Occupation of unoccupied zone - France

Discussion in 'NW Europe' started by Robert-w, May 29, 2020.

  1. Excellent Itdan! Note that the caption actually says Toulouse, not Toulon. The other photo which you posted (the third one to have been shot at the same location) is captioned "Paris" this time (row 3, 1st pic in your linked search page).
     
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  2. Gary Tankard

    Gary Tankard Well-Known Member

    The above should of course read Panzer Regiment 7.
     
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  3. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    Last edited: May 30, 2020
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  4. I believe I got the location for photos 1 & 4 (and the third one found by Itdan):

    I started by looking up the name of the Café ("Café des Pyrénées", repeated on the large rectangular sign on the balustrade) together with the assumed street name "rue Montplaisir" partly visible on the other signs, but could not find a match which contained both.

    I then searched for only "rue Montplaisir" in a number of towns or cities which 7. PzD might have gone through during its move to Marseille/Toulon (as pposted by various members in this thread), and found quite a few, but none of them seemed to match the photos.

    Finally, I looked for "Café des Pyrénées" only, and found one page which mentioned this name in Narbonne during the August 1944 German withdrawal from Southwest France:

    - Quote -
    Voici, dans l'ordre chronologique, les événements qui précédèrent la libération de Narbonne, tels que je peux les exposer en utilisant quelques extraits de mes notes personnelles :
    (...)
    20 août 1944, 2 heures : À partir du café des Pyrénées, Rodrigue, qui a établi un poste de guet, me fait connaître qu'un groupe composé d'une quinzaine de soldats allemands, venant de la direction de Carcassonne,a pris pied sur la place des Pyrénées[/B] et décharge de l'un des véhicules du matériel léger transportable.
    - Unquote -

    - Translation: -
    Here are, in chronological sequence, the events which preceded the liberation of Narbonne, as I am able to relate them using some extracts from my personal notes:
    (...)
    20 August 1944, 2 am: from the Café des Pyrénées, Rodrigue, who has set up a lookout post, informs me that a group of fifteen German soldiers, coming from the direction of Carcassonne, has set foot on the Place des Pyrénées and is unloading light portable equipment from one of the vehicles.

    Source: Suite du colloque

    These photos were therefore shot on the Place des Pyrénées in Narbonne, and the Café des Pyrénées used to stand at the intersection with what is now the Avenue de Toulouse. I suspect that the old name of this avenue might have been Rue Monplaisir, and that the adress of the Café des Pyrénées would have been been '2 rue Montplaisir".

    Interestingly, one old steel post just like the one on the photos stills survives, a few meters away where Rue Mazagran joins Boulevard du Dr Lacroix.

    Cafe des Pyrenees, Narbonne - Notes.jpg

    Michel
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2020
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  5. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    This thread has been fun.
    :)
     
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  6. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    Premier classe Michel, toujours!

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.
     
  7. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    Last edited: May 30, 2020
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  8. Richard Lewis

    Richard Lewis Member


    Well done Michel for finding that. I had a go but gave up! Avenue de Toulouse was the name of the street before the German occupation. See this map of 1921 from Alamy.

    Narbonne.JPG

    Richard
     
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  9. Yes Richard, forget that. I was also checking while you were posting, and indeed the Avenue de Toulouse was already named this way before WW2. The writing below "Café des Pyrénées" is probably just the name of the publican, possibly "René Montpl..." Couldn't find him yet though...

    Although the Café des Pyrénées has been demolished since, the commendable French average of at least one beverage house per major intersection has been upheld, at least or a while, thanks to Declan's Pub opposite. Regrettably the place now looks rather derelict and is available to let. Any takers? (weather is perfect in Narbonne...)

    GE - Declan's - 95.jpg
     
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  10. Very nice find! Same film in slightly higher quality (but with watermark and timeline) is available here (part 3 from 00:05:32:00):
    https://www.net-film.ru/en/film-62827/

    I think there might be other sources with still higher quality, 'clean' versions, but I can't find them anymore.

    Here's a collage showing that the second part of the writing under the name of the café is indeed Montplaisir. Unfortunately the first (4-letter) word is hidden. A high-res version of Photo 4 should solve this.

    The writing on the left is "Arrêt des Autobus" and "Casse-Croûte"
    DDW 1942-637.jpg

    To the left is the Garage Joucla and its old-style petrol pumps with the Caltex star:
    Die Deutsche Wochenschau 1942 № 637 - 3-3 - 05.41.04.jpg
     

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