| Fort Montbarey | |
|---|---|
| Brittany in France | |
 Fort Montbarey : the interior | |
  Fort Montbarey | |
| Coordinates | 48°22′41″N4°32′54″W / 48.378167°N 4.548211°W |
| Type | Fort |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1784 |
The Fort Montbarey is a fortified stronghold, built between 1777 and 1784, to the west of Brest. The fort is similar to the related Questel Fort.
This stronghold, built because Louis XVI of France wanted to make Brest impregnable, was the most important link in the defense of the city's west side, designed for 500-600 soldiers.
This fort was used by the Germans in 1944, who installed a parachute battalion during the siege of Brest by the Americans. After many assaults and heavy use of tanks and flamethrowers, the garrison surrendered on 16 September 1944.
Rebuilt after World War II, during the Cold War Fort Montbarey hosted the DCA (Defense Against Aircraft) command center of the port of Brest and had in its yard two large bunkers. It also had, at this time, a search radar for aircraft. These facilities were decommissioned in the late 1960s.
In 1984 Fort Montbarey was developed by the Navy into a museum on the history of Finistère during the Second World War, featuring the Resistance effort. An exhibition on "Brest in ruins" is also presented, as well as a "wagon of death" used in the Holocaust [ citation needed ] and many American vehicles and parts from the DCA (Defence Against Aviation) era, and a British Churchill tank. The museum also manages over 10,000 files and documents on the Resistance, and records on soldiers and victims of the Second World War. It annually hosts more than 10,000 visitors.
The fort is one of a series of strongholds that surround Brest, including Questel Fort.
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Brest is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of a peninsula and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second largest French military port after Toulon. The city is located on the western edge of continental France. With 139,456 inhabitants (2020), Brest forms Western Brittany's largest metropolitan area, ranking third behind only Nantes and Rennes in the whole of historic Brittany, and the 25th most populous city in France (2019); moreover, Brest provides services to the one million inhabitants of Western Brittany. Although Brest is by far the largest city in Finistère, the préfecture of the department is in the much smaller town of Quimper.
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The South African National Museum of Military History in Johannesburg was officially opened by Prime Minister Jan Smuts on 29 August 1947 to preserve the history of South Africa's involvement in the Second World War. In 1975, the museum was renamed from the South African National War Museum and its function changed to include all conflicts that South Africa has been involved in. In 1999 it was amalgamated with the Pretoria-based Transvaal Museum and National Cultural History Museum to form the Northern Flagship Institution. In April 2010 Ditsong was officially renamed Ditsong Museums of South Africa and the SANMMH was renamed the Ditsong National Museum of Military History.
The Fort de Bertheaume is a fort in Plougonvelin, in the Department of Finistère, France. It is located on a tidal island that nowadays connects to the mainland via a footbridge. The fort sits well above sea level, and its steep cliffs have rendered it easily defended for centuries. Since the 17th century, the fort's role has been to monitor the Goulet de Brest, the straits of Brest.
The International Museum of World War II was a nonprofit museum devoted to World War II located in Natick, Massachusetts, a few miles west of Boston. It was formed over a period of more than 50 years by its founder, Kenneth W. Rendell, one of the world's premier dealers in autographs, letters and manuscripts, who has earned international renown as an authenticator of historic artifacts. The museum's collections documented the events of the war, from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I to the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crimes trials. The museum's goal was to preserve the reality of the history of World War II and to provide an educational experience of the lessons to be learned. In 2016, the Museum of World War II became The International Museum of World War II to reflect its being the only museum in the world with an international collection of letters, documents, and artifacts.
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The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Brest, France.
The Battle of Saint-Malo was fought between Allied and German forces to control the French coastal town of Saint-Malo during World War II. The battle formed part of the Allied breakout across France and took place between 4 August and 2 September 1944. United States Army units, with the support of Free French and British forces, successfully assaulted the town and defeated its German defenders. The German garrison on a nearby island continued to resist until 2 September.
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The liberation of Rennes, along with its surrounding settlements, took place on 4 August 1944 by the joint action of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) and the 8th Infantry Division of the United States Army led by General Georges S. Patton, ending four years of capture of the city by the Nazi Germans as part of the liberation of Brittany.
| Authority control databases: Geographic |
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