INISIDE WW2 GERMAN U-BOAT BUNKER IN SAINT-NAZAIRE
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 кві 2024
- Enjoy amazing walkaround, drone, and inside views of the massive WW2 German U-Boat bunker site at Saint-Nazaire.
Located in the Pays de la Loire region, this is one of the largest concrete constructions built outside of Germany during WW2.
This massive megastructure has an incredible history, including being the location of what has been described as the 'Greatest Raid of All'.
In this video we bring you exclusive drone footage of the bunker from above, take you up close and into the anti-bomb roof design, and go inside its massive cells where U-Boats would operate from during the Second World War.
We also reveal the huge defended lock which is still home to a submarine, and pay tribute to the British commandos at the memorial close to the bunker.
WE’D LOVE IT IF YOU LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NORMANDYBUNKERS UA-cam CHANNEL
Follow @normandybunkers on Instagram and Facebook
New website now live at www.normandybunkers.com - Розваги
Germany was well ahead of the curve with Brutalist architecture
They did love A fair bit of concrete back in their day
The sunken sailing ship is called Etoile de France. Built in Denmark in 1936, had been part of the Saint-Nazaire harbour landscape since 2021.
Thanks I was wondering what ship that was.
Yes, thank you..are plans being made to refloat and repair her??? Please advise.
@@covertops19Z The port hasn't been able to contact the owners to sort out what to do. The ship wasn't in sailing condition when it sank, so it may not be worth salvaging and restoring it. It may actually break apart just trying to raise it.
@BeachcomberNZ Many Thanks for the update. That's pretty sad to hear that. So much history, lost!
how can it be afloat around 4:15, and before and later sunk ??
Thank you for not adding an annoying and unneeded narration and letting the visual images speak for themselves and tell their story. The soft guitar and piano adds an ambiance that contributes greatly to the video. Well done.
Thank you for the kind comment, that’s what we’re trying to achieve. It’s the images and stories which are important, not boosting our ego etc. This is why we never appear in our films.
I fully agree! :)
I completely ignored all the text after 10 seconds.
@@ezone913 Great, hope you enjoyed the pictures 👍
Most astonishing and terryfing fact is that WWII lasted in its peak from 1941 to 1944 (from perspective of Nazi Germany's ability to fund and develop military structures, arms etc) yet in such a short span they created so many cutting edge, larg scale projects and instalations all over Europe and pushed weapons industry to a level that contemporary world still somehow mimics it (concept of assault riffle, main battle tank, rocket warfare, jet fighter etc). It shows that - apart of WWII being an atrocious episode of human histroy - a focus on creativity and common effort can result in massive progress over short time. Still to rememember is that it wouldn't be possible without forced labour, massive robbery of others nations resources and terror.
Not sure where you got the dates 1941 to 1944 it started in 1939 and the Germans were building the Siegfried line before that. It ended in 1945 with the Germans producing V1 & V2 rockets in underground factories tunnelled from solid rock. might be worth a bit more research next time around
@@davedixon2068
Read his comment more carefully.
He didn't mean that.
He writes that the peak of the war for Germany was in 1941 till 1944 which is true.
By 1941 they have conquered most of the continent and by 1944 they have finished whatever project was successful and made it into combat.
The site is a must to visit, thanks for the city of Saint Nazaire for having kept this monument, a witness to our common European heritage.
Well it was simply too difficult to get rid of, that is why they kept it.
Common European heritage? That'll be why 56m died in WWII. Keep your EU tosh please.
Sure would be great to see them as a museum , with a U Boat at it's docking , even if it was a reproduction - History should be a lesson for all , just as air museums are !!!
Or a museum of fire and burning people, bombs, ... as a history lesson of course.
I might be incorrect however a German U-boat was just recently dedicated to a museum I've seen photos and it's in perfect condition
One thing that you failed to mention - the French submarine 'la espadon' in the bunkered lock is in fact a copy of a type XXI U-boat built after the war. It has a different conning tower, but the interior is close to the original design, even down to the torpedo auto loading machinery. I was there a few years ago and it is well worth a visit. The Campletown raid was to flood the dry dock by destroying the gates, whilst the Commandos destroyed the pumping stations so it could not be emptied again. One of the VCs awarded was by request of a German (ship's captain's) testimony.
