WWII German Military Structures in Angers (FR)

Abstract

In previous publications, some WWII German military structures around Angers (FR): at Mûrs-Érigné, the Domaine de Pignerolle and Bouchemaine, during the German Occupation period were described and analyzed. The discovery in 2014 in a private archive of a French Resistance map dated 1942 showing further German military structures on the right side of the Maine and a plan of a large bunker in La Reux at Saint-Barthelemy d'Anjou forced the resumption of the researches about German military structures in the Angers sector. The Angers sector retreated from other WWII German more sensitive military sectors in France and less exposed to allied air attacks, offered for a quite long time, during the Occupation, a quiet place for developing military activities. The visits on the sites permitted, at about seventy years from the end of the WWII, to better understand the purpose and estimate the preservation state of the surviving structures.

The BDU West between WWII and Cold War

“…As in the case of Parc de La Haye (Map N˚200b, Point E (1)) (Vincent, 2013) (Tomezzoli, 2018), the BDU barracks, after the WWII, were not dismantled but lodged Angers peoples. This preserved the original BDU structure and allows today at more than seventy years from the end of the WWII, by analysing French air reconnaissance images of the immediate after war, to have a precise vision of the BDU organization.…”