| Saint-Nazaire | |
|---|---|
| Country | [image] France |
| Région | Pays de la Loire |
| Département | Loire-Atlantique (Sous-préfecture) |
| Arrondissement | Saint-Nazaire |
| Canton | Chief town of 3 cantons |
| INSEE Code | 44184 |
| Postal code | 44600 |
| Mayor Term of office | Joël-Guy Batteux 2001-2007 |
| Intercommunality | CARENE |
| Longitude | 2° 12' 31" W |
| Latitude | 47° 16' 50" N |
| Altitude | average: 6 m minimum: 0 m maximum: 47 m |
| Area | 46.79 km² |
| Population without double-counting | 65,874 (1999) |
| Population density | 1,408 pers/km² |
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Saint-Nazaire is a town and commune in the Loire-Atlantique département of France, of which it is a Sous-préfecture. It is a major Harbor, on the right bank of the Loire River Estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. As such, it has a long tradition of fishing and Shipbuilding.
The Dry dock built for SS Normandie was the largest of its kind in western Europe at the time. It was the only port capable of servicing the German battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. This gave the port a massive strategic importance to both the Axis Powers and the Allies during the Second World War.
On March 28, 1942, a force of 611 British Commandos launched a raid against the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire, codenamed Operation Chariot. The commandos succeeded in destroying the Normandie dry dock, preventing its use by Germany during the war.
The German submarine menace to supply convoys across the Atlantic made Saint-Nazaire a constant target of Allied air forces. In order to minimize civilian casualties during air attacks, the Allies eventually devised a plan to force evacuation of the town. For three days in 1943, British and American aircraft dropped scores of leaflets warning the population of a planned firebombing raid. At the end of the third day, the raid came and burned the entire city to the ground. Casualties were light as most civilians had heeded the warning and fled to the safety of the countryside. Except for the self-contained submarine base, Saint-Nazaire remained abandoned until the end of the war.
After D-Day and the liberation of France in 1944, German troops in Saint-Nazaire's submarine base refused to surrender and holed up (as did their counterparts in the La Rochelle and Brest bases). As the Germans could no longer conduct major submarine operations from the bases, Allied commanders simply bypassed these and focused their resources on the invasion of Germany. Saint-Nazaire and the other two German "pockets" remained under German control until the last day of the war.
The town was rebuilt in the late 1940s in a minimalist, somewhat drab style that belies the natural beauty of the area.