Standing on a rocky outcrop overlooking the River Seine around 60km north west of Paris, is the beautiful village, castle, and chateau of La Roche-Guyon.
The castle was built in the 12th century to protect and control the river crossing which led from the French capital to Normandy and even today stands as a dominating building on the skyline over the river.
In the 13th Century a fortified manor house was built in the castle’s grounds at the base of the high cliff.
It was originally the home of Guy de la Roche who was killed by the English at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Over the next 200-plus years the castle and chateau changed hands between noble families and has been extended, and restored, on many occasions.
Today the chateau is owned by the La Rochefoucauld family, who acquired it in 1669, and is a popular tourist attraction – just a stone’s throw from Claude Monet’s House and Gardens at Giverny too – and features some amazing rooms and stunning gardens.
During the Second World War the chateau was taken over by occupying German forces and became the headquarters of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel and his staff.
Following D-Day on June 6, 1944, it was from here that he began orchestrating Germany’s ultimately unsuccessful response to the Allied landings.
There is little evidence of the occupation of the chateau, but a few tell-tale signs can be found when you venture below the chateau in into a series of tunnels excavated into the cliff. Armoured steel doors at entrances to the tunnel system, along with signature poured concrete anti-blast walls can be found here as the extensive underground complex would have acted as an air-raid shelter from Allied attacks.
On July 25, 1944, the Allied mounted a bold attempt to kill or capture Rommel while at La Roche-Guyon, known as Operation Gaff.
Six Special Air Service soldiers parachuted into the area, led by French SAS Captain Jack Lee.
Lee was also known as Raymond Couraud and was a veteran of the Operation Chariot raid on Saint-Nazaire in 1942.
Ultimately, Operation Gaff was a failure as three days after landing near Orleans the soldiers learned that Rommel had been injured in an attack on his car by RAF aircraft a week before and wasn’t at the chateau.
The six men made their way back north towards Allied lines, causing mayhem and disruption along the way.
Rommel was replaced by Field Marshall Gunther von Kluge who continued to use La Roche-Guyon as a headquarters until his death on August 19, 1944.

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