supplied using a system of cables erected across the Arc Ravine and connecting the structure to Fort Victor-Emmanuel. Then in 1850, a narrow suspension bridge over the abyss broke the redoubt’s isolated position by connecting it to the structures located on the opposite side of the Arc Gorges: a covered walkway stretched the length of the bridge, which was defended by a guardroom.

The same year, a swing bridge controlled by a small fort set 50 metres back from the redoubt was erected to protect the access to the fort.

In June 1940, the redoubt was occupied by the 281st infantry regiment, then, after the armistice, by the Italian and German troops until September 1944. Currently under renovation, a part of the structure is today open to visitors. Suspended 100 metres over the void, the bravest visitors can enjoy an unspoilt view over the Arc Gorges from the ‘devil’s bridge’. This gangway destroyed in 1940 was reconstructed in 1989 as part of the project to open the Esseillon site as a cultural and sports site and is today one of the starting points of the via ferrata climbing trail.
Completed in 1827, this building, just like Fort Marie-Christine (wife of Charles-Félix) formed a small unit designed to block the path of troops along the road connecting Aussois and Modane. Stood on the western cliff, it was accessed from the east via an earth ramp leading to an immense door made from hewn stones facing Fort Victor-Emmanuel.

To the rear of the building, a cemetery, known as the Sardinian Cemetery, was used to bury the dead from across the Esseillon site.

When Savoy was annexed to France in 1860, the agreements signed by Napoleon III and Cavour, the prime minister of the nascent state of Italy, stipulated that the fortified complex at Esseilon must be completely destroyed. However, Fort Charles-Félix was the only structure wrecked on the emperor’s order, after three days of shellfire. Visitors are strongly dissuaded from entering the structure today due to the high risks of collapsing walls. Between Fort Marie-Christine and Fort Victor-Emmanuel, the fort ruins make a breathtaking site from the main road, revealing the former dungeon surrounded by a star-shaped wall.

In 1832, the construction of a last fort was started. This was due to the fact that the defence system made up of the existing four structures contained a breach north of the village of Aussois. Linked by a trench to Fort Marie-Christine standing at the same altitude, Fort Charles-Albert was therefore intended to complete the entire complex by blocking access to the north of the site of Esseillon. The structure was never completed and the construction terminated in 1834. Today, only the ruins of two small garrison buildings and the base of one tower can be seen overlooking the valley in Aussois.

Esseillon Fort

Aussois Tourist Information Centre, Maison d’Aussois, 73500, Aussoi

Tel: +33 (0)4 79 20 30 80

Fax: 04.79.20.40.23

Email: info@aussois.com 

Tours

Visitors can take guided tours around the buildings open to the public. The new vocation of Esseillon’s defence system is also enhanced by numerous tourist trails with a variety of themes. Nature trails are a great way to explore the wealth of flora and fauna in the region, offering routes to be explored by foot or snowshoe via a network of footpaths, climbing trails for the more athletic or restoration projects at the structures in high season for a more laborious activity. There are a variety of ways to discover the forts in Esseillon and the area surrounding this unique fortified complex in France.

Getting there

From Chambéry (107 km), Grenoble (145 km), Lyon (220 km), Geneva (200 km), or Turin (110 km), via the alpine A43 or A41 motorways (exit at Modane). From Modane (7 km), international train station, by the D215.

Site of Maison d’Aussois

After the defeat by Germany in the war of 1870, France will loose Alsace and a part of Lorraine. Furthermore it is condemned to pay a war indemnity of five billion gold-francs and hasn't got the right to defend on the Eastern borders anymore. The technological progress achieved by the artillery since 1858 (loading with cylinder heads and the use of striped canons) considerably increased its range and precision: the existing fortifications, including those of Paris, are now completely obsolete.

The government of Adolphe Thiers react vigorously to this situation and charges General Raymond Séré de Rivière to draw up a report on the defence of France. The new Parisian defence plan includes the construction of a defence enclosure of 43 works, which measure six to seven kilometres of distance from the original enclosure of 1841.

