These photos capture the gnarled remains of a Nazi turret peppered in an Allied Forces attack during the Second World War. Incredibly, there is still a shell lodged in its armour almost 80 years after Adolf Hitler used the coastal town of St Malo it to defend Nazi-occupied France from attack on the Atlantic coast. During intense fighting between August and September , the historic walled city was almost totally destroyed by American shelling as well as British naval gunfire.
The jagged holes and fist-sized dents which pockmark the turret act as a very real reminder of the US aerial and naval bombardment which finally forced the Nazis to surrender the coast that year Such was the damage that it took 12 years - from to - to fully rebuild. St Malo became vital to Germany's defence along the Atlantic coast after it successfully occupied France in June Stunning photos capture the gnarled remains of a Nazi turret peppered in a British attack during the Second World War.
Incredibly, there is still a shell lodged in its armour almost 80 years after Adolf Hitler invaded and conquered France in Until an Allied Forces bombardment which forced the Nazis to surrender, Hitler used the coastal town of St Malo pictured in to defend Nazi-occupied France from attack on the Atlantic coast. The jagged holes and fist-sized dents which pockmark the turret act as a very real reminder of the US aerial and naval bombardment.
Two years after Nazi soldiers marched through the Arc de Triomphe following the surrender of Paris, Hitler ordered the construction of defensive fortresses from Norway to the French coast. The dictator wanted his Atlantic Wall' to consist of 15, bombproof concrete structures guarded by , soldiers within just 14 months, according to WWII expert and writer Kathryn Lang-Slattery. Although much of his demands lay unfinished, by June Fortress St Malo was said to be one of the best defended installations along the Atlantic coast.
Brutal aerial and naval bombardment of the Nazi stronghold softened its defences enough for a ground assault until Colonel von Aulock, the commander of Fortress St Malo, finally surrendered on August The streets of St Malo pictured lay in ruins in , just four years after Nazi soldiers marched through the Arc de Triomphe following the surrender of Paris. Hitler wanted his Atlantic Wall', of which St Malo was one of the best defended, to consist of 15, bombproof concrete structures guarded by , soldiers within 14 months of France's surrender.
