Beautiful Memorial

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A.E.F. Memorial in St. Nazaire Harbor.
With outstreached arms and a sword in his hand, 
a doughboy stands on the back of a giant eagle that has just landed. 

Dedicated to the US Army Expeditionary Forces 
of World War One, at St. Nazaire, France, 
their landing place April, 1917. 

It was designed by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Sculptress, with Studio in New York City. My father, Florence J. McAuliffe was a sculptor 
in her employ and worked on creating this monument. The monument was destroyed by the Nazis during their occupation of France in 1940.

St. Nazaire became an important Nazi Submarine Base in WWII.

I retain to this day the cast iron eagle's claw which was used as a model for the monument.

Wars and St. Nazaie

Wikipedia..

World War I[edit]

During World War I, the city became an important unloading port of the allied troops, and particularly in the latter stages for the United States Army. When they entered the war in 1917, they developed the town and port infrastructure, by adding additional drinking water storage ponds for the town's water treatment plants, and a refrigeration terminal to the docks for shipment and storage of meat and dairy products to supply their troops.

However, the presence of legal brothels (Maisons Tolérée) resulted in a diplomatic incident. As a result of strict reformist public health concerns at home, the American Expeditionary Force placed the Maisons Tolérée off limits, resulting in a dispute between the towns brothel owners backed by the mayor, versus the US Army forces. With the dispute escalating, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau sent a memo to Gen. John Pershing offering a compromise: American medical authorities would control designated brothels operated solely for American soldiers. Pershing passed the proposal to Raymond Fosdick, who on giving it to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker promptly responded: "For God’s sake, Raymond, don’t show this to the president or he’ll stop the war." Only after the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, when the US Army could no longer plead military necessity as grounds for curtailing leave, did venereal disease rates among US Army troops shoot up.^[2]

Inter-war period[edit]

The post-war period brought about a period of economic depression for the ship builders, who consequently diversified into building seaplanes from 1922. In 1926 the district of Paimbœuf was suppressed and merged with the district of Saint-Nazaire, thus reinforcing the influence of the city on the south bank of the Loire River.

Although having built the SS Paris, between 1913 and 1921, and SS Ile de France between 1925 and 1926, as a result of the 1930s Great Depression the French government commissioned a series of state programs to aid national economic activity. The state owned shipping company Compagnie Générale Transatlantiquecommissioned the ship builders of Saint-Nazaire to construct a new large passenger ship, which as a result between 1928 and 1934 created the Albert Caquotengineered the Louis Joubert dry dock – at 3937 feet x 196.850 feet, the largest of its kind in the world at the time – necessary to be able to accommodate the construction of the SS Normandie. In 1932, the casino of Saint-Nazaire came bankrupt and was resold to the town of Nantes: the site was redeveloped from 1935 with the first part of the current Saint-Louis school.

As a result of the national general strike of June 1936, to ensure completion of the nationally prestigious project SS Normandie, the government nationalised the various private shipyards into one state owned entity, the 1861 founded Chantiers de l'Atlantique.

World War II[edit]

After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht army at the start of World War II, the combined forces of the French Army and the British Expeditionary Force failed to hold the oncoming onslaught. As part of Operation Ariel, Saint-Nazaire like Dunkirk became an evacuation point for the British back to England, with those successfully embarking including the writer John Renshaw Starr.

On 17 June 1940 an estimated 9,000 British Army soldiers were embarked aboard the Clyde-built troopship RMS Lancastria, which was then attacked and sunk by German Junkers Ju 88 bombers, mainly from Kampfgeschwader 30, taking with her around 4,000 victims.^[3] It is the worst disaster in British maritime history, and the worst loss of life for British forces in the whole of World War II. Winston Churchill banned all news coverage of the disaster on learning of it and it remained largely forgotten by history.

U-boat pens[edit]

Modern day view of the Kriegsmarine Saint-Nazaire submarine base 47°16′32″N 2°12′10″W

Following the surrender of France to German forces later in June 1940, the port immediately became a base of operations for the Kriegsmarine and was as such the target of Allied operations. A heavily fortified U-boat Saint-Nazaire submarine base was built by Organisation Todt shortly after occupation, with its 9 m (30 ft) thick concrete ceiling, was capable of withstanding almost any bomb in use at the time.

The base provided a home during the war to many of the most well known U-Boat staff, including:

• Commander Georg-Wilhelm Schulz who transferred 6th U-boat Flotilla from Danzig to the port in February 1942, where it became a combat flotilla.
• Kapitänleutnant Carl Emmermann – took command of 6th U-boat Flotilla over from Schulz in November 1942, until it left Saint-Nazaire for Norway in August 1944
• Lieutenant Commander Herbert Schultze – second in command of 7th U-boat Flotilla from September 1940

The base still stands today, as its extremely sturdy construction makes demolition uneconomical. The base is now used by cafes, a bar and on the roof is an exhibition about Saint-Nazaire.

