The occupation

Before the war, Oléron was already a land of asylum for the Spanish fleeing Franco’s regime.  Families continues to flood to the island after the start of the war in September 1939, thinking they would be far from the fighting.

After France surrendered, the territory was occupied by the Germans on 29^th June 1940. The island is strategically placed close to the Gironde estuary and the channels leading to the future submarine base at La Pallice, near La Rochelle.  The base was to be protected by a complex defensive system combining complementary installations on Ré and Oléron.

The ports were closely monitored and night trips out to sea forbidden. The island was part of the La Rochelle sector and placed under the control of an Inselkommandant (island commander) based in Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron; he ruled the island both militarily and administratively.

The initial German defensive system aimed to deal with a seaborne attack.  The Todt Organisation built several batteries from north to south.  Chassiron, considered as a key part of the defensive system, was emptied of its civilian population.  After the 1944 Normandy landings, the Germans reorganised their defences to deal with an enemy coming from the continent and the northern defensive sites were neglected in favour of the southern.  The artillery at Chassiron was repositioned.  In its place, the Germans installed fake wooden guns to deceive Allied aviation.

The Resistance had been organised on the island since 1943 to provide information and to prepare for armed action. The intervention of the Resistance was decisive in the successful liberation of the island.

Crédits
©Fonds archives de la Ville de Riorges/ Auteur inconnu
©Archives CCLSO
©Eric Gaba – World Data Bank II
©EPCAD/Défense / Auteur inconnu
©Service Historique de la Défense
www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/
www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr
©Stéphane Calonnec
©Fonds Boyer/Musée de l’île d’Oléron/CDCIO
©BAMA Bundesarchiv Militararchiv

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