What Makes La Rochelle A MUST VISIT French City?

What Makes La Rochelle A MUST VISIT French City?

Well, good morning from St. Nazair. I’ve arrived. Yesterday was awful. 300 miles in the pouring rain from just south of Bordeaux. Oh, what a nightmare. Anyway, today is a different day. The weather has improved and I’ll give you the first look of the submarine base here in St. Nazair. That’s the view you get. That is the start of the submarine pens or the end of it. I’m not quite sure which. Better stay off the cycle path or else I might get run over. So, we’re going to go and have a bushes around that. Now, I do believe that there is a uh a museum here. So, I’m going to try and find that and give you a bit more information about the submarine pens. Now, the Germans first arrived here on around about the 28th of September, 1940. And from their initial assessment that’s uh that’s what they came up with. It was ideal spot for uh housing submarines. So construction started in early 41. Now, not far from here is the uh is the the the lock pen or the lock gate that HMS Campbell Town um had a ruck with. So, we’re going to go and have a look at that later. But first, try not to get killed. Um we’re going to have a look around. They all submarine pens. So they they were actually built in two phases. So the first lot was pens one to seven I think it was and the second lot was uh 9 to 14. So yeah. So we’re coming up to to the numbers now. So this lot here was the first lot to be built and that lot down there was the second lot to be built. So just my luck it’s closed on a Monday for the tours. However, the nice young lady there said that I can go and have a a walk around. So this is all part of the submarine base and they kind of they’re still using it. So there’s vehicles coming in here and all sorts. So that looks like a little bit of a cafe and uh yeah, we have a wander down. We can actually look see um one of the submarine pens and nowadays they they use it for their um their lifeboats. Oh, somebody’s spilling somebody’s cooking bacon sandwiches somewhere. So that’s this is one of the the pens. I’m not sure which number it was. Um but let’s just give you a quick look around and we’ll go up on the roof presently. But um yeah, we’ll have a walk to the end of this. So this card this color Atlantic. So they used to build. So you can’t actually go up there. But where that takes you, I’m not quite sure. Just takes you up onto the top part. But let’s go and have a a bit more of an explore. So they used to park the Ubot in here. And you see it’s it’s quite large. It’s quite a large fortification. And so they started building it in 1941 and they finished it off in 1944. So these look like the uh the kind of lifeboats. Yeah. So it’s like the the French version of the master of lifeboat institution. So we just have a look out from here. So looking across. So look across. There’s the the entrance just right in the middle there. There of the uh entrance into the lock. This this part of the lock. And then just behind that building there, um I believe is the the entrance to the south um what do you call it? Come to me. The south basin uh where the dry dry dock is. So we’ll we’ll go and have a look at that a little bit later, but for now we’re just going to have a a wander around the rest of these submarine pens. And to see, I mean, you see how they were constructed. I mean, look at these these iron rods and the tons and tons of concrete that they must have used. There’s an anchor point where they obviously tie off the the submarines. There’s another one the opposite side. So yeah, so from 1941, early 1941, they started to construct these submarine pens. Here’s another tie off for I suppose the front or the back of the submarine. depends on which way they put them in, whether they reversed them in or drove them in. And there’s there would have been another one, but the post has gone. But you can see here um how much reinforcement they put in to the to the concrete. And um apparently the the RAF were fairly ineffective, but I’m sure when we get up on the roof, we might be able to see some of the damage that they’ve done. But some of this iron rod stuff is starting to blow. So here’s another pen. So yeah, there’s number four. Number one. What’s that all about? So we walk through into a to another one here. They got quite a few lifeboats parked in here. Must take him a little bit of time to open the lock gate and to push them out through the lock if there’s an emergency. But they looks like they’ve secured the roof to stop stuff falling down. But you can see where these iron rods are starting to to rust and and expand the the concrete off. Pretty interesting, eh? Yeah, you can see up here where where the concrete has has blown away from the rusting iron rods inside it. But you must admit they knew how to build concrete. The Germans knew how to stick concrete in. Right. Clever dicks, aren’t they? But um we’ll have a walk down to the end. Uh there’s even look there’s even a railway track that run through. So yeah, they put some lights down through here. So they’ve obviously repurposed these places for commercial use, I guess. So yeah, not quite sure what’s going on there. It looks like a gym. Amazing. Look. So they’re using these these pens for other purposes. So we’ll have a wander down to the end and see what we got come up with down here. Are you sure? Oh, look. They obviously knew I was coming. Me being a VIP and all. Ah, this is a goes a crane. So, this this shows some of the other stuff that’s being used in here. So, we just have a wander out this end. So, this is the the far end and this is number 14. So, we’ll just have a quick mince down to the end here. Not much blown away on this side, unless they patched it up a bit. So, just down the end here is the actual basin. I wonder how this would have looked back in 1944. or in 1940 before this was put up. So I guess a lot of these buildings weren’t here back then. Maybe those across the way there were. But Yeah. So, we can have a walk along there in a minute. So, that looks like some sort of towing ship, a tug of some sort. And then across the way there, there’s actually a cruise ship in So here you can see