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by the start of 1942, the base was home to more than 5,000
German personnel and 4,300 French staff.
Construction on the first bunker, K1 (“K” stands for “Kero-
man”), began in Februar y 1941, three months before K2’s founda-
tion stone was laid. Each bunker took seven months to complete,
loomed 59 feet high, measured 374 feet in length, and had a
12-foot-thick roof. At 453 feet, K2 was wider than K1 because it
had seven pens (to K1’s five), as well as a barracks for 1,000 personnel and a
garage. Larger than both was K3, the last of the three bunkers to be built.
Standing in front of K3, I gaze in wonderment at its intimidating size. K 3
measures 550 feet in length and 465 feet across, with a f loor area of 258,333
square feet. Its concrete roof is 25 feet thick, twice that of the roofs of bunkers
K1 and K2. This increase in size was a response to the growing power of Allied
bombs. On August 6, 1944, the R AF dropped a 12,000-pound “Tallboy” bomb
on K3; the bunker withstood the blast.
To get another view of the three bunkers, I walk half a mile across the mouth
of the Ter River along the picturesque coastal path that links the Keroman
Peninsula to the Kernevel Peninsula. The route takes me inland for a few hun-
dred yards, skirting a wooded nature reserve, and then curves around and
heads back toward the ocean. Couples are sitting on the
grassy banks of the river enjoying the sun as I head to the
tip of the Kernevel Peninsula. Here stands the elegant
Kérillon Villa, constructed in Renaissance style in 1899.
It was in this villa that Admiral Dönitz established his
staff headquarters in November 1940. (“Ker” is the
Breton word for “place.” For centuries Brittany was an
independent kingdom, only unifying with France in
1532, and its people remain fiercely proud of their Celtic
language and culture.)
The entire complex, called “La Base,” sprawls over 50
acres and encompasses the bunkers, the marina, three
restaurants, two museums, and what’s known as “Sailing
City,” an indoor ocean venture where visitors learn
about Lorient’s proud history of competitive sailing. The
development is testament to the ingenuity of the towncouncil, which was devastated when
the French Ministry of Defense
abandoned Lorient as a military
submarine base in 1997. The closure
could have had a ruinous effect on the
local economy, but 22 years later La
Base is a vibrant and diverse hub,
drawing tourists, businesses (which
have installed offices inside the bun-
kers), and professional sailing teams.
The international f lavor of La Base
is evident in the fact that the staff inTO
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K3 bunker’s
25-foot-thick
concrete roof
protected its
seven wet pens
for the duration
of the war.