The beautiful Chateau de Pignerolle on the eastern side of Angers in central France is one of the most unlikely settings for a German bunker site, but it has one of the largest concentrations of concrete in the region.
Standing in around 80 hectares of formal gardens at Saint-Barthelemy-d’Anjou, the chateau was built in 1776 for Marcel Avril de Pignerolle, the Director of the Angers equestrian academy, and Grand Equerry to King Louis XVI. Its design would mirror the Petit Trianon at Versailles.
During the French Restoration between 1814 and 1830, the chateau became the home of local mayors of Saint-Barthelemy-d’Anjou who extended the site to include several pavilion and a stunning orangery.
Years of ownership by noble families followed until in 1939, following the fall of Poland in September, it became requisitioned by the French State to become the home of the Polish President Wasdyslaw Raczkiewicz and his Government in Exile. For a short period, Pignerolle was classed as the capital of Poland.
It would also be the home of Polish cryptologists who would work with British and French counterparts in cracking the Enigma codes.
When France was occupied by German forces in May and June 1940, the Polish personnel were evacuated to England and on June 19 Chateau de Pignerolle was captured.
Initially it was used as a relaxation retreat and training camp for Kriegsmarine submariners and officials, but in March 1942, following the British commando raid on the lock and U-Boat base at Saint-Nazaire, a major building project was ordered for Pignerolle.
Fearing further attacks, Kriegsmarine commander Grand Admiral Erich Raeder moved his command centre from the U-Boat base at Lorient in Brittany further inland to Pignerolle, suspecting it was too far inland for any similar raids.
Building work began in April 1942 and by May 1943 a giant headquarters bunker – the size of three usual HQ bunkers - had been built along with 10 other concrete bunkers and 30 barracks for troops and communications staff. It stands behind the chateau’s orangery building.
From July 1942 it would be the headquarters of Hans-Rudolf Rosing, appointed as Fuhrer der Unterseeboote West, who would control the U-Boat flotillas based at the western France sites of Brest, Lorient, Saint-Nazaire, La Pallice, and Bordeaux.
It would continue to host high-ranking officials with Italian and Japanese submarine crews visiting, along with supreme U-Boat Commander Karl Donitz who made several stays at Pignerolle during 1943.
During interviews, Donitz claimed he had never visited the site, but there are several pictures of him and his men standing on the eastern steps of the chateau!
The main command bunker – which can still be seen today – measures 56m long by 34m wide and has a footprint of over 1,500 square metres. It was linked by a 130m long underground tunnel to the main chateau where there are two concrete strengthened rooms inside the historic building.
This ‘Admiral’ bunker was to become one of the most important in the battle of the Atlantic, its 16 large, rooftop aerials transmitting and receiving Enigma-coded messages from U-Boats and routing orders directly from Berlin to the submarines.
Following the Normandy landings in June 1944 and the battle for northern France, German forces abandoned the chateau and bunkers on August 4, 1944, and relocated their HQ to Bergen in Norway, but not before attempting to destroy the main command bunker.
Angers was liberated by US forces on August 9, 1944, and Chateau de Pignerolle’s wooden barracks served as an accommodation site and repatriation site for US troops before becoming housing for displaced civilians.
In 1964, during the Cold War, the command bunker was used by the French government as a shelter for President Charles de Gaulle in case of nuclear attack before, in 1971, being returned to the city of Angers. The bunker was never made to be nuclear bomb proof, however!
A restoration programme spanning nearly two decades followed and the site became a public museum and park before closing again in 2015. The main chateau is still closed to the public, but the rest of the park can be explored – and there are lots to see!
Walking through the woodland surrounding the park brings you to a series of SonderKonstruction (SK) bunkers – four of which are rare two storey buildings which stand above ground – unusual for buildings of this scale.
You can visit bespoke buildings which were used as a hospital, for communications, and as personnel shelters, with one of the latter also featuring an anti-aircraft position on top.
Also within the park grounds are defensive gun bunkers – two R504 types, R502 and R621 group personnel shelters, an area where aerials were positioned for receiving coded messages, and a swimming pool – also used for water in case of fire.
A two storey concrete barracks building also remains, although this can easily be missed next to the old stables buildings as it’s completed covered by the leaves of climbing plants during summer. It’s still in use by the park maintenance teams.
Inside the bunkers there are many original features which remain – including artwork, filter system pipework, electrical cabling, and many of the heavy steel gas doors. We can highly recommend visiting on a day when the bunkers are opened to the public for guided tours!
Surrounding the site were a network of defensive Tobruks – an estimated 12 were built but all have long since disappeared, and six locations for anti-aircraft guns. The only evidence of one of the Tobruks today is a slight raised area on the large lawn outside the chateau’s ornate gates, near to the children’s play area.
On the other side of the path to the Tobruk is a large, sculptured mound which conceals a R504 anti-tank gun and group shelter where a 7.5cm field gun was located to give the site protection from land-based attackers.
Incredibly, this was a site which was never bombed by Allied forces as it was left to continue its sending and receiving of Enigma messages, many of which were being intercepted and deciphered by the Bletchley Park codebreakers. This vital source of information meant the bombers stayed away, and ensured the site remained in a preserved state today.
There are a hardworking group of dedicated volunteers who care for the site, and, for a small donation, you can arrange a visit inside many of the remaining bunkers, buildings, and see the entrance to underground tunnel.
We are deeply indebted to our amazing guide and Association du Memorial des Bunkers de Pignerolle Secretary Guilliame who was able to give us the full tour, including access to places normally off limits to the public. Look out for a full walkaround film on our NormandyBunkers YouTube channel.
More information at https://memorial-bunkers-pignerolle.org

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