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German air raid on Rennes (1940)

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Coordinates: 48°06′26″N 01°38′15″W / 48.10722°N 1.63750°W / 48.10722; -1.63750
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German air raid on Rennes (1940)
Part of the Battle of France and World War II

View of Rennes marshalling yard after the attack
Date17 June 1940
Location
Rennes, France
48°06′26″N 01°38′15″W / 48.10722°N 1.63750°W / 48.10722; -1.63750
Result German victory
Belligerents
 Germany  France
 United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Alois Lindmayr Camille Bazoche
Antoine Béthouart
J. B. H. Doyle
Units involved
7KG/76 212th artillery regiment
203rd artillery regiment
222nd artillery regiment
64th artillery regiment
Royal Engineers
Casualties and losses
1 bomber damaged

Official account: 805 killed

  • 591 French soldiers
  • 175 British soldiers
  • 39 civilians

Other sources:

  • 1500 to 2000 killed

On 17 June 1940, during the latest stages of the Battle of France, the Luftwaffe launched an air raid on Rennes. The airstrike targeted Rennes’ marshalling yard, congested at the time by troop-transport trains and others carrying refugees from northern France. The explosion of two trains carrying ammunition and high explosives unleashed havoc throughout the railway station and the city, killing between 800 and 2000 people among civilians and Allied military personnel.

Background

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The stunning advance of the German Army through central France in June 1940 prompted the French government of Paul Reynaud to planning a last-ditch resistance in Brittany, in the hope of establishing a stronghold to stop the German onslaught and eventually mount a counteroffensive. The seat of government would be at Quimper. Charles De Gaulle, then sub-Secretary of State for the National Defense, paid a visit to Brittany on 12 June to assess the feasibility of the project, but concluded that the influx of refugees on roads and railways would have make logistics untenable. He was still favorable to the Quimper option, given the accessibility of this city to the sea, but at the end the choice of Reynaud was Bordeaux.[1][2] Reynaud resigned on 16 June, and a government led by Philippe Pétain was appointed by President Albert Lebrun.[3]

The remnants of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), meanwhile, was in full retreat toward the ports of Brest, Cherbourg, Saint Nazaire and La Pallice.[4] By mid-June 1940, the train station of Rennes, an important railway hub, was crowded with wagons carrying refugees, French troops returning from Dunkirk via Britain and British troops attempting to reach the Atlantic coast. On the marshalling yard there were a refugee train from Paris and Lisieux, a train with two French heavy artillery regiments (201 and 203) composed of recruits from Paris and Alsace, a train with another heavy artillery regiment (the 222), and another with British troops, most of them Royal Engineers,[5] who had established a base at Rennes in late 1939.[6] At the time of the bombing, the Royal Engineers in France were part of the Beauman Division and were led by Lieutenant-Colonel J. B. H. Doyle.[1] Other sources include elements of the 64th heavy artillery regiment, made of recruits from southern France.[7] The massive flow of refugees and troops produced a bottleneck at the marshalling yard, leading to significant delays.[2] Some of the French artillery units had been active in Flanders, and had to be evacuated from Dunkirk. At least one of the regiments had been fighting in Narvik,[8] under the command of General Antoine Béthouart.[9] According to an eyewitness, the British troops were on a large stationary convoy on the Saint Malo – Rennes railroad, overcrowded and thirsty in the heat of summer.[10] On 16 June a German reconnaissance plane overflew the train station and was met by the antiaircraft artillery[8] which was withdrawn from Rennes the same day.[5]

Air strike

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The Luftwaffe’s 7Kampfgeschwader 76 bomber wing (7K/76), led by Flight Lieutenant Alois Lindmayr[11] had been at the time supporting the German offensives on Aumale and Amiens.[12] The unit was deployed to an airfield at Cormeilles-en-Vexin, 300 km east of Rennes.[13]

On 17 June 1940, a package of five Do-17 bombers from 7K/76 were awaiting orders at the airstrip amid poor weather. As soon as the skies cleared, and with the threat of Allied fighters looming, the squadron took off rapidly.[13] The Do-17s initially approached Rennes from the west, reached the western environs of the city and then turned back eastward to perform a low-level bombing run.[8] Some French civilians greeted the planes in the belief that they belonged to the Armee de L'air.[13]