Thanks for sharing. There’s lots more which could have been included but it’s only a short film 👍
That's no today's "quality" - still standing after 83 years!
It's amazing it hasn't been repurposed or destroyed.
Difficult to destroy. It’s now used for boat storage, sea rescue training, and as an entertainment space. The tourism office is also based inside.
Did anyone else noticed that sailing boat moored in front of the bunker still afloat at the start of the video but sunk at the end with only the masts above the surface of the water? I think it's the revenge of some German commando in its 90s.😆😆😆
Great spot. It sunk during the winter. We filmed in October 2023 and April 2024 and left this in to see if anyone would spot it 👍
It's a Sailing submarine , French high-tech! 😂😂😂
Came to comments just for that.
It was sunk 20 seconds into the video.
I’m interested in the back story of that yacht..
It’s good to see that they are still used .
My grandad was a survivor of the HMS Lancastria that was bombed sitting out in the bay there while evacuating the troops in 1940. Luckily this wasn’t built and no subs were there to do more damage. Good video, they need to put an old sub in there and make a museum of it.
Thanks for sharing. There’s a sub in the defended locker room bunker across the dock 👍
Many regards to what your grandpa did for the home land.
if you ever seen the movie "das boat" from 1981 you know kinda what it was like,
i higly recommend watching this awesome u-boat world war 2 movie
Yes indeed. As well as the site being used in Raiders of the Lost Ark
The English language version is named " The Boat " .
The German language version is named " Das Boot " .
“Alarm!”
one of the three greatest anti-war films ever made. along with Cross of Iron, and perhaps, in context, the Great Escape.
A building quality that lasts forever.
Indestructable !
I saw the one in Breast France many Decades ago... One of the Biggest manmade structures I have ever seen.
Brest, not "breast". I think "breast" is like "boobs". 😅
I stand corrected, but the truth is I am always thinking about Breasts...@@68monstro
BREST!
C'est fou comment ils avaient les moyens pour tout construire et avoir une si grande armée. Nous sommes chanceux d'avoir gagné même si déjà en 41 la conclusion commençais à poindre. Rénovez et entretenez ce bâtiment. Il pourrait encore servir. C'est immense.
The Western allies did not defeat anyone. Those who defeated the immense German army, and the vassal countries that increased their power, were the Russians.
By the time the Allies landed in France, the Germans were practically defeated.
@@juanguillermoaraujodiazcol449 This is a silly take. Russia helped Germany launch WW2 by agreeing to a non-aggression pact and then carving up Poland between them. It was only when Hitler set his sights on Russia that the Soviets joined the Allies. And, without England, for example, holding out, by themselves, against Hitler before Russia got involved, Hitler would have had all of Europe subjugated thus allowing him to concentrate fully on conquering Russia. And he would have succeeded. With the U.S. and other allies joining the fight, Hitler always had to fight on multiple fronts instead of solely concentrating on the Eastern front. And then there's the huge amount of aid, supplies, etc. shipped into Russia from the UK and from the U.S. just to keep Russia in the game. So yes, Russia paid with millions and millions dead to defend themselves against Nazi Germany, but it's ludicrous to suggest they did it on their own and it's even more ludicrous to suggest that Russia would have had the strength to both defend themselves and also go on to liberate Europe by themselves.
Amazing and sad history with incredible engineering, Thank you
What about the poor souls that were forced to build them .Let us not forget them .
Just forget them!It wont help them to be remembert!
The french should have fought! No surrender!
@@JohnSmith-ei2pz They did fight, they should have been superior too, but they used WW1 tactics in a war where mobile armour could crash through their lines of otherwise very strong defences. The irony being that Guderian used British tank tactics against the allied forces who should have known better.
@@y_ffordd Just like Vietnam then! No surrender!
@@JohnSmith-ei2pz
Who do you think held the perimeter enabling the Dunkirk evacuation. The French never recovered from the Great War and suffered from extreme political divisions.