The envisaged budget equals to 400 million gold pieces and will exceeded of 33 million!

Since in 1870 the Prussians used the Parisis Hillock as observatory and artillery position, the fort of Cormeilles is considered as a priority. Its mission is, on one hand, to block the peninsula of Argenteuil, market gardening zone, essential for a new eventual siege of Paris. On the other hand the fort of Cormeilles is used to protect the road, as well as the railway access to the Montmorency valley towards Pontoise and Rouen in crossing the shootings with the fort Monlignon.

It was built between 1874 and 1878, for a total cost of 3,3 million gold. This price includes the purchase of the grounds and the construction work of a public company, controlled by the civil engineering.

The fort has the shape of an irregular trapezoid, whose 1,2 kilometres long ditch consists of three clay kaponiers. This fort of first generation (central massive building and high levelled battery), possesses two fronts turned towards the attacker and two flanks turned towards Paris, in order to save in terms of earthworks and to ease an eventual re-conquering of the fort. Originally a grid, followed of a clay pit by two fusillade crenels, protected the entrance of the fort. Nowadays this pit is filled. A gantry makes the crossing of the obstacle possible, by being retracted on the left with the use of a winch.

A central massive building, protecting the officer's building, includes 7 cellars for canons and sheltering mortars intended to beat the slopes of the Hillock. Here the artillery peak wasn't possible to see. The garrison of the ford included 36 officers, more than a thousand men and 24 artillery horses. This fort being one of the first built among the defence enclosure of the Séré de Rivère program, serves as testimony and its plans are diffused among the engineers as an example.

From 1855 it is however out of date because of the shell-torpedo crises. The engineers modify many of the Séré de Rivière forts. The fort of Cormeilles will not profit from any modernization program.

During the first world conflict it is used as deposit and also as anti-aircraft battery against the zeppelins that came to bombard Paris.

During the short campaign of 1940, the artillery pieces of the fort open fire and shoot down several enemy planes. The Germans occupy the building and use it as ammunition deposit for the Kriegesmarine. From now on they shelter anti-aircraft batteries of 20 mm Flack instead of the old 75 mm guns.

Released by the FFI of the region the fort is then used as a prison to lock up the war prisoners, the collaborationists and the traffickers of the black market. The last officer leaves this place in 1955 and the prison will be closed in 1956. In 1967 the fort is assigned to the 23rd infantry regiment of the Navy and accommodates an initiation centre of the commando which will function permanently, in particular also for many reserve units, until the dissolution of this regiment, at the beginning of the 80's. Given up from the Ministry of defence to the Ile-de-France region, the fort is today managed by the association "Friends of the Cormeilles fort" (l'association des amis du fort de Cormeilles), which is at present looking for objects and documents relating to the work, in order to enrich the collection and build a military museum at the heart of the fort.

Le fort de Cormeilles

Contact  : Les amis du fort de Cormeilles

1, Route stratégique 95240 Cormeilles-en-Parisis

Tél. 06.80.92.48.57

E-mail : jean-pierre.mazier@wanadoo.fr

Visits The association Friends of the Cormeilles fort organizes each first Sunday

at 3 p.m. of the month guided tours of the fort. Access to Cormeilles-en-parisis

By car : 40 km from Paris. Take the A 115 in direction to Cergy-Ponyoise via Franconville

(exit n°2 Ermont-Cernay, Franconville, Sannois).

By train (RER) : SNCF railway station of Cormeilles

is connected during the rush hours by a shuttle service to the RER (A) station of
Sartrouville and to the RER (C) station of Montigny-Beauchamps during the whole day.

By train : 15 min from the Saint-Lazare station, direction Pontoise or Mantes-la-Jolie. 

Fort de Cormeilles

Covering an area of hectares, The American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer is one of fourteen American Second World War cemeteries on foreign soil, and is managed by the ABMC, American Battle Monuments Commission.

