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| | | | | MARSEILLE, HISTORY OF A FORGOTTEN BUNKER ... | | | | | MARSEILLE, HISTORY OF A FORGOTTEN BUNKER ... (29 photos) |  Send this reportage | | A forgotten episode from the past : the liberation of Marseille in August, 1944 … August 28th is the anniversary of the German command capitulation in Marseille 1944. In the East of the city, the taking of the bunker Von Hanstein in the “Trois Ponts” district August 25th, 1944 is an extraordinary episode but is slowly being forgotten and set aside. | | © G. Robert./TheReportage.com | | Categories: Architecture, History, Mountain, Offbeat, Men Interest, Culture, News, War, Summer |
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 Page 1 2  Page 1 2 | | | | August 28th is the anniversary of the German command capitulation in Marseille 1944.
The history remembers essentially the American bombardment of May 27th 1944 which destroyed a big part of the city, making 1976 deaths, 3000 wounded people and more than
20 000 victims. Weeks later, the landing of the allies in Provence August 15th led the German occupant to destroy port facilities and the famous transfer bridge which stepped over the Old Port.
The climax of Marseille liberation was taken of Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica in the term of a fierce battle in which, the tank "Joan of Arc" was destroyed by an enemy shooting. A tank repackaged and placed in the same place of its destruction reminds the event to the visitors on the site.
Nevertheless, the liberation of Marseille is much more than these few facts. In the East of the city, the taking of the bunker Von Hanstein in the “Trois Ponts” district August 25th, 1944 is an extraordinary episode but is slowly being forgotten and set aside.
This delirious work, built from the autumn, 1942 by 518 workers of the Service of Compulsory Work, (COMPULSORY LABOUR ORGANIZATION), could welcome more than a thousand soldiers. His place had been chosen because of the strategic point of view which it offers on the natural harbour of Marseille and on Huveaune valley that allies from Aubagne could borrow.
The arrangement of the bunker were never totally ended. It was an important post in connection with the various German strengths located in Marseille.
From August 20th, 1944, the battle raged in the district and the German troops situation in the bunker became quickly catastrophic. Trapped as rats, German soldiers had to give up, what was made in the evening of August 25th, 1944 after a negotiation led by Crosia the abbot, the French captain, the intelligence officer who is a German speaker. The German general Boie, 3 colonels, 7 officers and 1156 non-commissioned officers or the privates were captured by men led by captain Duparmeur.
Afterward, the bunker Von Hanstein was used a while by the foreign legion before its accesses were, (very badly), condemned and before some crafty manage to find the access.
A visit of this curious construction helps to understand that it attracted a whole "fauna" not necessarily very respectable. Nazis, Satanists, "revolutionaries" and adventurers in search of strong feelings which covered the walls of tags and graffiti "to sign" their "achievements". By walking through these corridors closed by heavy reinforced doors, sometimes by crawling in aeration pipes, it is difficult to imagine what was the life of these German soldiers confined in this sinister space.
An incredible staircase results by a small opening in full hill in the place of a lookout which had a real strategic interest. The zone has just been destroyed by the violent fire which left the military camp of Carpiagne and the local residents had the surprise to hear explosions doubtless resulting from ammunitions abandoned in the garrigue during the assault in August, 1944 …
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