Granville and the Second World War | Destination Granville Land and Sea

The arrival of the enemy

On May 7, 1940, Hitler launched his campaign in France. The Wehrmacht quickly overtook the Allied troops, who were powerless against the enemy’s technologically advanced air force and armor. After conquering the North, the German army launched its assault on Normandy, advancing at such speed that the entire region was overrun in the space of two weeks. Cherbourg, Normandy’s last stronghold, fell on June 19, 1940. Granville, meanwhile, was taken by the enemy on June 18, without a fight. In fact, the few Navy troops stationed in the Upper Town had left the previous day, having been informed of the enemy advance by the Cherbourg Maritime Prefecture. The Germans thus settled in a virtually deserted town, becoming the first foreign occupants of Granville in almost 500 years.

A "lightly" fortified territory

Aware of the risks of an attack from the sea, Hitler ordered the construction of a defensive system along the Atlantic coast. This vast complex, built by the Organisation Todt and known today as the ” Atlantic Wall “, quickly integrated the town of Granville. From the summer of 1942, a network of fortified bunkers and observation posts was built on either side of the Granville lighthouse. Artillery batteries were also installed near the town of Saint-Pair-sur-Mer, at a place known as “Le Fourneau”, as well as on the site of the Granville lighthouse.Le Fourneau”, as well as on the town’s north coast, from Place de l’Isthme to the Notre-Dame cemetery. Curiously, these fortifications were among the only ones built on the west coast of the Cotentin peninsula. The German occupation of the Channel Islands on June 30, 1940, and the massive investment in the construction of a military system on the archipelago, meant that the German defense did not consider it necessary to invest any more money in fortifying these coasts. Only at Saint-Martin-de-Bréhal was a system of bunkers installed, one of which can still be seen today during periods of high tide. Inland from Granville, construction is equally minimal. The exception is Folligny, where the railway station destroyed in 1940 was completely rebuilt and fortified by theTodt Organization: a decision justified by its strategic position on the Paris-Granville and Rennes-Caen railroad lines. Fortifications and a system of underground galleries were also built on the site, known as ” Py Park “, which served as a depot for munitions and other goods passing through the station. The remains of this fortified site are still open to visitors today. The bunkers of the Haute Ville are also regularly open to the public, and the “Un Été 44” association often offers guided tours during the summer season, particularly during the commemorations of June 6 and the Battle of Normandy. You can also rediscover these sites thanks to thefree TimeTravel application, which allows you to travel back in time to 1940 and search for Ric, an allied spy who mysteriously disappeared near Pointe du Roc…

Mauritius and its network

Marland

From the very first months of the German occupation, several Resistance networks were quickly set up throughout France. Two of the first were set up in Granville, including the Marland network, created by Maurice Marland, a Granville teacher of French, English and civics. As early as 1939, Mr. Marland took action on behalf of war victims, welcoming a number of Spanish refugees. In 1940, after obtaining a radio transmitter from an English captain, he set up his own intelligence network. This enabled him to transmit to London a complete report on the German defense of Granville, including the location of bunkers and the identity of soldiers based in the Upper Town. The Marland group also took part in sabotaging German telephone cables on the Avranches road, and organized the evacuation ofevacuation of 150 people to England, including Scottish soldiers who had gone into hiding following the arrival of the occupying forces. Despite two arrests and torture sessions, Maurice remained active until the end of his life. On July 22, 1944, Mr. Marland was arrested by the Feldgendarmes and taken to the Kommandantur site at La Rochelle-Normande. The following day, July 23, two weeks before the arrival of the Americans in Granville, Maurice Marland was murdered by five bullets in the Lucerne forest. Today, Maurice Marland is recognized for his major role in the French Resistance. Posthumously made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 1947 and buried in the military plot of Granville’s Notre-Dame cemetery, he is also the subject of a commemorative stele, built in 2017 on a square in Haute Ville that bears his name.

The Liberation

On June 6, 1944,Operation Overlord was launched. In Granville and surrounding towns, the first rumors of an invasion began to circulate. Stories of bombing raids on towns such as Coutances and Saint-Lô were also heard. And in recent days, air activity has been higher than usual. Something is afoot. The very next day, June 7, bombing raids suddenly intensified over the Granville area. Three main targets are targeted by these Allied attacks: the port facilities, the railway system and the German defense network. The town also suffered collateral damage: the Dior factories were damaged, as were several homes in the Basse Ville. The Upper Town, on the other hand, suffered little damage, with the exception of the Notre-Dame square, where several houses were destroyed and the church’s stained-glass windows shattered by the blast.

On July 31, 1944, American tanks arrived in Donville via the Coutances road and crossed Granville without encountering the slightest German resistance. The enemy troops had left the area the day before, well aware of their numerical inferiority and the ineffectiveness of their guns, which were directed towards the sea and therefore powerless against an attack from the land. Rather than engage in a battle they had no chance of winning, they decided to withdraw to theChannel Islands. Before leaving, however, they made sure to destroy the ammunition stockpile near the port: the explosion was particularly powerful, and left a lasting impression on many of the people of Granville.

The bulk of the American troops did not stop at Granville: the main target was Avranches, the final stage inOperation Cobra launched by the Allies a few days earlier. A small unit was nevertheless stationed in Granville to secure the town, assess the damage and rebuild the port. In addition to its presence in Granville, the American “new occupier” was also to expand into the territory surrounding the town. In Jullouville, General Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower, commander of the Allied forces, set up the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (or SHEAF) in the Château de la Mare. This HQ was a major communications hub not only for French troops, but also for all air, naval and land forces engaged in Normandy. “As for Ike, he preferred to stay at the Villa Montgomery in Saint-Jean-le-Thomas, close to what he would later call the ” most beautiful kilometer in France “.

The German raid

The enemy's latest counter-attack in France

By March 1945, almost all of France had been liberated by Allied troops. However, a small group of lands remained under the yoke of the occupying forces: the Channel Islands. And after seven months without contact or supplies from the Continent, the German troops stationed there were sorely lacking not only in food, but also in coal. Two solutions were obvious: surrender or raid. The Germans chose the latter. On the night of March 8-9, 1945, a small fleet of a dozen ships docked in Granville, carrying some 250 men. Some of the commandos disembarked on inflatable rafts on the Plat Gousset beach, while the rest of the flotilla entered the harbor. The surprise was total, and the raid was a success: the Allied soldiers staying at the Hôtel des Bains were taken prisoner; three British freighters and a Norwegian merchant ship were sabotaged. Above all, the Germans returned to Jersey with the Eskwood, an American ship loaded with 122 tons of coal. The only loss on the attackers’ side was a dredger M-412, which remained silted up in the harbor and was discovered by the people of Granville in the early hours of March 9. Given the success of this raid, Admiral Hüffmeier, in command of German troops in Jersey, considered launching a second attack on May 7, 1945. However, he received orders from Admiral Dönitz not to carry out his plan. The following day, General Jodl signed the surrender of the German army, and the end of the war in Europe.