9,386 graves are arranged in rows on this huge rectangular area, each marked by a stele in white Italian marble, in the form of either a cross or a star of David. On the right hand side of the entrance there is a capsule that will be opened on 6th June 2044, a century after D-day: it contains press articles from the time, and a message from Eisenhower to future generations.

The cemetery memorial consists of a colonnade with a seven-metre bronze statue symbolising American youth at its centre. Opposite the rows of graves, on the plinth of the work created by Donald De Lue, the following inscription can be read: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Both ends of the semi-circular colonnade overlook loggias guarded by two great urns crowned by statues. The walls display maps carved into the stone representing the successive phases of the battle: the action of the airborne commandos, the naval plan of the landings, and the fighting on the four beaches. To the east of the memorial, the arc of the circle described by the garden to the missing holds the mortal remains of 1,557 American soldiers who were either drowned or unidentifiable. A chapel stands amid the graves, housing a coloured mosaic symbolising America blessing its children as they left to fight for freedom. A flight of steps leads to the sea, from where visitors have a wide panorama over Omaha Beach, as shown by the viewing table. Twelve kilometres away, rises the Pointe du Hoc monument erected by the French, and accidentally glimpsed in scenes from the 1962 film, "The Longest Day"

The remains of the heroes of the Normandy campaign have rested in peace since the official inauguration of the cemetery on 18th July 1956. Their final resting place was given in perpetuity by the French Republic to the United States of America.

Tours

Opposite the memorial, the American flag flies every day over the great bowl formed by the site, which is closed on 25th December and 1st January.

Access

Seventeen kilometres north-west of Bayeux, via Surrain.

The Normandy American Cemetery "Omaha Beach"

14170 Colleville-sur-Mer

tel. +33 2.31.51.62.00

fax. +33 2.31.51.62.09

American Battle Monuments Commission

Courthouse Plaza II, Suite 500 2300 Clarendon Boulevard Arlington,

VA 22201 United States Of America

tel. (00 1) (703) 696-6897

At the centre of the one thousand five hundred hectares of the largest artificial roadstead in France, the defensive system of the Port of Cherbourg is arranged around several fortified edifices, warships forever petrified present exceptional historical point of interest. The inspection of the Cherbourg bay defences by Louis XIV in 1786 marked the beginning of the reinforcement of the coastal defences. During the course of the XIXth century, the forts constructed were adapted to changing artillery methods, which were becoming ever more powerful. During the second world war, a part of the fort was operational and served to cordon off a strategic point of passage and for bringing allied provisions into Great Britain . When Cherbourg fell to the enemy on the 30th June 1944, the port installations sustained considerable damage, as evidenced by numerous bullet and shell holes indelibly marking the granite stones.