Thank you and well done. You have reinforced my desire to visit this site. Pity it is such a long way from Australia.😢
Il y a également celui de Lorient reconverti en base pour bateaux de course au large
still cool and impressive to look at in 2024
thank you for the video
from Las Vegas
Fantastic video as always 👏
Thank you 👍
My father, an ex RAF Bomber Command officer took me there in 1955, the French were at the time offering tours of the facilities but only for French nationals, being Brits we were denied entry….
The reason given was that it was being used by the French military, no idea if this was true or not
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Looks like the Germans were good at everything except actually winning the war 1 and 2.
Great videos and channel.
Thank you 👍
good at everything except for the following issues
- politically clumsy
- late mobilization
- economics
- incentives
- mass production
- logistics
- strategy
- raw materials
- energy supply
- food supply
- codes broken
- Canaris an Allied asset
- High Command infiltrated by Soviet spies
- firing critics and hiring yes-men
- falling quality of intel
- falling flexibilty in command and control
- not using war games at the highest level
- lack of situational awareness at the highest level
- operational predictability
- bottom up feedback and adaptation
- crew and unit survival
- burning experienced personnel
- focusing research on fairy tale creatures instead of operational needs
- adapting to resources available
- countering Allied approach, playing into Allied hands
A limited run TV series on PBS [US] about Nazi Mega-weapons did well to illustrate the obsessive nature the Nazis had with regards to concrete-built fortifications; as they expended millions of cubic meters of the material in many European locations.
The massive amounts of energy and resources it took to quarry, manufacture, transport, and applying the concrete to structures may have indirectly undermined Germany's combat effectiveness in World War II. As the materials, such as steel rebar, and fuels could have been applied to combat equipment.
One weakness of the concrete fortifications was with cutting off the supply lines to the locations. In the case of the concrete U-Boat pens, the bombing of the rail lines and roads would cut off the main resupplying accesses to the U-Boat pens.
Germán engineering in the house!
and they lost to superior engineering from over the channel, would you like a list, We could start with the Magnetron 12, you have nothing to be proud of, were as I do@
Thanks from Huntington Beach California 🫡
Thank you 👍
I thought I saw a vague glimpse of U96 immortalized in the movie Das Boot.
I didn't realize what was different until a minute in: No graffiti on the inside.
That says something nice about Saint-Nazaire.
I saw the u-boat pens in Hamburg during a harbour tour in 1986 and was very impressed with them still standing over 40 years later back then ... even more impressed seeing this video ... well done.
We used to fly to Hamburg for work and could see the U-Boat pens before landing. Must get back to have a proper walkaround soon. Thanks for your kind comment 👍
Whenever I see images of St Nazaire I always think of the sacrifice of the commandos and navy personnel that took part in what was one of the most audacious raids of WW2…. Operation Chariot, 169 dead and 215 taken prisoner…. Yet their sacrifice meant that the Turpitz would never have an Atlantic base which was a big factor in the victory for the Battle for the Atlantic… The one image that always stays with me is the Nazi taken film shot of one of the British commandos with his hands raised but still making the victory V sign….. so much courage and bravery was shown that day despite the odds against them and the success of the ramming the HMS Campbell Town on the dry docks meant that the docks were not repaired until several years after the war ended….. there was also a poetic justice in the unplanned delay to the explosives detonating on the ship after it had rammed the dock gate, that delay ensured that many German soldiers and officers were ‘sight seeing’ on the ship when it did finally explode and how they were caught on camera before hand…. There was a film made in the 1950’s that was loosely based on the raid called The Gift Horse starring Trevor Howard which is worth watching, though there was also another one made in the late 60’s called Attack on the Iron Coast with Lloyd Bridges which was specifically about the raid but unfortunately had a little too much Hollywood about it…. But still worth seeing…. Thanks for sharing 👍
Thank you for your comment 👍
One particular part of the story stands out for me. A few of the British commandos were taken aboard HMS Campbeltown for interrogation the day after the attack. They knew full well that the ship was laden with explosives that had not detonated yet they said nothing. The ship went up with them and a team of 40 German inspectors. Incredible.
