39-45 MEMORIAL

In an area of just over 500 m², split between three levels and ten rooms, visitors are plunged into those dark years of Saint-Malo’s history. Photos, mannequins, weaponry and reconstructed scenes recreate the atmosphere of the period, based on the following themes:

• The invasion of 1940
• How the port was used
• Building the bunkers
• Cité d’Alet (one of the most fortified sites on the Atlantic Wall)
• The battle for liberation
• The island of Cézembre (one of the most heavily bombed sites of the Second World War)

The bunker itself has been restored to its original state. Tours (guided only) begin at set times and last one hour. Tours are followed at certain times by the screening of an archive film (45 mins), which charts the different stages of the battle for liberation, then shows the reconstruction of the old city, 80% destroyed in the fighting.

From June to September, themed tours are offered:

- “History” tour: Almost entirely in the bunker. Evokes the period 1940-44 in Saint-Malo. With film screening.

- “Discovery of the fortifications” tour: 75% outside, 25% in the bunker. Evokes the construction of the 18th-century and Second World War fortifications found on the site. Evokes the everyday lives of soldiers in those fortifications. No film screening.

The two tours are complementary.

Heavy machine-gun position in its original bunker.
Only reconstruction of its kind in France - A loophole in the corridors of the bunker.
- The radio and telephone transmission room.
- US transmission post. Credit: © Mémorial 39-45

Sources : ©MÉMORIAL 39-45