In 1787, the foundations of the Querqueville fort were laid on the site of the a modest semi-circular fort dating from the Seven years war. The construction of the fort was interrupted before its completion, when the passage for vessels was moved one kilometre to the west.
The Querqueville fort, from which troops had to shoot from long distances and was therefore inaccurate, saw its vocation considerably reduced. The work undertaken was nevertheless completed in 1795, resulting in a construction in the shape of a semicircular casemate, opening up into a central courtyard, and protected by a two-tiered barracks. On the land side, the semi-circular gun battery with fifty three casemates was protected by a bastion separate from the rest of the edifice. In the mid XIXth century, an artillery firing range was added to the area surrounding the fort. This served as a firing range for the Marine gunners, before being used as the site for a barracks for accommodating colonial troops in 1895. Large-bore coastal batteries were added to both ends of the fort around 1879. An aeronaval base was constructed in 1925 near the fort, used during the 1940 campaign by allied aircraft who attempted in vain to drive back the advancing enemy troops in the Cotentin. The fort was later used as a training ground for the School of National Marine Safety. The terrace of the fort, the cavities on the first floor, the bastioned façade with its protrusions, its recesses and its moats, all suffered damage during the bombardments of the second world war. However, the Querqueville fort is without doubt the best preserved fort in the Cherbourg roadstead, and is regularly opened to visitors during heritage days.
Around 1784, the Count of Chavagnac undertook soundings of the deep waters of the Cherbourg roadstead in order to study the future implantation of the grand harbour wall, and discovered several rocky islets. Later on during the mid XIXth century, military engineers used one of these rocky ridges to anchor a defensive fort near to the western pass of the roadstead. Built in 1854, the Chavagnac fort is a triangular edifice with rounded edges, designed to cross fire with the western battery on the end of the harbour wall. Swivelling armoured dugouts were added to the fort, and it was also strengthened by a stone parapet and a breakwater wall. Like all the main forts which make up the roadstead, it was concreted at the end of the XIXth century and electricity was installed. The fort is now in ruins, and can only be admired from the sea.
The stones used to build a first battery at the end of the XVIIIth century crumbled during a violent storm in 1808. Almost entirely rebuilt from 1811, the central fort is arranged around a lighthouse surrounded by barracks and logistic buildings. Built in an elliptical shape, it has a flat roof overlooking two rows of casemates, concealing a vast interior courtyard. Originally, the upper firing level, an open-air battery, made gunwale fire possible (above the parapet due to the elevated platform). However, the height of the structure was reduced at the end of the XIXth century, to keep pace with progress in artillery technology. The lighthouse was destroyed, the central courtyard was covered in concrete, and two exterior barracks were added. Under German occupation, the enemy troops modified the fort, installing a powerful garrison to provide guns for defending the western and eastern passes. Since the last period during which it came under fire, the central fort has retained a fortified dugout with armoured doors, an elevator to bring the munitions to the dugout, and a 37 mm cannon in its casing. Now seriously damaged and unstable, the fort is no longer accessible to the public.
Built in the mid XIXth century, the forts, known as the western and eastern forts rose above the waves at either end of the harbour walls surrounding the Cherbourg roadstead. They originally took the form of triple-tiered forts, of which two were casemates. These two forts were built around a circular courtyard, and they had two casemate levels with an open-air battery on top of them, with a parapet made from clay, covered with brick. The two ground levels were given over to the garrison's quarters, and also housed the armouries. They were concreted at the end of the XIXth century and they served as coastal defences during the 1940 campaign. Threatened by the rapidly advancing enemy, the French army blew up the marine battery inside the eastern fort on the 18th June 1940, which then led to the destruction of the whole fort, of which only a few blocks of concrete now remain.
Built in 1779 on a rocky mass on the site of a smaller fort, the fort of the island of Pelée was designed to strengthen the defences of the eastern pass of the Cherbourg roadstead. The engineer Pierre-Jean de Caux, director of the Lower Normandy fortifications, supervised the construction work, and created a work concentrating numerous pieces of ordnance within a restricted area, taking inspiration from the military architecture of the marquis of Montalembert. The fort, in the shape of an irregular semicircle with rounded walls to dissuade enemy fire, the fort is built around a central courtyard, and originally had two floors. On the ground floor are buildings designed to house supplies and munitions, protected by a monumental gate accessed by a ramp. On the upper level, casemate batteries are positioned ready to open fire on attackers. The whole edifice is topped with a flat roof positioned behind a parapet. Progress made in artillery technology towards the end of the XIXth century led to the redevelopment of the fort. It was concreted and its now useless parapets were removed. A smaller port protected by two stone groynes and an inclined plane in granite was added to the front of the edifice. Used for many years as a prison for political prisoners, the fort of the Island of Pelée was modernised by occupying German troops, who installed an electric power station inside its walls. Originally linked to dry land by a rocky outcrop, the island of Pelée and its fort are not open to visitors, only the ramparts of the fort are visible from the sea.
Cité de la mer and Le Redoutable The former transatlantic harbour station of Cherbourg is the jewel in the crown of 1930's architecture. Built in reinforced concrete in 1928 by the architect René Levavasseur, in collaboration with the engineers Chalos and Fleury, it retains its unique Art Deco style interior decoration designed by the Marc Simon workshop. Inaugurated in 1933 by the French President Albert Lebrun, the harbour station was partly destroyed by the Germans in 1944. It is now home to the Cité de la mer, a vast space dedicated to the discovery of human underwater exploits. Offering permanent exhibition galleries dedicated to ocean exploration, the Cité de la mer is now also home to the very first French nuclear submarine, Le Redoutable. Launched in 1967 from Cherbourg arsenal, the SNLE (nuclear submarine missile launcher) returned there in 1990 to be dismantled, and the section containing the nuclear steam supply system removed. Now on display on one side of the permanent exhibition gallery building, visitors can walk around it from the stern to the bow, guided by a recorded commentary through headphones (in French or English) and listen to sound effects of the submariners' daily lives. Visitors with reduced mobility can also visit the former war machine, where an interactive terminal enables them to go on a guided tour of the submersible.
Cherbourg and Haut-Cotentin Tourist Office 2, Quai Alexandre III 50100 Cherbourg-Octeville tel. 02.33.93.52.02 fax. 02.33.53.66.97 e-mail : tourisme@ot-cherbourg-cotentin.fr Cité de la mer Transatlantic harbour station 50100 Cherbourg-Octeville tel. 02.33.20.26.26 fax. 02.33.20.26.27