This was because the British film industry like most of Britain was bankrupt in the 1960s so in order to make films there was an Americanisation of the stories. Like Bridge over the River Kwai. Jeremy Clarkston did a very good documentary on the air some years ago.
@@mdmurray17 Trevor Howard: in The Third Man and in every post war war film Britain ever made??! What was that displaced person film with him and David Niven?? A good film, NOT Hollywood.
Respect also to the germans who really knew how to build things. Great warriors who defended the place till the end of WW2.
The port was liberated so late because they were bypassed by the Allied forces and attention on the drive towards Germany. These post war structures were also used to store 🌾 imported from the United States. The storage capability helped keep grain prices down for a post war hungry Europe.
You mean they stored grain in wet docks?
@@2adamast There was/is space and there is also drydock capability in some of the pens as well. 🐳
They did not need the Biskayan side ports for progressing towards Germany. And taking of the Festung Brest as an example proved very costly and time consuming, the race for Berlin was on.
My sub visited Brest back in the 90s. The U-Boat Bunker there was unbelievable to see. I spent a Saturday poking around in there. They were being used by the French Navy for dive training in one of the. bays. One of the colleges was using one of the bays for hull form research. There was also a huge hole in the roof from a bomb maybe? It was very interesting.
I think it was attacked by Wallis's bunker busting bombs. La Coupole and Eperlec in Pas de Calais are two very impressive sites.
We have to remember WWII was only 6 year long. So much was constructed during that time
Having virtually unlimited amount of forced labour helped the Todt organisazion to speed up the building process.
I would love to go magnet fishing there. 👍
There is a video somewhere on youtube where a guy searches the bottom and found just one old bottle! He said there had been some clearance of the seabed at some point, any lost lugers or dropped iron crosses have already been removed, might be a few fish left though🐟🎣
It’s so impressive
Great video! Looks like there is a sunken topsail schooner next to the bunker.
The germans really knew how to build things. Respect. What a monumental sight.
Well ask the 617 Squadron how to pierce them.
Grand Slam.
RAF
1944
remember most of the things were built by forced/slave labour not an achievement to celebrate
@@davedixon2068 I was also going to say the same thing, as most were simply worked to death!
@@jnairac A pack of idiots squadron. RAMonkeys
Excellent video and story with the actual history. Much appreciated. :)
Glad you enjoyed it 👍
I visit it one week ago, we almost met
The fist time I heard about ST NAZAIRE, I was a kid
listing to a family friend, who served in the USAAC, as a
Belly Gunner for 84 missions. He said we weren't aloud
to bring bombs home to England, and then later France.
So he said, If a mission got scrubbed, Off we went to St.
Nazaire.
When I found our the size of the place, and how many
bombers lined up to clean out their bombs. I was shocked
to hear it survived to the end War. He said there must have
been a Million bombs, of every type dropped there.
He said he was flown home from France at the end of the War.
He said it was like "Here's your Hat, don't let the door hit you in the ass!"
But on the flight out, they passed over St Nazaire, and he said
it looked like the Moon with just the German buildings left.
He though nothing survived it.
I worked here a while back. It’s an amazing place. I loved it a place to return too.
Great video: QUESTION: The concrete there, poured 80+ years ago--looks to be in good shape. Why is it currently that concrete in most American cities poured a few years ago spalls, cracks, gets massive holes, and then turns to dust in a few years?
There are a few areas on the bunker where the concrete is in a bad way.
that's in China. every pour we do every day samples are taken. High rise in Vancouver, BC. Did quite a few buildings 60 stories and up in a year.
You feed your workers the Na*is didn't so much.
Great video. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
Amazing video and lovely music too
Thank you for this interesting visit.
Glad you enjoyed it
Good job Sir. Thanks 4 it.
I've been there a couple times now but never got to see the inside like this. Thanks for sharing this video.
You’re welcome. Thanks for watching 👍
Very interesting video.
Glad you enjoyed it 👍
Thank you for the video. And I appreciated the narrating text method. Not at all annoying Tom.
