Release of the Pocket of Dunkirk (September 1944-9 May 1945)

The pocket of Dunkirk, a little wider than 10 km, spread over 20 km of coastline. Seventeen thousand heavily armed German soldiers (19 pieces of 210 mm and 44 batteries), ordered by Admiral Frisius, resist since September 4, 1944, when the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division continuing the 15th German Army in Belgium, let Czech Armoured Brigade of General Liska besiege the place.

Beach at Dunkirk. Source: DMPA / SHD Historical Review of the Army

The device powers up. The Czechs are backed by the guns of the 33rd regiment of British artillery. The 51st Infantry Regiment, formerly the 110th, 51st and consisting of units of the French forces of the Interior (FFI) North (battalions "Dunkirk" and "Jean Bart"), Lieutenant-Colonel Lehagre, reinforced by FFI battalions of the North, and the Oise Pas-de-Calais swell the ranks. These 4500 men then take two thirds of the front.

Postcard instead Republic after the war. Source: DMPA / SHD

The civilians were evacuated in January 1944. The 20,000 remaining in the formation of the pocket are forced to leave Dunkirk in late September 1944 and February 1945.

The seat, real artillery duel, is made difficult by the determination of the German commander of the square. The cons-Admiral Frisius thus starts April 9 against each-offensive which led to the formation of a salient fact irreducible and a hundred prisoners.

Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade. Source: DMPA / SHD

The pocket of German resistance held up at Dunkirk the German surrender. On May 9, 1945, the surrender was signed at Wormhoudt.Source: Mindef / SGA / DMPA

Operation "Venerable" the release of the "pocket" of the Pointe de GraveFaced with the Allied advance in the summer of 1944, Hitler ordered the fortified areas of the west coast of France to resist. In spring 1945, the armies of liberation and leave behind the coastal pockets of German resistance in Dunkirk, Lorient, St. Nazaire, La Rochelle, on the island of Ré, Oléron Island, and in Royan Pointe de Grave. This front is defended by 100,000 men to safety behind the powerful device of the Todt Organization of the Atlantic Wall: 1000 blockhouse, 1300 artillery guns protected by mines and barbed wire.

The site of the Pointe de Grave, part of the Atlantic Wall in the area of Royan allowing the Germans to control the estuary of the Gironde to Bordeaux is fortified in 1942.

FFI in progress in the area of the Pointe de Grave (17). Source: DMPA / SHD

The resistance groups active at that time, harassing the Wehrmacht. They conduct acts of sabotage directed against the railway network, postal communications, reservations, etc.., The raids, operations and intelligence to escape the attackers.

Goupe infantry. Source: DMPA / SHD

Gen. Edgard de Larminat, appointed by de Gaulle as head of French forces from the west (FFO) in October 1944, has 75 000 troops and tanks of the 2nd DB Leclerc , to complete his mission of liberation national territory. These troops are supported by aviation and artillery Anglo-American. "The general took Larminat primary objective

enemy positions at the mouth of the Gironde. On the right bank, Royan and its surroundings, on the left bank of the Pointe de Grave, off the island of Oleron together formed a powerful and firmly held "(De Gaulle).

Brigade Carnot. Source: DMPA / SHD

On 14 April 1945, at 6:35, the attack is triggered simultaneously at Point de Grave and Royan. The tanks and infantry, preceded by artillery and bombers, broke the German positions. If the bag is reduced Royan April 18, it is still four days the men of the brigade of the French forces of the Interior (FFI) "Medoc" Colonel Milleret, aided by the armored division Leclerc, to obtain the surrender of the defenders, April 20 at 20:30.

Watcher of the infantry squad alert. Source: DMPA / SHD

A. Freyche, reflects the health status of the German army during these events:

"Germany, which at the time, had few vaccinations mandatory, its troops had not been vaccinated against diphtheria. The garrison who held the" pocket "of the Pointe de Grave-Verdon, was subject a dreadful epidemic caused by bacillus Klebs-Löffler. Young Scout, then patented the Red Cross, I stretchers that German soldiers were seen arriving rent, language from the mouth, at the military hospital Talence, old-Lazareth Feld, a former high school in Talence, a suburb of Bordeaux. These soldiers were not, for many, their survival as an emergency tracheotomy. "Source: Mindef / SGA / DMPA

Liberation of the Lorient pocketOn June 6, 1944, the Allies landed on the Normandy coast. Day after day they enter a bit more in Normandy The German lines at Avranches are drilled 30 and July 31, 1944. In early August, the road of Britain opened in early autumn 1944, with the exception of Alsace and pockets of the Atlantic, the French territory is completely liberated.

Lorient after a bombing, evacuation of the population. Source: DMPA / SHD

The Atlantic front is defended by 100,000 men to safety behind the powerful device of the Todt Organization of the Atlantic Wall: 1000 blockhouse, 1300 artillery guns protected by mines and barbed wire.

Lorient has a submarine base built from the fall of 1942 supplemented by a line of fortifications on a length of 24 km of the Milk and Lorois bridge of "Tobruk", individual holes. Miles of barbed wire were stretched, many obstacles hedgehogs type concrete beach roost. And mines were laid around the area.

1 August 1944 General Patton's 3rd Army in Britain between piercing the forehead to Avranches. Facing the Allied advance, supported by the French Resistance, German forces withdrew towards the strongholds of Lorient and St. Nazaire.

