U boat pens France

I cut this very specific request out of another lengthy thread about a bod's jaunt from Le Mans to Calais, via Oradour and Belfort, where it might well have got lost in all the traffic.

I'll copy it into the pub section too, as there are bods there who know all the military stuff but never get as far as the Travel section.

Richard
 
See... a reply in the pub within 20 minutes...

I've been to St Nazaire a few times, there's an old French submarine based on a U-Boat that you can visit. But the most important for me as a veteran is the Normandie dry dock the scene of perhaps the most audacious raid of the war Operation Chariot.
https://www.combinedops.com/St Nazaire.htm
 
Guys. go on google. it will save everybodys time. Buy a map and do an appreciation.
 
St Nazaire all the time Scorp!

Some studying before you go all about 'Operation Chariot' ... St Nazaire is not just about UBoat pens ... there's REAL history of British military planning, cunning and bravery which had a massive impact on U Boat operations.

Book - The Greatest Raid of All by C.E. Lucas Phillips.

You Tube - same title by Jeremy Clarkson.


10 miles west in Escoublac-La-Baule Commonwealth War Graves cemetery are many of the graves of these bravest of men.

The more you put into your research the more you will get out of your visit.
 
With a bit of planning you can get a guided (English) tour of the shipyard next door. They actually launched The Poesia while we were there.
 
I wrote this as part of an earlier thread about St Nazaire and the U-Boat pens. It really is worth a visit...

We rode over the massive bridge as you enter St Nazaire with a large police presence at both end of the bridge. I waved and they all politely waved back. I thought it was really nice of them to turn out to greet us.

So, we arrived at a modern hotel on the outskirts of town which had lovely bedrooms but fuck all else, so after unloading and having a freshen up, we took the tram into town – except for the fact that the last tram back was at 22.00, it made a nice change.

Someone in the bus queue mentioned something about the QE2 but he couldn’t speak English and we couldn’t speak French, so most of the conversation was lost. We could though hear lots of bangs and explosions as we entered town.

As we walked towards the town, we met loads of folk walking towards us.

We’d just missed the departure of the QE2 heading back to the USA. She’d visited to celebrate 100 years since the last Queen visited, so the Police presence wasn’t for us after all and the fireworks must have been tremendous.

We’d arrived about lunchtime so took time to walk round the town a bit, which was covered in white feathers. These were from a concert the night before near to the U-Boat pens

We had a good look at them and then we found somewhere to get a bite to eat.

One of my mates is an ex-Marine Commando and so we decided to visit the monuments a little way round the harbour.

Sadly, one of them was above a U-Boat pen where ‘Espadon’ is moored up still and so we decided to stay another night but this time in the centre of town, so that we could see it the next day.

Following morning, we went in and looked at the U-boat pens again before walking round to the pen where the Espadon is housed and went aboard. Thank god they’d made steps in and out as it really was claustrophobic.

How on earth those guys lived aboard those things is beyond me. The bunks were tiny and the gaps between minute. Really thought provoking.

And then we went up onto the roof of the building for Dave to pay his respects to the fallen marines who raided the harbour all those years back.

There are photo links on my thread but you need dropbox to see them. No idea how to get them to display.

You really should visit...
 
If you're ever near the Wirral, this could be of interest. It's one of four remaining U Boats. The others are in Chicago, Bremerhaven and Kiel AFAIK.

http://www.lancashireatwar.co.uk/birkenhead-u-boat/4590329173

It's sad that they cut U-534 into sections, although it's a very interesting museum. I've also seen U-505 in Chicago and it was very claustrophobic inside. The smaller type VII models of "Das Boot" fame must have been awful to work in (especially with a 75% fatality rate) :eek:
 
They are all good..... but if i had to pick one, it would be Lorient, as the dry dock system had me amased. There is a very good museum there, and many other things to see in the dockland.
Unfortunately the city itself is blandish, mainly due to the allied bombers trying to wipe it of the map to prevent supplies getting to the Keroman bases there, so most of the buldings are 'new' in build post-WW2.
Second would be La Rochelle, a good sub base to see and a great city centre, very vibrant indeed.
 
We never heard too much more from scorp888, after he'd hijacked a thread. Probably got what he wanted to know for free and buggered off.

Perhaps he was put off ... ?

I've ridden to many of the Sub pens in and around Europe.
However, By far the best experience with subs was sleeping next to my 1150GS on W beach, Galipolli, and watching the silent ships pass in the narrow Dardanelles. Reading about the worlds first Submarine kill during WW1. Sneaking up the narrow, its steel hull sides scraping the iron chains anchoring the anti ship mines just below the waters surface.........
Astonishing .
 
Second would be La Rochelle, a good sub base to see and a great city centre, very vibrant indeed.

I found the base at La Pallice difficult to access but there are ways and means :augie

There's a good museum in La Rochelle called Le Bunker which is worth a visit. It was under a hotel where the crews stayed on shore leave, but the officers had access to a bunker underneath this, complete with bar and restaurant. Apparently it was boarded up in 1945 and only re-discovered recently, complete with drinkies on the tables and ciggie butts in the ashtrays :beerjug:
 
I visited St Nazaire a few years ago and spent the day looking around...


The U Boat pens.....







The roof of the U Boat pens with the bomb blast dispersal features..






Dry dock..





The hotel/hospital where some of the injured & captured Marines went..





Nearby cemetery where some of the Marines were buried...






Old Mole..

 
Espadon in dry dock.

How did they manage to live in such a confined space?

Especially sideways - Ooops
 


Back
Top Bottom