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US Army Communciations Zone, Europe |
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| La Rochelle Subport (La Pallice) | ||||||||||||
 La Pallice harbor area - looking towards Quai des Máree and Mole d' Escale (French postcard) |
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 La Pallice harbor area looking towards Jeamont and the submarine pens (1950s) |
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| 1956 | ||||||||||||
| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, May 28, 1956) | ||||||||||||
| La Pallice is the busiest port in the Communications Zone. Between 18 and 20 ships disgorge 10,000 tons of general cargo a month. (General cargo can mean anything from tanks to household funishings for personnel with dependents.) The port also handles practicaly all of the private vehicles sent to and from Com Z. (In 1955, 7,782 vehicles were processed; vehicles are shipped to or from New York and Hampton Roads, Va.) The two men in charge of these operations are Maj Robert T. J. Gilroy, CO of the La Pallice Terminal Battalion, and Capt McDonald Martin, CO of the 97th Trans Co (Terminal Svc). Gilroy handles the administrative end and Martin handles the men who supervise the unloading and loading of cargo by French dockers. Both officers have their offices at the Mole d'Escale, a man-made island half-way between the La Pallice coast and the Ile de Re, in the Bay of Biscay. |
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 The Mole d'Escale (Long Pier) at La Pallice (French postcard) |
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| The Mole d'Escale was built approximately 1500 yards offshore and is connected to shore by a vehicle and railway bridge that is capable of supporting vehicles of unlimited size with two-way traffic. Most of the cargo arriving at La Pallice is discharged at the La Pallice port, but the mole is used when the traffic is heavy or when a ship is drawing more than 21 feet of water. |
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| 1960 | ||||||||||||
| (Source: NODEX-24, La Pallice/La Repentie, 28 Aug - 3 Sept 1960) | ||||||||||||
| The Port of La Pallice is situated about three miles to the west of the town of La Rochelle, France. It consists of an Avant Port (outer port) and a wet dock, connected by a lock. Numerous wrecks lie sunken and stranded in the port. A mere 750 yards from the Mole d'Escale lies one of the wrecks, the French ship Champlain. It was sunk by German mines in 1939. |
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 Quai des Máree where NODEX -23 and NODEX 24 discharge operations were held (French postcard) |
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| The Quai des Máree is located in the outer basin (avant port) of La Pallice Port. The operating quay is constructed of reinforced concrete. The quay is protected by a seawall on the exposed side to the sea and can thus also be utilized as a "safehaven" for landing craft. The surface of the quay can support crane, forklifts and trucks with no damage to the surface. (The Quai des Máree has limited usage, since it is used by the French for the discharge of oil and gasoline tankers.) Overall length of the Quai des Máree is 620 feet, |
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 US Army port operations in the avant port of La Pallice (French postcard) |
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| 1963 | ||||||||||||
| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, Aug 17, 1963) | ||||||||||||
| Army Terminal La Pallice CO of the Army Terminal at La Pallice is Maj Guy Lombardo. The Army Terminal handles an average of 16,000 tons of Army cargo a month. The administrative offices of the Army Terminal are located in a building only a few yards from dockside. |
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| Rochefort | ||||||||||||
 US Army watercraft at the port of Rochefort - in background (French postcard) |
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 US Army watercraft at the port of Rochefort (French postcard) |
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 US Army watercraft at the port of Rochefort - in background (French postcard) |
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| 1952 | ||||||||||||
| (Source: Email from Viktor Peteris) | ||||||||||||
| Enjoyed reading your collected vignettes on Com Z activities in France. My 89 EPC, engineer (port construction) company, Corps of Engineers, was stationed at Rochefort in 1952-54 in an old German submarine facility, where we lived in tents next to the Gironde River, which flooded periodically every winter. Our company, commanded by Capt. Liebert, was responsible for off-loading ships in an emergency by building pontoon docking facilities, should harbors not be available. In the meantime we built facilities for military dependents all over France. To my knowledge, the 89th EPC was an independent company with seven million worth of equipment (which in those days was a lot) including boats, tug boats, barges and various mobile heavy construction equipment of all kinds. Our infrequent inspections were conducted by Generals from Germany and I do not remember having command links to any local Corps of Engineers headquarters. (There may not have been any in France at that time). My MOS was Cartographer, assigned to Operations G-2 section. Company strength: ca. 176 men. We shared the German U-boat facility with a Signal Corps transportation company (sic), but I do not remember their unit designation. A couple years ago I had occasion to visit the area. Some U-boat repair slips are still in evidence, but the facility now is an industrial park. |
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| 1967 | ||||||||||||
| (Source: STARS & STRIPES, Jan 13, 1967) | ||||||||||||
| A flotilla of 100 US landing craft, tugs, floating cranes and other small vessels will cross the English channel to Britain this month as part of the redeployment of the US Army's stock of floating equipment. Transfer of the equipment that has been based at Rochefort and Le Pellerin to the British ports of Poole and Hythe (both on Britain's south coast) has been necessitated by the order of the French President for all NATO forces to leave French soil. The first contingent of vessels leaves next week with the remainder to be completely moved by mid-March. The vessels have been located in France in support of port operations at French ports operated by the Communications Zone since the early 1950s. Only eight US Army personnel will be transferred with the equipment to Britain. The US Army will give contracts to British civilian firms for maintenance of the craft under the supervision of the Americans. |
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| Mobile Subport (15th Transportation Battalion) | ||||||||||||
| About 8 min into the video, the above Big Picture episode from the 1950s shows some clips (c. 4 min) of a supply over the beach (NODEX operation) exercise on the western coast of France. | ||||||||||||
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