Festung Lorient

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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition >> Festung Lorient

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Festung Lorient - 4/7/2013 9:53:53 AM

Micke II

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Lorient on the West French Coast was the masterpiece of the Atlantic wall between 1941-1945 able to host at the same time 20 U-Boat. 168 U-Boats were based in Lorient Isolated in August 1944 the basis surrendered on May 8th 1945.
Admiral Doenitz established his headquarter here between 1940 and 1942 leading the battle of the Atlantic. The base was heavily bombed by the British during 4 years without any success.
It's was during the Cold War a important basis for the NATO submarines. Now this place is open to visit.

3 japanese submarines ( I-8, I-29, I-30) went there between 1942 and 1944 to bring rubber and tungstene, materials lacking in Germany.

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Long range torpedo left by the Japanese

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A Daphne class submarine which was in service in the North Atlantic at the time of the Cold War

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/7/2013 10:07:14 AM

sprior

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Nice pics. I didn't know it was open to visitors now.

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/7/2013 1:55:29 PM

tocaff

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Thanks, nice shots.

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/7/2013 6:58:37 PM

Lokasenna

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Great information and pics, thanks much!

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/7/2013 7:09:49 PM

geofflambert

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Was this used in the making of that "Raiders of the Lost Ark"?

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/8/2013 1:16:45 AM

Gunner98

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I think I remember a shot from 'Das Boot' showing the inside of a Sub pen like this.

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/8/2013 7:25:39 AM

John 3rd

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From: La Salle, Colorado
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Damn...that place is HUGE! Great pictures that really provide some scale and scope to the building.

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/8/2013 6:19:06 PM

Micke II

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In Lorient there are in fact 3 bunkers like the one shown on the pictures, each of them having 5 to 7 cells for the submarines. Construction of a 4th bunker has started in 1943 but has never been achieved. It's still possible to see the wall of this building. 1 million m3 concrete has been used to build the base. 22 000 workers of the Todt organisation, not all them volunteers, were employed during 3 years to build the 3 bunkers. Roofs are 7 to 8 m deep with special devices to avoid explosion of the bombs directly on the roof. It's explain why british bombers have never been successful to destroy this objective. The "Festung" was surrounded by a line of thousands of fortified positions some of them being casemates to host heavy marine guns between 280 to 380 mm. Thousands of flak guns were also surrounding the place
On the french cost there are still 3 other bases like this one but not so huge: Bordeaux, Brest and La Rochelle. These buildings will stay for ever, their destruction being almost impossible.

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/8/2013 6:26:10 PM

Sardaukar

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Great pics!

Now I need to watch Das Boot again.

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/8/2013 6:30:50 PM

John 3rd

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Micke II

In Lorient there are in fact 3 bunkers like the one shown on the pictures, each of them having 5 to 7 cells for the submarines. Construction of a 4th bunker has started in 1943 but has never been achieved. It's still possible to see the wall of this building. 1 million m3 concrete has been used to build the base. 22 000 workers of the Todt organisation, not all them volunteers, were employed during 3 years to build the 3 bunkers. Roofs are 7 to 8 m deep with special devices to avoid explosion of the bombs directly on the roof. It's explain why british bombers have never been successful to destroy this objective. The "Festung" was surrounded by a line of thousands of fortified positions some of them being casemates to host heavy marine guns between 280 to 380 mm. Thousands of flak guns were also surrounding the place
On the french cost there are still 3 other bases like this one but not so huge: Bordeaux, Brest and La Rochelle. These buildings will stay for ever, their destruction being almost impossible.

This area isn't my field of study so what you just wrote really amazes me!

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/8/2013 8:18:20 PM

Gunner98

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A Norwegian friend of mine told me about the attempted destruction of the sub pens in either Bergen or Trondheim (can't recall which), in the 80's. They tried explosives and only chipped the concrete while breaking half the windows around the port!

They ended up using it for a shopping mall or something. These things are well built.

B

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RE: Festung Lorient - 4/8/2013 10:17:44 PM

Cribtop

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I heard the same thing in Vienna. The big Nazi era bomb shelter sticks out like a sore thumb in the otherwise gorgeous city. They wanted to demolish it but calculated the amount of TNT required would take out several city blocks! So there it sits, to this day.

And yes, that interior shot is very reminiscent of the scene from Raiders where the U-boat docks and Indy steals the too small uniform before the final scenes of the movie.

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