uh the end of the the pens and this is number 14. This was the last one to be constructed and uh in somewhere around about 1944 they finished building these. As you can see some of the concrete’s there is blown away possibly due to uh rusting bars on the inside. I think mainly they used forced labor to build these. And I guess when you use forced labor, they don’t exactly um put their best efforts in, do they? And if they’re anything like what the Brits were when they were forced to to use forced labor, they did everything they could to sabotage everything. It’s a funny thing. Um how cold its castle is still standing is a miracle. Um the work that the that the prisoners put in to wreck it. It’s surprised it’s still standing at all. But there you go. Right. So, we’re going to now head up onto the roof. So, yeah, we’re coming down. There’s some more concrete that’s been blown off. This one number 11’s particularly bad. Yeah, number 11 is particularly bad. They obviously had a bunch of Brits working on that else it might still be standing. But they took the decision at the end of the war um not to um to knock them down cuz it would take far too much effort. So this is the ramp going up to um onto the rooftops. So we’re going to have a wander up and uh check it out. Now, you may be wondering why I’m wearing my titer. It’s cuz I’ve got a severe dose of helmet hair. Yeah, I can’t do a thing with it. It’s going to take a little bit to get my hair back in some sens sensible order, but I do have an appointment at the hairdressers on uh Friday afternoon. Right. So, we’re halfway up. I need to take a break, but um I’ll give you just a quick look. So, this is uh the first lot of pens from number one onwards. There’s some barb wire up there. Stop you doing something. Now, if we come around, they got some flags up and uh across the other side here, you can see the rest of them from 8 to 14. And at the end of that road is Yogen. That’s the river. So, yeah, we’ll carry on up and then have a see what we can see at the top. So this is the the view you get from the top as you come up the ramp. So there’s the ramp. It’s quite it’s quite a a wander up. And uh yeah, so there’s an entrance through here. So we’re going to have a wander through this way first and then we’re going to go and have a look at the other side in a bit. So yeah, so a good look at some concrete. So there’s a a message up here. Since since 2009, the BS Bowls Dez tremblers uh the Aspen Forest H really has occupied the concrete beam that makes up the roof of the explosion chamber. 107 European aspens. Popular tumla erupted out of the concrete with leaves that shine in the sunlight. That’s interesting. What’s going on with butchers then? So trees come out of here. Got them on your head. Oh, look. So there’s the trees sticking up. Wonder if we can see them from the outside. Yeah, there you go. There’s a load of trees sticking out the top of the concrete. Who’ have thought it? E, who have thought? Let’s carry on. Might be dead. So, that’s all the bottoms of the trees. So apparently they they spring out of the concrete. Amazing. So it’s amazing they actually get any what’s name? There’s load more here. Look. Looks like they’ve been nurturing them, giving them water and everything. So it looks like this is almost as far as we can go. I don’t know why there’s a several holes in the top. Obviously, the architects decided that if I leave a little bit of a gap when bombs land on it, it um how all that stuff get in there, um it absorbs the blast or direction in a different direction. So we go back the other way. So walking along here, it looks like one can get up onto the top there to get a proper panoramic view of the whole area. So on the 18th of March 1942, HMS Campbell Town that was a destroyer and a a defunct one out of commission was uh leading a flatillaa of 18 other smaller vessels and they came up the river there uh which is some six miles from the the entrance And halfway down they started to come under heavy fire all the way all the way down. So she she stuck her in a fast forward gear and she actually smashed into the lock gates just there. All the commandos on board um disembarked and started tearing around destroying um the pumps and anything else that they could find to destroy that. That was a secondary target. Campbell Town should have blown up within 5 minutes of it crashing into the lock gate. It didn’t. So it was sometime later, in fact, it was several hours later that it actually blew up, taking some 300, I think it was Germans with it. Now, out of the the 600 um I’ll give you the figures here. Out of 612 men that took part in the raid, 228 returned to Britain. So that’s how many got back to either escaped or got away on the the patrol vessels that were escorting of which most of them were blown up. Um 169 were killed and 215 became prisoners of war. German casualties included over 360 dead. Uh some who killed after the raid and uh when HMS Campbell Town exploded. So the the the Germans were climbing all over it looking for prizes and uh what happened? It blew up. Out of the the 612 that took part in the raid, 89 members of the the party were awarded uh gallantry awards. Five VCs were won that night. five in one raid. That’s amazing. So out of that uh out of that there was um uh 400 commandos killed uh or killed 168 commandos killed 400 Germans 17 French only 17 French that’s not bad. uh and five VCs were w were one uh and Felmouth and it showed at the Falmouth memorial and at some time at a later stage I’m going to go down at Falmouth and have a look for it. But this is this is the look you get from the top. So down there is uh 1 to8 that’s the submarine pens. This is the lock itself. And they get some pretty big ships in here. That that’s obviously being in for a refit. There’s a I think that must be a French warship in there. There’s some patrol vessels down there. And over the back there, there’s a big um cruise ship. And there’s another cruise ship in the dock. So, I’m assuming that the those that’s in the dock are in for refit. And then those things sticking up, they look like um wind farms or going out to a wind farm. So we look over this way. This is showing from sort