Constructed in a month and a half on eighty hectares of land on the heath land of Gurs, the internment camp originally had about four hundred huts and was enclosed by a double barbed wire fence.

Spanish Refugees The "reception centre" was considered by the authorities of the Third Republic to be operational from April 1939. Several thousand Spanish refugees, mostly soldiers from the Spanish Republican Army and volunteers from the international Brigades, were sent there. The buildings, which were supposed to be temporary, were quickly inundated with mud and the poor living conditions claimed numerous victims.
The "undesirables" From May 1940 onwards, the Vichy regime sent refugees arrested in the towns of Paris and Bordeaux, French political activists and Basque political refugees, to be interned at the Gurs camp. The Jews The Statute on Jews, issued on the 3rd October 1940 led to their large-scale internment from the autumn of 1940. Natives of France, Germany's Baden province or central Europe, for many of them Gurs was the last stop before the Nazi extermination camps: indeed, between August 1942 and March 1943, six convoys took several thousand internees from Gurs to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. After the Liberation, the camp was used as a place of detention for collaborators and German prisoners. Closed on the 31st December 1945, the site was radically altered from 1946 onwards, with the sale and destruction of the huts, followed by the planting of a forest in an attempt to forget the history of a camp that had been run from start to finish by the French authorities.
The national memorial In 1994 the national memorial of the internment camp at Gurs was inaugurated. The Israeli artist Dani Karavan designed it as a journey of reflection in three parts on internment in the Vichy camps. - At the end of the camp's central thoroughfare, the frame of a hut reminds visitors of the harsh living conditions of the internees - more than sixty people were crammed into each of these cramped buildings.
- a 180-metre long railway track stretches from this hut to symbolise the ultimate journey to the death camps, the final destination of many Gurs internees.
- At the entrance to the camp, the rails end abruptly at a concrete slab with barbed wire around it, representing the Nazi concentration and extermination camps.
The camp cemetery There are more than a thousand graves of those internees who died at the Gurs camp between 1939 and 1943. Restored in 1962 by the towns and the Hebrew Consistory of the Baden province, it has two steles: one paying tribute to the Spanish and the Brigadista, and the other dedicated to the memory of the Jews, most of whom were expelled by the Nazis from the Baden province in October 1940 before the decision on the final solution.
The camp's central thoroughfare and adjacent paths The camp road links the former camp entrance on the route de Mauléon with the cemetery and stretches about two kilometres, parallel to the D 936. On each side of this central thoroughfare, old paths, paved by the internees with shingle from the mountain streams of the Oloron, can still be seen. In the middle of the trees and shrubbery that now cover the site, visitors can also see some memorial structures that were created in 2002 by sixth-form classes from a business college specialising in careers in the building trade. Modelled on the camp's former wooden huts, several "virtual huts" have been constructed using cords to remind us that the forest there today must not try to hide the camp of yesterday.
The Gurs camp association Tour Carrère 25 avenue du Loup 64000 PAU Email administrator: abauzit99@orange.fr Tours The camp and its memorial are permanently open. Entry is unrestricted and free of charge. Access 90 km from Bayonne via Peyrehoarde and Escos on the A 64/E 80 (exit no. 6 - Peyrehoarde) and then the D 936. 45 km from Pau via Tarsacq, Noguères, and Mourenx, on the D 2, the D 33, the D 281, the D 111, the D 947 and then the D 936. 65 km from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the D 933 towards Sauveterre-de-Béarn, then the D 936. 6 km from Navarrenx on the D 947 and then the D 936.