You’re welcome, thanks for watching 👍
Beautiful and evocative images. A very great video. Thank you very much for posting.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for your kind comment 👍
Thanks, quite the engineering feat. I'm a cement contractor and a bit jealous. Enjoyed the post.
Very interesting!
Fascinating and very well told! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Remarkable what one can do with slave labor, isn't it? Amazing structures
And French construction companies 👍
@@normandybunkers What were their choices? participate or be forced to participate.
I didn't know St Nazaire resisted until that late in the war.
Despite being an excellent video of quite a fascinating location, it gives off such a sad feeling of so much lost by everything about the place. Thank you 👍 ✌️
.. U-Boat - Utility-Bunker.. built - for 500-Years..Plus..Surreal-Quality Buildings.. Phantastic..- Architecture and Engineering..
High-Tec...
Excellent video
Thank you very much!
Reminds me on the movie "The Boot"
Wow incredible, almost look unchanged even after 80,odd years!
Amazing, war.
For those lost ❤
I imagine that even now it would be able to function as a protected submarine base.
Jeremy Clarkson did a whole documentary of the “Greatest Raid Of All” and I highly recommend watching it to gain some perspective of this site.
The things this man constructed in his time is just unreal
They should build a nice elevated park above them if too hard to dismantle.
There’s a public park and entertainment space on the roof here 👍
imagine magnet fishing there
Interetsing to see, impressive construction, but I would have liked to also have seen some archival photos f U-boats in them and give the film full context.
Yes, but we don’t own the rights to those images and footage so won’t use them, sorry.
Operation Chariot was one of the first major operations by Churchills Ministry of Ungentelmenly Warfare. Once the Ministry was disbanded after the war, a good many of the staff relocated to the US and were the foundations for today's CIA. Giles Milton wrote a very good book about the Ministry that's well researched.
Churchill didn't trust sourcing Brits in high education and many were sympathizers to both the communists and fascists. My neighbour was born in Mexico: his dad worked for Intrepid. Washington had an entire squad of ladies trained in and from......Canada.
Great depiction and context. You can visit anytime...check the Espadon too...small but very immersive and impressive...
British commandos attacked here and HMS Campbell laden with explosives rammed the dry dock gates and later exploded destroying them.
Yes. That's what the video said.
Very informative and interesting , well done 👏
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it 👍
Would be really cool to see pictures one facility was used by Germany. Maybe they don't have any construction videos but certainly ones with U-boats.
The Germans must have been still able to obtain quality materials for the concrete for it to be still exist 80 years later and exposure to salt water and the shock of bombs.
Amazing what one can due with three million tons of concrete and rebar.
Amazing how the Germans built those in a few short months and they turned out to be indestructible.
There is a hole in the roof
Silly me, as a gauche youth of the 1970s, whilst on a camping holiday in La Baule, I turned down my parents invitation to do the Nazaire tour.. dad was wartime Fleet Air Arm and the carrier he was on got torpedoed by a U-Boat. Should have accepted the invitation because I was told that at the end of one part of the tour, the French guide asked if there were any questions and a German member of the tour party piped-up with "Well, you French, on your own, could not have done anything like this".. a real cringeworthy/tumbleweed moment I should think.
Anyway years later in the 2000s, I mqde up for the ommission and visited La Pallice (La Rochelle, where Das Boat was filmed) and Lorient... sans guide.!
The St Nazaire pens appear to be in quite good condition as were those in La Pallice when I visited, but the ones at Lorient were in a bit of a sorry state, the outsides draped with wire netting to catch the chunks of concrete falling off the side walls.(Apparently, some of the concrete mix used in the original construction had included sea water, the salt in which, over-time reacted with the steel re-bar, which then rusted and expanded, cracking the concrete in which it was buried.)
slow acting sabotage
And it will be there for a thousand years.
Most of the German Atlantic Wall fortifications are blowing themselves apart. Poor concrete and rusting reinforcement rods. Reffered to as Concrete Cancer.
@@51WCDodge NO - No- Jewish shit Bussines, No -Cheating No- Deception = Missing No-Gramm Concrete on Cubicmeter !!