of 8 or 9 uh to 14. So this is looking at the top of the submarine pens. So that’s that’s pretty much what you can see from up here. Now just notice something down there. H that doesn’t look particularly healthy. There’s looks like a some sort of old square rig schooner that sunk. I hope you found that interesting. I mean it’s fascinating. just I mean looking at this part of history I mean it’s it’s hard to comprehend how they did it how they built these sort of superructures and they haven’t been destroyed I mean just look at the the thickness of the concrete that they’ve used the reinforcements that they’ve used and it’s and they served the Ubot all through the war. I mean that’s I mean I don’t know how much damage they did to the pumping stations uh to the to the lock. Um but certainly the dry dock denied turpets and bismar the ability to come in uh during the war for refit. The fact that we sunk bismar when that was an operation in itself and tits we kept her pinned up in uh in Norway till they managed to sink her which was another brilliant operation. So yeah, we were we were lucky. I think luck was a large part of some of the operations that uh we conducted during the war. So there you go. That’s um that’s it. Now I’m going to have a wander around to the to the actual um dry dock and see what I can see. As far as I can see, there is a ship in there at the moment. So, I’ll see how close I can get and uh we’ll have a quick chat about the lock gate or the the dry lock gate when we get there. This is a another view of the submarine pens. And uh if you fancy, you can stop in the Holiday in Express and uh come and visit yourself. And that’s a strange looking thing, isn’t it? Looks like a mermaid. And this is a square just out in front of it all. So there you go. That’s a different view from the submarine pins. Check out this structure. So this is the bridge obviously that opens up to uh another entrance into the into the lock. So this is this is a lock gate as well. Looks like they might be opening the uh lock gate over there. But this is quite a big lock. must let some of these big ships in and ins and outs. So, we’ll carry on. So, that’s a view from the other side of this bridge. So, looks like it’s done by water. So, this is walking down to that uh that structure that we saw from over in some bare pens. Uh this is the the bit you can go under which hopefully it’ll take us round to the actual dry lock gate. So this is a look at that building uh from across the other side there where the submarine pens are. So HMS Campbell Town came from this direction. This is the actual lock gate itself and there is a dry dock. This is where she landed and this is where she blew up. So they got a ship in there at the moment which is probably about the size of Bismar or um Turpetss. So if you can imagine what the scene was like here in 1942 on that night of the 28th of March 1942 where Campbellane came up this bit of the river under heavy fire and to navigate through that tiny channel and smash into this lock gate. And she sat here for several hours with Germans climbing all over her and then she blew up. Mindboggling. But this was the largest lock gate in existence at the time on the the the coast of uh the west coast of France. So, as you can see, an awful lot’s going on. A lot has happened since the war and they actually finished rebuilding that lock gate in 1948. And just to give a look around, I mean, this is some of the the area that the the commandos were were climbing all over, destroying the pumping stations. It’s just a amazing the feat that they did. back in that time. So, this shows uh the area. So, if we go forwards along here is where the submarine pens are. Over this side, this is where I am at the moment. And I’ve just come from the lock gate which is which is across here. Amazing. There’s another lock here that goes in to the uh into the basin. And then there’s another one up there that comes in from the sea. So, as you can see, it’s a big old area. So, there’s a a final look at the submarine pens from the lock gate side. Imagine what this must have looked like in 1940, 42, 43, 44, especially 42 when the commandos did that amazing raid and it denied the Germans the opportunity to bring either Turpets or Bismar into dry dock. So this is a another look at that building. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. What uh what feat what chaos must have gone on that night on the 28th of March 1942. And this is a view from inside that building. Now, one suspects that it this might have been the way in originally for the submarines, the Ubot. Yeah. So, they come through this lock gate. So, I guess an educated guess, this might have been a new lock gate. Um, that would have been the original one to come through. And this one, it’s a fairly small one. So, I’m not sure whether you’re getting the submarines in through here. So, I reckon that was it there. And you can see a lot of that uh concrete has been blown. They’re going to the basin and then go into one of the lock gates. There you go. Hershey’s Adventures of Tintin. So this is a French memorial to the 1418 war and 3945 war. A quick look around it. Looks like a double piece by the looks of it. And there’s the eststerie where on the 28th of March 1942, HMS Campbell Town and a 18 small boat for Tilla came steaming up here to do the job. So this is a French memorial to the 1418 war and 3945 war. You a quick look around it. Looks like a double piece by the looks of it. And there’s the eststerie where on the 28th of March 1942, HMS Campbell Town and a 18 small boat for Tilla came steaming up here to do the job. Just across the road there is Lrand calf built in 1842ish and I guess the Germans quite reflect requested that when they was here in uh in the 40s early 40s and just across the road there is a big old church. Now, I don’t want to be funny or anything like that, but this guy in front must be doing it for a bet. Nobody walks around like that. Nobody dresses like that in public without doing some sort of bet. So, this is heading towards the center villa and uh I guess that’s for kids to go and play on. Amazing be kit climbing all over it. And there’s a the pair of quite a bot.

