Brest submarine repair yard

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September 1941, construction site of the submarine bunker in Brest (France)

The submarine repair yard in Brest was a shipyard set up by the German Navy in the French Atlantic port of Brest , which existed from 1940 to 1944. It was the largest bunker that was built during World War II.

history

The Japanese submarine I-8 in front of the bunker in Brest (1943)

In June 1940 German troops occupied the French Atlantic coast, i.a. also the port of Brest.

The Navy took over the French naval base in Brest and set it up as a military base for the war in the Atlantic after the ships that were sunk by the French navy during the evacuation of the port and other war damage were repaired. Since the port facilities were more damaged than in Lorient , where a submarine repair station had already been set up in mid-August, and the port, unlike Saint-Nazaire , was within reach of the British air forces, the decision was made to use Brest as the main base for the German fleet not until October 9, 1940. The decisive factor here was the availability of berths and repair opportunities for the large German battleships. In addition to the use of the base by the surface forces ( Gneisenau , Scharnhorst , Prinz Eugen ), the construction of a submarine bunker began in early 1941 .

Construction of the bunker system

The construction site was located on the western side of the war port on the site of a former sea ​​air base and could only be reached via a narrow coastal road and railway tracks, so that the construction material was also transported by sea. The main office of warship construction was responsible for coordination , construction and site management were in the hands of Julius Berger's Aryanized Berlin construction company and the French construction company Campenon Bernhard, who jointly operated under the project name “Bergcamp” for this purpose. The construction planning was supervised by the surveying engineer Anton Kopp (Munich), while the construction was carried out by the Todt Organization . Among other things, so-called “Red Spaniards” - mostly communist Spaniards who had fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War - who were guarded by the French police, were forcibly used in the construction of the bunker systems .

Operation of the repair yard

In the bunker ten were dry docks each set up a submarine and five boxes with wet pool for each maximum of three submarines. The bunker had a width of around 330 meters, a length of 190 meters and a height of 17 meters. The ceilings were initially 4 meters thick and later 6 meters.

The existing shipyard facilities were used for the repair and equipment work on the submarines, with the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven providing the necessary material and specialist personnel. French staff were also deployed in the workshops.

In 1943, technical support for submarine repairs in Brest, from equipment to repair work, was transferred from the Navy to the German Deschimag concern. Deschimag transferred the tasks to its own shipyard AG Weser, which was experienced in building and repairing submarines . Around 1000 employees were sent to Brest by AG Weser, who were housed in barracks and private houses on site. Mostly boats of the types VII C and VII D of the 1st submarine and 9th submarine flotilla were stationed in Brest , but other submarines were also repaired if necessary.

End of the repair yard

The Allied landing in Normandy took place on June 6, 1944 . After the breakthrough at Avranches , Brest was besieged by Allied troops and then declared a fortress. The German base surrendered after the Battle of Brest on September 18, 1944.

Due to the massive construction, demolition or demolition of the submarine repair yard was not possible. The bunker is still used by the French Navy today.

gallery

  • Submarines in the submarine bunker

  • Top view of the submarine base and repair yard in Brest (1944)

  • Today's view from the waterside

  • The submarine bunker in Brest 2006, side view.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Lars Hellwinkel: Hitler's Gate to the Atlantic The German naval bases in France 1940–1945 . Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86153-672-7 , pages 30–34

literature

  • Lars Hellwinkel: The German naval base Brest (= small series of publications on military and naval history. Vol. 16). Winkler, Bochum 2010, ISBN 978-3-89911-103-3 .
  • Peter Kuckuk (Ed.): Bremer Großwerften im Third Reich (= contributions to the social history of Bremen. Vol. 15). Edition Temmen, Bremen 1993, ISBN 3-86108-203-9 .

Web links

Commons : U-Boot-Reparaturwerft Brest  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 48 ° 22 ′ 0 ″  N , 4 ° 31 ′ 19 ″  W.