Proud in 3d.-Rich - after WW-1 - French/Allied-Verdict - .. = again after Decades = 'Me - too - until Today.
Built by * Todt-(RIP)-Organisation..for 1000-Years...
*Pulls Uboot into Saint-Nazaire*: Can you fill her up and check the oil?
I had no idea they had U boats with sails 👍
Ik ben er in geweest een super knap stuk werk, ongelooflijk wat een bouw werk. Ja die moffen konden het wel , wat een werk. wij waren aan het werk op de Lorre rivier aan het werk een nieuwe brug te bouwen in de '70 er jaren.
Wow
Interesting. Wonder what happened to the mostly sunk sail ship you can see.
Sank during a rough winter.
@@normandybunkers Wonder if they will raise it?
@@fasthracing Hope so, it was a stunning boat.
ive been there...in Medal of honor Allied Assault
Real German workmanship, built to last 😁👍
The exposed history of manufacture is even more fun...; if there is documentation in the form of images/films...🙏
The first Lock was named Bismarck. The third Dönitz.
The others are unknown in Archives.
Jutland has been not confirmed in archives
This was awesome and I had no clue that was still standing. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome, thanks for watching 👍
They`d be very difficult and costly to demolish, since they were built to resist mostly anything, that was dumped upon them from the air by the allies.
German engineering.
Like Patton said about other fortifications. A monument to the stupidty of man. How did they ever think they would win?
Волчьи стаи адмирала Дёница.
AH knew a thing or 2 about concreting
he was more into paint
The descriptions do not stay up on the screen long enough for studying the subject of the description. The viewer is forced to either look at the featured view and partially read the description or hit the pause and read the description and study the picture then hit the proceed button. Not very well planned out. I chose a slower playback speed but then the music was odd.
Thanks for the feedback 👍
Unbelievable. Without engineers from Somalia or Afghanistan?
So the British Raid happened in 1942.
But
SAINT-NAZAIRE was not surrendered untill 2 day
after the end of the War.
So 396 days on their own. That's a lot of supplies,
and munitions for a Fort of this size.
I remember reading, that the Brits, and Americans
left this place to the Communist "Partisans" to "Free".
It was supposed to be such an easy job.
The Germans refused to surrender to the Communists,
so an American General had to be bought in to except the
German surrender. He notes in a speech to Star & Stripes
how that even though the Germans were starving, they
would not kill, and eat their dogs. But that once surrendered,
the Communist shot every one of them. The General remarked
to an aid "These are the kind of people, we threw our lot in with?"
For the rest of his life he called them cowards in the first degree.
What are you on about? 1942 WAS A RAID, the British went across in a destroyer and a few launches, rammed the destroyer into the dock gate and landed a bunch of commandoes who blew up the pumping house, A few got away down river, the rest fought the Germans til they ran out of ammunition and then most had to surrender, I believe a couple of guys managed to get away through Spain with the help of the French resistance. The explosives in the ship went off late killing over a hundred Germans who were just examining the ship wondering why we thought such a small ship would destroy the gate, then they found out.
And there were others in Lorient.
Yes, there are five sites in western France.
Imagine the mindset you have to have to go on a suicide mission but you do it because the jobs is that Critical!
If that still exists, there is an elevator to the roof. They made it with glass walls, so you can see for yourself the thickness of the concrete roof.
Yes, it’s in the top left corner of the roof from our drone view 👍
Great video. The concrete work done by the Germans is absolutely amazing. It is hard to believe they constructed that facility in only a couple of years. it would take 10 years to do that now with the construction industry in the US. And there would be lawsuits at the end. Thanks much.
Amazing what you can accomplish in a dictatorship. HSR would have been completed years ago, on time and on budget.
Or heads will roll.
No complaints with slave labour.
repost: the things you can do as a dictator.
These facilities could be constructed in half the time today than they were back then and destroyed in minutes with the weaponry of today
@@jamesadams893 How naive. 'Apparently you have never managed a large public infrastructure project.
From environmental impact reports and funding issues to NIMBYs, you'd spend years just going from initial planning to turning soil.
Germany No. 1! 🏆