Le Croisic (; br, Ar Groazig; french: label=

Gallo Gallo may refer to: *Related to Gaul: ** Gallo-Roman culture **Gallo language, a regional language of France **Gallo-Romance, a branch of Romance languages **Gallo-Italic or Gallo-Italian language, a branch spoken in Northern Italy of the Romance ...

, Le Croèzic) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, western France. It is part of the

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...

History

The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

established a naval air station on 27 November 1917 to operate

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

s during World War I. The base closed shortly after the

First Armistice at Compiègne The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...

. The writer and historian

Auguste Lorieux Auguste Julien Marie Lorieux, (14 December 1796 – 27 July 1842) was a 19th-century French writer and jurisdiction consultant. Biography Auguste was the son of Bonaventure Ambroise Lorieux, lord of Mainguisserie, representative of Saint-Nazai ...

(1796–1842) was born in Le Croisic. During World War II, Le Croisic was home to a radar station for the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

following the surrender of France and construction of the U-boat submarine pens at Saint-Nazaire, in order to protect the Loire estuary from enemy attack due to the Normandie dry dock at Saint-Nazaire that could be used to repair the large

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

battleships such as the and its sister ship, . However, in the March 1942

St Nazaire Raid The St Nazaire Raid or Operation Chariot was a British amphibious attack on the heavily defended Normandie dry dock at St Nazaire in German-occupied France during the Second World War. The operation was undertaken by the Royal Navy (RN) a ...

, a British Commando team on the obsolete and several motor launch boats were able to slip by the Le Croisic radar station and ram ''Campbeltown'' into the Normandie dry dock gate, before sabotaging other vital parts to the dry dock. Delayed action explosives on ''Campbeltown'' went off several hours after the night raid, destroying the dry dock gate and putting it out of commission until after WWII was over, with France liberated and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

having surrendered to the Allied Powers/

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Legend

In a medieval French legend recounted during the funeral of

Anne of Brittany Anne of Brittany (; 25/26 January 1477 – 9 January 1514) was reigning Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and Queen of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She is the only woman to have been queen consort of France ...

in 1514, Le Croisic was the scene of a story which explained the origin of the use of ermine in heraldry. In the story, Anne's supposed ancestor

Innogen Innogen is a character in the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' and subsequent medieval British pseudo-history. She was said to have been a Greek princess, the daughter of King Pandrasus, and to have become Britain's first Queen consort as the wife ...

, the daughter of Greek king

Pandrasus Pandrasus is the fictional king of Greece and father of Innogen in Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-history ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' (). Story In the ''Historia Regum Britanniae'', Pandrasus is king of the Greeks, and holds the Trojan descen ...

and wife of

Brutus of Troy Brutus, also called Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British history as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the ''Historia Brittonum'', an anonymous ...

from

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...

's pseudo-history ''

Historia Regum Britanniae ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...

'' (), was attending a hunt at Le Croisic, when a

stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine, Beringian ermine and ermine, is a mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern portions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Conc ...

being pursued by Brutus' dogs took refuge with her. Innogen saved and fed it, and adopted it for ().

Population

References

Communes of Loire-Atlantique {{LoireAtlantique-geo-stub

History

Legend

Population

See also

References