Flak La Hode, Saint-Vigor-d´Ymonville

When I visited this site in October 2022, all I knew is that there were two SK/Flak bunkers. Why!, why would you put two flak bunkers out on a flat marsh between the River Seine and the Canal de Tancarville. The visit was very interesting, we had to walk up a very straight road and at the end was a railway station. Another WHY!. The building of French government design like so many, built in red brick and concrete name plate. We walked the bunkers, I tried to get inside one, but alas age and probably other complications, I found it rather hard to crawl through brambles and in through a small square hole, the escape hatch for the bunker. So that was a disappointment, more practice needed and more weight to lose. Also another feature was a continuation of the road running right out to the bank of the Seine and both sides of it, a very ornate and heavy set of iron railings. More why's! again. So it was time to come home and add all this information to the website. I started laying out my photos in an order, designing the page and then start to look at the name on the station building. BAC DU HODE. A quick Internet translation - "Hode tray". Hmmm that tells me very little. Then a deeper search and it comes up with, BAC means Ferry. Ferry du Hode. Then another Internet search and we find: At the end of the 1920s, the Basse-Seine ferry association demanded the creation of a ferry downstream from Tancarville, between Le Hode and Berville-sur-Mer. So not a station but a ferry ticket office. Also lots of pictures and then going onto IGN Remont Le Temps air photos of what it looked like before and after the war. I find pictures that show the ticket office and the flak bunkers were actually on the bank of the Seine and a long pier runs out into deep water to allow a ferry to dock in all tides. Now I am getting somewhere. It was in service from 1932 to 1944. The German army needed anti aircraft defence of the ferry crossing and this is why the two flak bunkers were placed here. By the 25th August 1944 Berville-sur-Mer was captured by the Allies (south bank). The Germans retreating from the hell of Normandy in August used every means available to get across the Seine and Hode was an obvious choice. That was closed off and then there were no more ferries for four years. In 1946 the old ferry was located and overhauled (this must have taken three years to accomplish) at the Chantiers de Normandie and re used from 1949 to 1959. In 1959 the Tancarville Bridge was opened and so the ferry stopped again for the last time and was sold to the Rouen Yacht Touring-club. The ferry served as a pontoon for more than ten years at the foot of the Boieldieu bridge, left bank quay.

 

The road to the Seine

The first picture taken in 1936 shows the site of the ticket office and the full pier.

Bac Du Hode, I imagined at the time of our visit that this maybe a railway station of some kind. But in fact it was the ticket office to a river crossing ferry. The Hode ferry, strategic site of the Second World War The Hode ferry still occupies a strong place in the memory of the people of Le Havre Last crossing of the Seine before the mouth, the Hode ferry was a strategic link between the two banks of the Seine, especially during the Second World War: Last escape route taken in extremis by Le Havre during the bombardment of the city in June 1940, it was then a point of passage and access to the right bank heavily defended by the Germans until the liberation, as still testified two blockhouses once equipped with anti-aircraft guns.

At the end of the 1920s, the Basse-Seine ferry association demanded the creation of a ferry downstream from Tancarville, between Le Hode and Berville-sur-Mer. It will be in service in service from 1932 to 1944 and from 1949 to 1959. In 1946, the old ferry was re-floated to be overhauled at the Chantiers de Normandie. An impressive metal bridge led vehicles from the right bank to the ferry. Condemned by the Tancarville bridge. Sold to the Rouen Yacht Touring-club, the ferry served as a pontoon for more than ten years at the foot of the Boieldieu bridge, left bank quay. The road and the pedestrian shelter have survived. Roger Soulieux, specialist in this historical period and the Maison de l'Estuaire invite you to immerse yourself in the history of this ferry during a walk along the old boom, nestled in the heart of the nature reserve.

The two SK Flak bunkers. These two could give good cover to the ferry, probably 7.5cm French AA guns.

Bunker 1.

Bunker 1. SK - Sonderkonstruktionen, special construction and not to any related plan. These may have been built prior to the 1942 Atlantikwall types of Flak bunkers. This ferry crossing would have to have been defended early on in the war and these two bunkers may have been built in 1941/42?

Bunker 1. Escape.

Bunker 1. The escape from inside, pictures taken by Kurt not me.

Bunker 1. Inside just one room and an entrance now blocked up.

Bunker 1. Plans of the SK/Flak bunker.

Bunker 1. The access from the bunker to the gun position. Steel ladders were used and set into the concrete.

Bunker 1. The guns platform with ready ammunition niches all around.

Bunker 1.

Bunker 1. Ring bolts to hold the gun down.

Bunker 2.

Bunker 2. This one may have had the protective wall broken away, possibly a start to trying to remove it and found it was too difficult.

Bunker 2. The escape.

Bunker 2. The guns mounting ring or hold fast.

Bunker 2.

Bunker 2. Close up of the bolt ring.

Bunker 2. The entrance into the bunker from above.

Hunting prohibited but you can shoot the signs.

The Pier out to the ferry.

Pier head with Berville-sur-Mer at the top of the picture.

The pier head.

The Ferry.

Important notice take your ticket before passing this barrier otherwise you will pay double price!! What starts with a walk to two bunkers, ends in a history lesson on Seine ferries.