Brest
On September 15, 1940 Vice-Admiral Hans Strohwasser was transferred from Lorient to Brest. His mission was similar to his duties in Lorient to make the port of Brest fit for war. Already in June 1941 the1.U-Flotilla "Wedding" was transferred from Kiel to Brest. The 9. U-Flotilla followed in November. The aces among the submarine captains were Reinhard Suhren, U 564 and Adalbert Schnee, U 201.
The bunker complex was built and of the south western corner of the existing French navy arsenal. Seaplanes were based there before. At the beginning of 1941 the construction started and hard to believe, was taken into operation at the end of the year. The measures of the structure: 333 metres wide, 192 metres long time and 17 metres high. It spanned 52,000 square metres. Actually there are two blocks. The first contains 13 basins, A, E -- and 1-8, the second the basins 9 and 10. Further basins were in the planning.
The ceiling strength varied over the complete area. It was 3.80 m thick on some locations, others like over the basins 9 and 10, were even 4.30 m. But even that was not enough yet. 6.20 metres was the strongest part of the ceiling! The sizes of the various basins were also different. A, B and C were 115 metres long and 17 metres wide. Three submarines found place here. D and E were shorter, 92 metres, and took hold of two boats. The dry docks 1 -8 were individual basins, 11 metres broad and between 96 and 99 metres long. In turn the basins 9 and 10 were a little bigger: 115 metres long and 13.50 metres wide.
The British refrained from bomb raids in the construction phase to protect the civilian population. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office exerted pressure on the general staff, to spare the French although Churchill declared in the House of Commons: "France has mutated from a strong partner to an enemy". But the navy base Brest represents a too great and attractive target for the Royal Air Force. Already on December 27 the pocket battleship Hipper paid a visit to the harbour. Three months later, the Hipper was gone, the heavy cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau arrive. A little later on June 1 the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen joins in. In the eyes of the British a piece of impudence that needs to be punished soon.
Serious attacks on the heavily flak protected port cause considerable damages. An absolutely fearless British pilot forces himself and his Beaufort torpedo bombers to hold its course toward the Gneisenau on April 6. The torpedo hits and damages the ship seriously. The brave pilot gets killed. Almost through the entire year 1941 the British try to sink the three battle cruisers, until it gets too much for the German Admirals. Raeder decides to transfer the big ships back to Germany in a spectacular action through the Channel. The "Operation Cerberus" turns out well and the ships reach Kiel fully intact, a debacle for the English.
With the arrival of the Americans and the U.S. air force the bomb war against port installations and submarine bunker intensifies. By the end of 1943, 30 000 bombs are dropped on port and town. Then when the landing is successful in the Normandy, it gets only even worse. After the outbreak of Patton at Avranches the U.S. forces take course on Brest. They want to take the town and the important port at all cost.
The Royal Air Force supports the operation with heavy attacks by No 617 Squadron. That Squadron with their Lancaster bombers drop bombs and Tallboys on the U-boat bunker. The first Tallboy attack takes place on August 5. 17 Lancaster take course on the port 13of them unload directly over the target. Five hits are the result. The attack is repeated on August 12 and another three hits are successful. The next day their Tallboys unload five of 25 machines unload their Tallboys over the bunker and put one direct hit on the bunker as well as two close hits. All bombs fall from 16,350 and 18,500 feet of height. Of these nine hits four do not have the effect but leave three metres deep and nine metres wide craters. Five Tallboys drill through the ceiling, however, cause hardly damages oddly enough. The force of the explosion obviously falls flat when chopping through the concrete. Four soldiers die in these attacks, three on the roof, one within the bunker. None of the subs gets damaged. One of the reasons why the Tallboys knock a hole in the roof might be a missing "Fangrost", special construction, which shall take the force away from the bombs before they hit the actual roof.
But the destiny of Brest was not sealed yet with that. On August 1, 1944 General Patton assigned Major General Leonard T. Gerow, Commander of the V. Corps with the order to take the town. A grave order that will take the health at least, if not the life of 9 300 GIs . Paratrooper legend General Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, nicknamed "daddy Ramcke" by his soldiers who worshipped him, delivered an unbelievable fight to the Americans. Ramcke who was appointed General Of The Paratroops on September 1, 1943, was made commander of the fortress Brest on August 11, 1944. For the defence of the surrounded fortress Ramcke was awarded simultaneously Swords and Diamonds to the Knight`s Cross (Ritterkreuz) on September 19, 1944. On September 20, 1944 Ramcke was taken a British prisoner and shipped to the USA. Twice, he escaped from the well guarded POW camp to draw one's attention to the bad treatment of his men. At the two escapes he sent one letter each to the U.S. senate and then returned voluntarily to the POW camp. In December 1946 he was extradited to the French and sentenced to five years prison for alleged war crimes in Brest on June 23, 1951. Due to the international protests, however, Ramcke was already dismissed on March 21, 1951.