St. Nazaire Raid[edit]

Main article: St. Nazaire Raid

The huge Joubert drydock built for SS Normandie was the only port on the Atlantic capable of servicing the German battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. This gave the port a strong strategic importance to both the Axis Powers and the Allies during the Second World War.

After Operation Rheinübung on 18–27 May 1941, in which the Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen were to have ended the operational raid at Saint-Nazaire, but which resulted in the sinking of HMS Hood and the sinking of the Bismarck; the need for the Allies to take the Joubert dry dock out of operation was increased.

On 28 March 1942, a force of 611 British Commandos and the Royal Navy launched the St. Nazaire Raid against the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire, codenamed Operation Chariot. An obsolete American-built destroyer HMS Campbeltown was used as a ram-ship loaded with explosives, and it and the commandos succeeded in destroying the gates and machinery of the Joubert drydock, preventing its further use by Nazi Germany during the war.^[4] Of the 200 who were expected to return, 120 were alive and half were wounded. Five Victoria Crosses and 69 other awards were rewarded. The Joubert dry dock was not brought back into operation until 1948.

After Operation Chariot[edit]

The U-boat threat to supply convoys across the Atlantic made Saint-Nazaire a constant target of Allied air forces, in the face of determined Luftwaffe fighter opposition to the daylight raids by USAAF Eighth Air Force bombers. On 3 January 1943 Col. Curtis LeMay led 85 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 1st Bombardment Wing against the U-Boat pens at Saint-Nazaire, on the Eighth Air Force's sixth raid against the facility. LeMay also introduced the combat box defensive formation, echeloning three-plane elements within a squadron, and squadrons within a group, to concentrate defensive firepower against fighter opposition. Only 76 aircraft found and hit the target, and during the mission seven bombers were shot down and 47 damaged.

As a result of the raid, on 14 January 1943 under directive (S.46239/?? A.C.A.S. Ops), the Allies implemented incendiary bomb tactics against U-Boat pens, under the Area bombing directive. To minimize civilian casualties during air attacks, the Allies devised a plan to force an evacuation of the town. For three days in 1943, British Royal Air Force and American aircraft dropped scores of leaflets warning the population of a planned fire-bombing raid. At the end of the third day, the raid came and burned the entire city to the ground. Casualties were light as most of the civilians had heeded the warning and fled to the safety of the countryside, but after that point except for the self-contained U-boat base, Saint-Nazaire remained abandoned until the end of the war.

After D-day and the liberation of most of France in 1944, German troops in Saint-Nazaire's submarine base refused to surrender, and they holed up (as did their counterparts in the La Rochelle and Lorient bases). Since the Germans could no longer conduct major submarine operations from the bases without a supply line, the SHAEF commander, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to simply bypass these ports, and the Allied armies focused their resources on the invasion of Germany. Saint-Nazaire and the other two German "pockets" remained under Nazi control until the last day of the war in Europe, 8 May 1945.

St. Nazaire...

I was determind to do this one last thing even though my energy was waning. I was ready to go home.

St Nazaire is only about 15k from La Baule....The day was beautiful. 

Saint-Nazaire (French pronunciation: ​[sɛ̃.na.zɛʁ]; Breton: Sant-Nazer/Señ Neñseir; Gallo: Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.

The town has a major harbour, on the right bank of the Loire River estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. The town is at the south of the second-largest swamp in France, called "la Brière". Given its location, Saint-Nazaire has a long tradition of fishing and shipbuilding.

Antiquity[edit]

Archaeologists believe that Saint-Nazaire is built upon the remnants of Corbilo, an Armorican Gaulish city populated by the Namnetes tribe, which (according to the Greek navigator Pytheas) was the second-largest Gaulish city, after Massilia (now Marseille).^{[citation needed]} Archeology suggests that the area has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic period, as evidenced by the presence of monuments like the tumulus of Dissignac and the dolmen located in the centre of the present-day city, and ancient bronzes found in the vicinity.

According to the 15th-century chronicler Alain Bouchart, Brutus of Troy, the mythical ancestor of the Bretons, travelled toward Saint-Nazaire to set foot upon the new homeland of his people.^{[citation needed]} Historical accounts note that at the end of the Roman Empire, some Britons colonized the Loire estuary, and later, the peninsula containing Guérande. The furthest extent of the ancient Breton language in the Loire region is Donges, to the east of Saint-Nazaire.

