Saint Malo: One of the forts overlooking the city, thick concrete blockhouses and gun emplacements. The Germans here were under a tough bombardment from the Americans as can be seen from damage to one of the pill boxes, must have been tough inside, several holes and one shell stuck in the metal. The Americans succeeded in taking the fort and set up their own artillery there. Saint Malo was virtually undamaged until August 1944 apart from the Cathedral spire that was shelled by a German minesweeper and fell into roof, the German military commander Colonel von Auloch tore a strip off the local naval captain saying how did expect the local people to respect the German forces. The Americans surrounded the city and were anxious to capture the harbour, however their military “intelligence” estimated that the number of Germans inside the walled city was around 10,000 , two local people escaped through the city walls and made contact with the Americans they told them that there was only two AA batteries manned by 100 soldiers. Of course the Americans believed their own intelligence and decided to bombard the city into submission which they promptly did beginning with a incendiary bombing run which set the place on fire. Two thirds of the houses in the city were destroyed mostly medieval and from the 17th century. Typical yanks, forget the historical significance and destroy it with bad intelligence. Sounds familiar……… After 14 days the German commander Colonel von Auloch finally surrendered and emerged from his underground bunker to a devastated town, after the war he was so appalled at the damage he spent time and money on restoring the town and became best friends with the mayor. The town was completely rebuilt in the style that had been destroyed.
