German map of Royan 1944

Rédigé par Alain dans la rubrique Document et livre, Le coin du collectionneur

Earlier this year I managed to obtain this fantastic map of Royan and its surrounding area.The map is in german and printed in 1944, at the top it says "certainly not for the general public".
At some point late in 1944 this map fell into the hands of the FFI. They have then used the map to mark out where all the german mines, machine gun posts and fortifications are and all this is shown added in red ink and in french.










Copies of the map were distributed to the FFI on the 13th april 1945 the day before l'armée Française began to liberate Royan, which took several days. The Germans retreated on to the Ile d'Oleron where on the 1st may they finally surrendered. Meanwhile the last pocket of Germans retreated from La Rochelle on to the Ile de Re and surrendered on the 9th may.
In 1945 this area of France had become known as Le front des oubliés (the front of the forgotten) as the rest of France had been liberated months earlier. More than 28,000 german soldiers had retreated to La Rochelle and Royan hoping to get back to Germany by sea.
The FFI involved in the liberation of Royan (operation venerable) and Oleron (operation jupiter) were :
  • FTP Bernard (107e)
  • Bir-Hacheim (6e)
  • La Brigade Rac (50e)

For more information :
  • Chemins de mémoire (lien) 
  • La poche de Royan vue par des yeux d'enfants (lien) 
  • Le P'tit train de Saint Trojan (lien) 
  • Royan bombardée (lien)
  • DVD et tapis de souris du film "Les Saboteurs de l'Ombre et de la Lumière" (lien)