At 10 am o’clock, the aircraft dropped dozens of 55 kg bombs along the railroad on three different spots, simultaneously straffing anything that moved.[8] Two wagons, one carrying 12 tons[14] of artillery rounds and another carrying high explosives (melinita and cheddite) were hit.[2][9] The majority of the bombs fell on the plain of Baud, an industrial area that included the marshalling yard, and Saint Hélier, where the melinite train was parked.[14] Both the high explosive and the ammunition train blew out in a huge conflagration.[2] The blast of the ammunition train left a crater 80 m long, 20 m wide and 5 m deep. Entire wagons, live artillery rounds and debris fell as far as 300 m away.[5] The explosions continued for the next 24 hours,[9] while the fires lasted for several days.[5] More than 22 km of railroad were destroyed, as well as 1000 railway cars.[15] The German report put the number of wagons destroyed at 500. They also acknowledged that one of the bombers sustained damage from flying debris.[13]

Most of the town’s population left the town for nearby villages by evening. In spite of the orders of the military commander in Rennes, General Camille Bazoche,[16] firefighters, railway workers and other volunteers risked their own lives in order to rescue injured people.[5] The death toll was substantial; 591 French soldiers, 175 British military personnel, 31 civilians and 8 people whose bodies were incinerated by the blasts, a total of 805 dead.[5] Other accounts record from 1500 up to 2000 fatalities.[8]

The Germans conducted a reconnaissance flight a couple of hours after the strike. They reported a plume of smoke between 200 and 300 meters high and that intermittent explosions could be seen from 30 km away. Although the German report claims the bombing mission was intended to destroy the railway station, it appears to have been an opportunistic attack. In fact, Lindmayr, the squadron leader, admitted that the bombing was a "stroke of luck".[13]

Aftermath

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Just two hours after the air raid on the train station, Petain publicy requested an armistice to Germany[3] and on 18 June, German troops occupied Rennes without resistance.[17] The recovery of bodies at the shattered railway station continued for a full week, notwithstanding the German occupation. The victims were buried in mass graves at Saint Helier, plain of Baud, and at Bray and Cesson Sévigne. Doctor René Patay obtained permission from the German authorities for the exhumation and transfer of the bodies to the Eastern Cemetery at Rennes.[5]

The railway was out of service until the end of June. More than 500 workers were involved in the cleaning operation and repairs; the reconstruction works lasted until 31 July 1940.[15] Had it not been for the shock of the defeat, the bombing of Rennes marshalling yard would have been one of the most painful injuries of the war in France.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Karslake, Basil (1979). 1940 - the last act: the story of the British forces in France after Dunkirk. London: Cooper. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-85052-240-2.
  2. ^ a b c d Deunf, Catherine (2020-06-17). "Rennes : le 17 juin 1940, le bombardement de la gare ouvre les portes de la Bretagne aux troupes allemandes". France 3 Bretagne (in French). Retrieved 2025-03-29.
  3. ^ a b Lacouture, Jean (1991). De Gaulle: The Rebel 1890–1944. London: W W Norton & Co. pp. 2004–205. ISBN 978-0393026993.
  4. ^ Ellis, Major L.F. (1954). The War in France and Flanders 1939-1940 (2004 ed.). pp. 302–305. ISBN 978-1-84574-056-6.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "BBC - WW2 People's War - Rennes, Brittany, France, Monday 17th June 1940. Luftwaffe attack on trains". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  6. ^ "The British Army in France 1939-40". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2025-04-01.
  7. ^ Collet, Jean-Christophe (2024-08-20). "Le Bombardament de Rennes du 17 juin 1940 : La Tragédie des Artilleurs du Midi - Rennes Infos Autrement" (in French). Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  8. ^ a b c d e Merchet, Jean Dominique (18 June 2010). "Les explosions en gare de Rennes font 2 000 victimes". Libération (in French). Retrieved 31 March 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Beaujuge, Ives (6 August 2019). "17 juin 1940, tragédie à Rennes à la plaine de Baud". www.lelancastria.com (in French). Retrieved 2025-04-01.
  10. ^ Interview with Ouest-.France, Rennes, 1 June 2010 (in French).
  11. ^ "Lindmayr, Alois - TracesOfWar.com". www.tracesofwar.com. Retrieved 2025-04-05.
  12. ^ de Zeng, Henry; Stankey, Douglas; Creek, Eddie (2008). Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933-1945; A Reference Source Volume 2. Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-903223-87-1.
  13. ^ a b c d e Hinze, Georg (28 June 1940). "Da befahl der Hauptmann "Tiefangriff"". Der Oberschlesische Wanderer (in German). p. 3.
  14. ^ a b Dr. René Patay, Mémoires d’un Français moyen, Bruz, p. 123, 1974 (in French).
  15. ^ a b Ouest-Éclair, 29 August 1940, p.3 (in French).
  16. ^ "Général Bazoche". atf40.1fr1.net (in French). Retrieved 2025-04-05.
  17. ^ Simon, Pascal (19 June 2020). "Juin 1940. « À Rennes, il n'y a pas eu d'action héroïque comme à Saumur »". ouest-france.fr (in French).
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