General Farmbacher, commander of the fortress of Lorient, while leaving his headquarters in Pontivy and Lorient folds. From there on the orders of Hitler, he reorganized the troops. On 7 August 1944, nearly 26,000 German soldiers find themselves in reduced Lorient. He then undermining bridges and routes leading into the city and bring back supplies of nearby stores.

The contours of the pocket are stabilized August 12, 1944. It extends over 50 km of the river Laïta west cliffs of the river Etel in the East. Beyond that, the Germans also keep a strong position south of Belz to the Quiberon peninsula they occupy entier.La pocket also includes Groix and Belle-Ile in sea-tank ditches and Many individual holes are dug. Shelters were built. Extensive minefields are located.

The pocket its "locked" more than 45 000 people: 20 000 26 000 civilians and German soldiers.

The resistance movements take shape gradually in and around the area under siege. Upon closing of the pocket of Lorient, French pass the new front lines to join the French forces of the Interior (FFI). In the pocket, in addition to individual initiatives intelligence gathering and sabotage, the group of Lorient under the authority of the

intelligence officer of the 7th Battalion of the FFI, Louis Helo, plays a role in collecting information.

Release of Morbihan. German prisoners after the surrender of Lorient. Source: DMPA / SHD

The camps are organized along a front of 90 kilometers. The 26 000 German soldiers in the pocket of Lorient, all weapons are under the authority of General Wilhelm Fahrmbacher artillery. They have weapons to about 500 guns of various calibers. Allied forces are constituted by the 4000 men of the 94th Infantry Division of General Rollins and 12,000 soldiers of General Borgnis Desbprdes-appointed leader of the French forces of Morbihan, which restored the 19th Infantry by incorporating FFI.

A la reddition. Source : DMPA/SHD

The artillery duels are the types of recurrent fighting. The objectives are the enemies observatories, including the steeples. The barracks and batteries are other targets. The German response is more nuanced, as it has quota in its stocks of ammunition. The artillery unleashed if an attack is announced. The town of Guidel is the most bombed the pocket. 29 November 1944 to February 3, 1945, the town is surrounded by gunfire regularly in order for the Allies to destroy the tower. On 7 May 1945, the town suffers a very intense last cannonade. Shelling accentuated until the surrender of the German garrison of Lorient. 24 5,000 soldiers of the Reich were taken prisoner.

Lorient pocket - German surrender. Source: DMPA / SHD

On May 7, 1945, the cease-fire was signed in Etel. The surrender takes place May 10 at Caudan in the presence of General Kramer, General Rollins and General Borgnis-Desbordes.Source : Mindef/SGA/DMPA

Operation Jupiter ", Act II: Liberation of the" pocket "of La RochelleFaced with the Allied advance in the summer of 1944, Hitler ordered the fortified areas of the west coast of France to resist. In spring 1945, the armies of liberation and leave behind the coastal pockets of German resistance in Dunkirk, Lorient, St. Nazaire, on the island of Ré, Oléron Island, in Royan, on the tip Grave and La Rochelle.

Release of La Rochelle. Entrance of French troops. Source DMPA / SHD

This front is defended by 100,000 men to safety behind the powerful device of the Todt Organization of the Atlantic Wall: 1000 blockhouse, 1300 artillery guns protected by mines and barbed wire. La Rochelle has been chosen to host a shelter for submarines at the site of Pallice, supplemented by the handle of the Pivot. This area of defense is under the authority of Admiral Schirlitz.

Fuel Tank Fire north of La Rochelle, June 22, before the arrival of German troops. Source DMPA / SHD

The pockets of Royan and the Pointe de Grave paid up Larminat, commander of French forces from the west (FFO), mass his troops around the pocket.

Resistance networks (Alliance, Mithridates, Family, Mahogany, Eleutherius, Gillot), active since the 1940 defeat, confronting the militia and Gestapo. They carry out acts of sabotage (the workers requisitioned for the repair of submarine hulls brittle by driving nails), intelligence - including the state of German defenses and the Atlantic fleet - thus preparing the Allied ground troops.

La Rochelle. Post FTPF Group FTP setting up a piece of light artillery. Source: DMPA / SHD

Larminat charge of Commander Hubert Meyer to lead the talks. The latter reaches an agreement with the German General Staff October 18, 1944 after which the French agree not cross-tank ditch around which the allies just install a cordon and the Germans promise not to destroy the port facilities.

Hubert Meyer. Source: DMPA / SHD

La Rochelle. Post FTPF Group FTP setting up a piece of light artillery. Source: DMPA / SHD

Larminat known that Schirlitz ordered the Reich to have fireworks in the harbor facilities of 250 kilograms of mines ready to explode on command. The commander of French forces from the west wants to obtain the peaceful surrender of the Germans and prevent the destruction of the city. This is again in the end he instructs Meyer in April 1945.

Berlin to the Soviets, Hitler died April 30, Doenitz gave orders to his troops to surrender. The Allied offensive planned for 1 is therefore moot. However, in a last resurgence of fighting, however, the German Admiral gave the order to blow up the port. It is saved from destruction by the disobedience of Commander Erwin Terra who sabotaged systems firing.

La Rochelle. First talks for the surrender of the castle Jarne (Commander Hemmerlé, interpreter). Source: DMPA / SHD

May 8, 1945 at 6:00 am, the day Germany surrendered, Schirlitz in his command post Lagord, surrendered unconditionally.Source: Mindef / SGA / DMPA