Riding Through History Part Nineteen Operation Chariot St Nazaire 1942 https://youtu.be/50mIW7ACHLA

Riding Through History Part Eighteen Badajoz https://youtu.be/a6zzgVOAJho

Riding Through History Part Seventeen Rick’s Cafe Casablanca https://youtu.be/xGPM4V2yU0U

Riding Through History Part Fifteen Riding a Motorbike Into Casablanca https://youtu.be/x01xb9wTMi4

Riding Through History Part Fourteen Casablanca 1 https://youtu.be/YLaMbDyQQ9Q

Riding Through History Part Twelve Riding Over The High Atlas Mountains https://youtu.be/ir9_svkICAQ

Riding Through History March 2025 Part eleven Marrakesh https://youtu.be/4I5o_8KwcoE

Riding Through History March 2025 Part Ten Ouarazazate https://youtu.be/-0pbYfOh2H4

Riding Through History March 2025 Part Nine Fez Part 2

Riding Through History March 2025 Part Seven Chefchaouen https://youtu.be/Isz47bPScd0

Riding Through History March 2025 Part Six British Cementery https://youtu.be/vChZIFrriDE

Riding Through History March 2025 Part Five Elvora https://youtu.be/lUbYR3Wy3Oc

Riding Through History March 2025 Part Four Fort St Vincent https://youtu.be/-Ok-VttOjXQ

Riding Through History March 2025 Part Three The Lines of Torres Vedras https://youtu.be/fsxaTbibtnk

Riding Through History March 2025 Part Two Heading South https://youtu.be/K_X_SicvaOc

Riding Through History March 2025 Part One https://youtu.be/3vsGj8sctEE

Travel with me as I ride again through history on an epic adventure across Europe visiting some of the battlefield sites and classic riding roads.

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The new Himalayan finally arrives: https://youtu.be/pi_LOMv2ea0

Sailing Florence: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkExLY1E6CE-GPsMCdSjmxQ

Finally Lord Heale gets his Old Age Pension, officially an OAP.

My interview with Big Phil Campion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Ic7u_fMHo

This weeks Everyday Conversations Regarding Mental Health: https://youtube.com/live/o02jE5bEHb8

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