Hotel Des Dunes

It was a good hotel in a great location. Minutes from both the beach and the main shopping street. I wish these hotels would have small refrigerators. The wifi was good...it was mostly comfortable. I was on the top floor facing the back. I wonder if the front rooms have a sea view.

Vernis Clams?

I asked the man about these as these were new to me. They are reddish in color. He opened one for me. They had the orange "foot" like a scallop does. I was surprised. It made me think of the steamers I have had ( and LOVE) on the east coast US. ( I don't know why the don't have those here.)

I found them...they are called Velvet clams. I was thinking that it was a shame he didn't let me eat the one he opened...and I would have had he offered it, but see the danger below. All I need is 

Paralytic shellfish poisoning...

The smooth clam, Callista chione, (also sometimes classified as Cytherea chione or Meretrix chione) is a rather large, temperate, marine, bivalve mollusc that inhabits sandy bottoms or with small pebbles in clean waters down to about 200 m from the British Isles to the Mediterranean.^[1] The shell can reach up to about 110 mm Ø, its outer side is smooth and ranges from light greenish creamy colour to medium brown ^[2], probably varies to match the background; the interior is white to soft pink. The concentric and radial growth lines are easily seen. Callista chione is edible, different dishes are prepared throughout the Mediterranean in Spain, Italy, France, the Balkan and the Magreb countries.

It has been found that, as is the case with many bivalve molluscs, which are filter-feeders, (they feed by filtering food particles from the water), that Callista chione, common in fish markets in the Mediterranean, concentrates toxins from dinoflagellatesblooms associated with pollution events such as red tides ^[3], sewage water, old sediment dredging, ship ballast water dumping, etc. These toxins cannot be eliminated by the traditional cleansing of shellfish in clean water or by cooking, and can be responsible for complex human health problems: respiratory ailments, skin rashes, even paralysis, etc., such as it is known now to have occurred in New Orleans, associated with the contact or ingestion of severely contaminated water, left by Katrina. The commonest of these dangers is known as PSP or paralytic shellfish poisoning.

Beautiful Indoor Market in La Baule

just around the corner from the hotel.

what could these be? I like to think they are filled with cream.

Beautiful Houses / Villas

La Baule-Escoublac, commonly referred to as La Baule, is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.

A century-old seaside resort in southern Brittany with beautiful villas, casino, luxury hotels and an original mix of old Breton and exclusive seaside culture with a 12 kilometer-long sand beach, La Baule has long been home to French high society's seaside residences.

The birth of a seaside resort[edit]

It was only in 1879, when the Saint-Nazaire-Croisic railroad was conceived by Parisian industrialist Jules-Joseph Hennecart that the tourist potential of the coast was recognised.

Just before the inauguration of the line, Hennecart bought 40 ha of dunes for the Society of Escoublac Dunesachète (Société des dunes d'Escoublac) and commissioned local architect Georges Lafont to design the new town. Lafont designed a long sand promenade named Avenue de la Gare (today Avenue du Général-de-Gaulle) and a chapel (see picture).^[1] After the railroad opened Lafont built more than 250 villas, taking the lead in the development of the seaside resort.

The rise of a seaside resort[edit]

In 1918, casino business magnate François André (see Groupe Lucien Barrière) set up the redesigning of the La Baule resort based on the Deauville model by combining casinos, luxury hotels and sports facilities all on one site.

In the 1920s, Parisian businessman Louis Lajarrige designed the very successful Bois d'Amour district at La Baule-les-Pins and formed an agreement with the railroad company to move the rails away from the seaside to ensure a direct access to the beach. On July 27, 1927 the new stations of La Baule-les-Pins and La Baule-Escoublac (see picture) were inaugurated while the old station was torn down to create a flower garden square. By that time, La Baule has become a very fashionable seaside resort.One of France's most exclusive seaside resorts during the first half of the 20th century, La Baule has become much more democratized since the 1960s. Today the resort mixes wealthy family villas, luxury hotels and seaside apartment buildings, creating an original and unique atmosphere of social diversity. The nearby region has long been an area of contact and conflict between Breton culture and that of the neighbouring Loire valley, and consequently is rich with historic places, castles (Nantes castle), walled cities (Guerande), not to mention 19th century seaside resorts, such as Quiberon, and many typical Breton fishing villages (Pornichet).

Culture[edit]

The Grand Prix de la Baule was a Grand Prix motor racing event held here during the 1930s. Today, the Grand Prix de la Ville de La Baule is a prestigious equestrian show jumping competition that is part of the international Equestrian Nations Cup series.

The bay is regarded as "the most beautiful in Europe".^[who?] Furthermore, La Baule is near La côte d'amour, which features beautiful cliffs and amazing views of the Atlantic ocean.