Pointe Saint-Gildas battery

by , Julien Garnier

Panel text:
The Pointe Saint-Gildas became military land in 1937, co-owned by the French Navy, which took up positions there and installed 105 mm cannons and a command post. On June 18, 1940, ahead of the arrival of the Germans in the World War II, the French military sabotage the guns and leave.
The Germans arrive on June 21 but actually take possession of the Pointe in August 1940.
Coastal zone and important fortified point, southern limit of the Saint-Nazaire Fortress, Préfailles was, from 1941, in the forbidden zone; from the start of the occupation, all those who could not prove six months' continuous residence in Préfailles before the Germans arrived were turned back outside the forbidden zone.

The whole of Pointe Saint-Gildas formed an entrenched camp, access to which was forbidden by minefields and barbed wire. This was a perimeter known as the "Batterie de la Pointe Saint-Gildas", bringing together around a hundred soldiers. The casemates were built from 1942 as part of the Atlantic Wall. The TODT organization is recruiting in Nantes and the surrounding area: this work is a chance for young people to avoid departure for Germany under the compulsory service. On this line of blockhouses, all around the murder hole are gradations known as Todt caps, designed to reflect shrapnel in the event of enemy fire. Beneath the casemates are 75 mm guns with a range of 11,000 meters. The guns are manned by artillerymen. A non-commissioned officer in charge of the gun is at the entrance and receives the firing parameters by telephone. He transmits them to the pointer and a gunner finishes the job.

The casings fall to the ground and are pushed into a vat. On one of the blockhaus, the one closest to the Pointe parking lot, irons protrude. They were on all the structures, to hold camouflage netting.

Panel text:The Pointe Saint-Gildas became military land in 1937, co-owned by the French Navy, which took up positions there and installed 105 mm cannons and a command post. On June 18, 1940, ahead of the arrival of the Germans in the World War II, the French military sabotage the guns and leave.The Germans arrive on June 21 but actually take possession of the Pointe in August 1940. Coastal zone and important fortified point, southern limit of the Saint-Nazaire Fortress, Préfailles was, from 1941, in the forbidden zone; from the start of the occupation, all those who could not prove six months' continuous residence in Préfailles before the Germans arrived were turned back outside the forbidden zone. The whole of Pointe Saint-Gildas formed an entrenched camp, access to which was forbidden by minefields and barbed wire. This was a perimeter known as the Batterie de la Pointe Saint-Gildas, bringing together around a hundred soldiers. The casemates were built from 1942 as part of the Atlantic Wall. The TODT organization is recruiting in Nantes and the surrounding area: this work is a chance for young people to avoid departure for Germany under the compulsory service. On this line of blockhouses, all around the murder hole are gradations known as Todt caps, designed to reflect shrapnel in the event of enemy fire. Beneath the casemates are 75 mm guns with a range of 11,000 meters. The guns are manned by artillerymen. A non-commissioned officer in charge of the gun is at the entrance and receives the firing parameters by telephone. He transmits them to the pointer and a gunner finishes the job. The casings fall to the ground and are pushed into a vat. On one of the blockhaus, the one closest to the Pointe parking lot, irons protrude. They were on all the structures, to hold camouflage netting.