Because the Normandy landing memorial sites are well worth a detour, a tourist route dedicated to D-Day would not be complete without a visit to the site of Bénouville Bridge,called "Pegasus Bridge" since 1944. Installed in 1934, this lift bridge, just over thirty metres long and nearly seven metres wide, was at the cutting-edge of modernity of the time, as it was driven by an electric motor, the task of which was made easier by an impressive concrete counterweight. 

In the night of 5 to 6 June 1944, three Horsa gliders from the British 6th airborne division, under the orders of Major Howard, landed in silence, just a few metres from Bénouville Bridge. Their insignia, a Pegasus, was the name given to the structure thence onwards.
 

The mission of the British 6th Airborne glider infantry was to seize the bridge. Along with the taking of the neighbouring Ranville bridge, the idea was to prevent German reinforcements from hitting the eastern side of the imminent landing.
In addition, cutting the artery between Caen and the sea would preserve a passage for later expansion of the Allied Beach Head. Armed by around fifty men, a 50 mm canon and a little bunker housing a machine gun, the German garrison defending the strategic structure was rapidly dominated by the first liberators on Normandy soil.

"Ham & jam, ham & jam": a few hours after the gliders arrived, this was the radio signal given to announce Major Howard's mission was a success. The commando still had to fight against enemy counter-attacks, notably by elements of the 21st Panzer.

It managed to keep its position and kept the bridge intact until back-up arrived on Sword Beach.

The meeting was finally achieved at around 1pm, with the famous bagpipes of Bill Millin, personal piper of Lord Lovat, playing in the background. Major Howard's parachutists, in control of the only points for crossing the two rivers between Caen and the Channel, made the first D-Day attack, which gave allied troops control of communications between the east and the west of the River Orne and its canal.

A symbolic site

Immortalised on screen in 1962 during the film The longest day, the first Normandy site under allied control still has many signs of the heroic actions that happened here and which preceded the Landing of 6 June 1944.
In 1960, Pegasus Bridge was extended by five metres following widening of the canal and was then replaced in 1993 by a new, wider and more modern structure. The new bridge is raised, like its glorious predecessor, and has reproductions of the old railing and wooden pathways from the time. In the centre of the site, visitors can still see the German anti-tank canon in its basin, the role of which was to defend access to the port.
Near the banks of the canal which the bridge spans is a path lined with a bronze bust of Major Howard and three stones mark the exact position of the three gliders. On the opposite bank is the first Normandy house liberated by the allied troops, which is in fact the famous Café Gondrée. In summer, the site puts on a sound and light show which stages the intermingled destinies of Bénouville Bridge and Major Howard's men.

Installed between the River Orne and the canal, the Pegasus Memorial was inaugurated on 4 June 2000 by the Prince of Wales and the French defence minister. In addition to the real Bénouville Bridge, which was reassembled after being taken town in 1993, the memorial has a "Bailey" bridge from 1944: named after a British engineer, these bridges could be assembled by forty sappers in less than three hours and were used to allow heavy military vehicles to pass.
Recently, the ministry of defence (general secretariat for administration; department of memory, heritage and archives) made a financial contribution to the installation of a life-size replica of a Horsa glider in the middle of the park around the memorial.
 

