Royan – Bombing – Photo Album – 1945

Historical document – Photo album commemorating the 1st anniversary of the bombing of Royan (Charente-Maritime) which took place on January 5, 1945.

Album including approximately 50 photos.
Dimensions of the photos: 17.5cm x 22.5cm
Dimensions of the album: 27.5cm x 30cm
Good general condition, one photo missing.
The album is composed of three parts. The first brings together prints and reprints of views of Royan from the 1930s (before the war). The second offers views of the city of Royan after the bombing. Finally, a third part, at the end of the album, brings together some images of the first ceremony of January 5, 1946 commemorating the bombing.

A martyred city, Royan was annihilated by several waves of bombing during the winter and spring of 1945. While the Normandy landings were already six months old and the Allied troops were advancing towards Germany, pockets of German resistance found themselves cut off from the front and regrouped in a few towns on the Atlantic coast. In Royan, a series of disagreements and poor preparation led the Allied general staff to authorize a first bombing on the night of January 4 to 5, 1945. This, without any strategic stakes, would cause more than 400 deaths among the civilian population and raze 80% of the seaside town. Around forty German soldiers would also fall victim to this night of fire while their fortifications remained almost intact.
The German pocket of Royan therefore resisted and a second air, land and sea operation was put in place. implemented from April 14, 1945, 3 weeks before the surrender of the Reich. On that day, the American air force dropped 3,200 tons of explosive bombs and 725,000 liters of napalm on Royan and its region, with the sole aim of testing this new weapon "full-scale".
This last episode, in which the young Howard Zinn, a crew member of one of the Air Force bombers, participated, would deeply upset him and would be at the origin of his vocation as a historian and his political commitment.

References:
C-Royan website: https://c-royan.com/fr/s-1/67/1/1/le-bombardement-de-royan-5-janvier-1945
Royan city website: https://www.royanatlantique.fr/explorer/patrimoine-et-culture/au-coeur-de-notre-histoire/bombardements-de-royan/