Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
During World War II, likewise, the Channel ports provided major supply routes which had to be reopened in 1944. Dunkirk was the route from which British and Allied troops were evacuated in 1940; see Dunkirk evacuation. Dunkirk was left under siege until the general German surrender. [5]
St Nazaire is on the north bank of the Loire, 400 km (250 mi) from the nearest British port. In 1942, it had a population of 50,000. The St Nazaire port has an outer harbour known as the Avant Port, formed by two piers jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. This leads to two lock gates before the Bassin de St Nazaire.
It is the nearest English port to France, at just 34 kilometres (21 mi) away, and is one of the world's busiest maritime passenger ports, with 11.7 million passengers, 2.6 million lorries, 2.2 million cars and motorcycles and 80,000 coaches passing through it in 2017, [1] and with an annual turnover of £58.5 million a year. [2]
Calais remained under English control until its recapture by France in 1558. During World War II, the town was virtually razed to the ground: in May 1940, it was a strategic bombing target of the invading German forces who took it during the siege of Calais. The Germans built massive bunkers along the coast in preparation for launching missiles ...
The Battle of Cherbourg was part of the Battle of Normandy during World War II.It was fought immediately after the successful Allied landings on 6 June 1944.Allied troops, mainly American, isolated and captured the fortified port, which was considered vital to the campaign in Western Europe, in a hard-fought, month-long campaign.
Gort immediately saw that evacuation across the Channel was the best course of action, and began planning a withdrawal to Dunkirk, the closest location with good port facilities. [28] Surrounded by marshes, Dunkirk boasted old fortifications and the longest sand beach in Europe, where large groups could assemble. [29]
The Atlantic Wall (German: Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticipated Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe from the United Kingdom, during World War II.
Along with Toulon, the main port for the French Navy (French: Marine nationale), the Port of Marseilles was a vital objective. [2]: 88 The port, its facilities, and the rail and road links up the Rhone valley, being essential to the liberation of southern France and the ultimate defeat of German forces.