The permanent exhibition areas in the memorial give visitors the opportunity to see films of archives and showcases with an impressive collection of objects and documents to the glory of the British 6th airborne division: fragments of gliders from 1944, soldiers' equipment, Major Howard's personal objects and Bill Millin's bagpipes!
For young visitors and their teachers, the Pegasus memorial offers free of charge an educational file which traces a journey rich in emotions, thus emphasising the necessary orientation of memory actions to the younger generations.

Mémorial de Pegasus Bridge

Avenue du Major Howard 14860 Ranville
Tel. +33 (0)2.31.78.19.44.
Fax: +33 (0)2.31.78.19.42.
Email: memorial.pegasus@wanadoo.fr

Tours
The Pegasus Memorial is open every day, except in December and January. Guided tours (in French or English) are organised upon reservation.

Getting there
Five kilometres from Ouistreham, via the Ranville/Cabourg.exit 

Pegasus Bridge Memorial site

Website of Normandy’s regional tourist committee

The Centre was created on the initiative of Marie Michelet, wife of Edmond Michelet, and the Fraternité Edmond Michelet association. The project took shape in the early 1970s.

The Michelet family home was donated to the Association in order to set up the establishment, in partnership with the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde, to study events that occurred in the Second World War, in particular the Resistance and deportation. The Centre Edmond Michelet was inaugurated on 8th May 1976.

From the outset, the project's aim was to be a different memorial. Thus, Marie Michelet always refused that the establishment be a fixed memorial; she wanted it to be a living place, with the permanent exhibition running alongside a space for studies and reflection. This ambition led to the current name of "centre of studies".

Composition:

The establishment consists of a museum, a library and a video library, an archive and documentation section, an events area with permanent exhibitions, mobile exhibitions, conferences and a yearly seminar, and a learning department.

The archive service comprises:

- The Edmond Michelet and Etienne Borne collections

- Collections of former Résistance members, deportees and personalities

- A photo library

- Old newspapers and magazines

The museum has 10 rooms devoted to:

- Edmond Michelet, the Résistance member and the man of State

- The Résistance

- The occupation

- The deportation

- Human Rights

- Propaganda in images

An audio-guide is available for the visit.

The exhibition presents propaganda posters, of which the centre owns a record number in France (around 350) and which give an understanding of the context civilians had to face during the occupation. This museum develops the usual themes of museums dedicated to this period, but takes an object-focused approach.

Centre Edmond Michelet

4 rue Champanatier

19100 Brive la Gaillarde

Tél. : 05 55 74 06 08

museemichelet@brive.fr

Open every day except Sundays and national holidays, from 10 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 6 pm.

Free entry

Guided tour on request for groups

Site du Centre Edmond Michelet

Background

When Henri Queuille died, in 1970, his heirs donated the house in which he lived all his life to the Corrèze département, to be turned into a museum. The main themes covered are the memory of Henri Queuille and the Résistance.

Thanks to Henri Queuille's collection, donated to the museum by his family, and to Résistance archives and donations from private people, a team made up of former Résistance members, historians and professors successfully brings together and exploits numerous objects and documents. The museum was inaugurated on 4th May 1982 by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand.

Composition

The museum has 200 m² of exhibition rooms, divided into five rooms on three levels. They cover the 3rd and 4th Republics, the Résistance and the maquis, Nazi crimes and deportation. It consists of 80 display cases, 100 signs and frames, around 1,500 collection items, including 900 photos and 300 documents and objects.

Musée départemental de la résistance "Henri Queuille"

21 rue du Commerce

19160 Neuvic

Tél. : 33 (0)5 55 46 30 60 - Fax : 33 (0)5 55 46 30 69

Email : musee-henriqueuille@cg19.fr

www.musee-henriqueuille.com