Cézembre Island

The island of Cézembre, a few kilometres off the coast of Saint-Malo was heavily fortified with bunkers and artillery emplacements during World War II as part of the Atlantic Wall and the Festung Saint-Malo. Together with those of the Batterie Lorraine on Jersey, the heavy guns were able to control access to the port of Saint-Malo, the mouth of the Rance River and Saint-Michel Bay.

As the US army approached Saint-Malo from land in August 1944, they were heavily shelled from Cézembre. The islet was heavily bombed on 13 August using napalm for the first time in Europe. This bombardment was not very effective and in the weeks that followed, new bombardments followed again and again but as these did not lead to surrender, plans were made for an amphibious operation. However, the Kriegsmarine no longer managed to adequately supply the island. The situation eventually became untenable for the approximately 400 garrison made up of German and Italian soldiers. There were numerous wounded and the water tanks were destroyed. On 2 September, the German commander, Richard Seuss reluctantly surrendered to the US army.

A total of about 20,000 tonnes of bombs fell on the small island. For decades, the island was a military- and enclosed area due to unexploded bombs and mines. In the following years, several clean-up operations were carried out by the French army, and the island became accessible again. However, part of the island is still off limits. Traces of shelling and remnants of defences can still be seen everywhere in the landscape.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Jan de Jager
• - https://www.geo.fr/voyage/ile-martyre-puis-ile-interdite-au-large-de-saint-malo-cezembre-renait-de-ses-cendres-211251