Submarine base
Following the occupation of the Atlantic seaboard in June 1940, the Germans built submarine bases all along it. In order to protect them, they constructed huge concrete structures at Brest, Saint-Nazaire, Lorient, La Pallice, and Bordeaux.
In September 1940 the first Axis submarines began to arrive. One year later, the Germans decided to build a U-Bunker. The building-site was placed under the command of the Oberbauleitung of Bordeaux which was led by Andreas Wagner. The project required a considerable workforce which was provided by nearly 6,500 foreign workers (from Spain, Belgium, Italy…).
After its completion, the building had eleven pods, of which seven were drainable and could host as many as 15 large submarines at one time. It was 257 yards long, nearly 175 yards wide, 62 feet high on average giving it a surface area of nearly 45,000 square yards. Inside this enormous edifice, there were electricity generators, a maintenance area, offices, shops and workshops. A railway line ran the entire length of the building in a purpose built corridor. The total amount of concrete used came to nearly 656,000 cubic yards. Until 1944, more than 40 submarines either set sail or landed at the base.
On the August 25th 1944, just before Bordeaux’s liberation, the installation was dynamited in its entirety including gates, materials, machines and all the submarines which were currently not in service were sabotaged. After the War, the building belonged to the French Navy who gave it to the Port Authority of Bordeaux.
Nowadays the building has found a new vocation after being converted into a cultural facility by the Municipality of Bordeaux. It is now home to exhibitions, festivals as well as the performing arts.