| Original caption: “Two German prisoners of war are being taken to the Sixth Division Prisoner of War Encampment for interrogation and searching. There were 218 captured by the Free French Infantry and Sixth Armored Division troops.” Soldiers of the 6th Armored Division hold 2 Kriegsmarine sailors in field dress gray uniforms at bay with an M3 “grease gun” .45-caliber (11.5 millimeter) submachine gun. The 2 sailors approached them with passes to surrender, having escaped Audierne. They were stripped of all their personal effects and searched, then taken to Plouay, Headquarters of the 6th Armored Division. On August 3, Nazi German Wehrmacht General der Artillerie Wilhelm Fahrmbacher (September 19, 1888 – April 27, 1970) ordered the smaller garrisons to fall back to reinforce the festungs (“fortresses”) to deny the Allies channel ports in Brittany. Cut off from land passage by the Forces françaises de l’Intérieur (FFI – “French Forces of the Interior”), and the Francs-tireurs et partisans français (FTPF – “French Snipers and Partisans”) the Kreigsmarine knew the operation would be detected, but they felt they had no choice to evacuate Stützpunkt (“Base”) Audierne, under the command of Oberleutnant Günther Braeckow (1917 – 2003). Fahrmbacher ordered a complete evacuation of Stützpunkt Audierne on August 21. Kriegsfischkutters (“War fishing cutters”) of the 7th Vorpostenflottille (“Outpost Flotilla”) sailing for Lorient were destroyed in combat the night of August 22-23 by Allied patrols; some 300 shipwrecked sailors joined the Audierne garrison, many of them wounded. Other Stützpunkts attempted a land withdrawal and were destroyed by air attack when their vehicles were discovered on the roads. Stützpunkt Audierne radioed Brest, and 300 Kriegsmarine soldiers and sailors would be taken out by sea on August 26, 1944, from the Pors-Lesven Cove in Beuzec Cap-Sizun. With 600 soldiers and sailors now needing evacuation, this was to be the 1st of several nights of operations to transport the garrison to Brest. Some 250 men, some of them wounded but able to walk, commandeered carts from the local French civilians, and to protect against aircraft, flak guns were brought to the beach. The hundreds of Nazi German soldiers and sailors gathered at the town of Kervigoudou under the command of Oberleutnant Wilhelm Kieppe. Critically underestimating the capabilities of the FFI, they do not deploy screening forces along the heights above the beach. This will later prove fatal to their entire operation. Oberleutnant Zur See Grassoff, Captain of Kriegsfischkutter V719, would later say: “We did not take the Resistance seriously, we thought they were young people, not soldiers.” 8 different FFI units approach over the course of the next day; some lightly armed with bolt-action captured Mausers, others better equipped with Bren guns and grenades. At 0145 hours on August 26, the FFI began firing on the Germans from the heights. Initially the Nazi Germans drove the FFI back into Kervigoudou; armed Kriegsmarine sailors took the village. 20 millimeter (0.79 inch) Flakvierling 38 were fired into the heights by the Nazi Germans to suppress the FFI; they pulled back until reinforcements arrived from Quimper. The beach is showered with hundreds of grenades. Only about 20 wounded Nazi soldiers and sailors were evacuated by sea. On land, the Nazi Germans killed a French civilian by smashing his skull and burn some farms in Kervigoudou as their causalities mount. 11 residents are held hostage. Other reprisal atrocities are committed in Lesven as Nazi Germans attempt to flee the FFI’s attack. By 1730 Hours, Nazi German resistance collapses. Kieppe committed suicide in a chicken coop in Kervigoudou rather than be captured. 12 maquisards and 25 Nazi Germans were dead. That night, the surviving 138 Nazi Germans were locked in the Pont-Croix Seminary. The other half of the Nazi German force was taken to the Lanniron camp at Quimper by the Briec FFI company. Some Germans were killed in reprisals for the execution of FFI maquisards earlier in the month. The withdrawing FTP convoys were strafed by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Republic P-47 Thunderbolts of 362nd Fighter Group at Poullan; 5 are killed, 1 later died of wounds, and 14 are injured. Not everyone in the FFI was in agreement about handing over the Nazi German prisoners over to the American 6th Armored Division, headquartered at the time at Plouay. In the evening of August 26, Troop A, 17th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, under the command of Lieutenant Jurdon R. “Ralph” Henderson (September 7, 1917 – December 30, 2012), arrived. In a heated discussion with the FFI, finally convinced them to release the prisoners to his unit. The children of Pont-Croix form a guard of honor for Henderson as he leaves the town hall. The next day, August 27, Troop A picked up the other half of the Nazi German prisoners at Lanniron camp. The Nazi Germans were furiously embarrassed at their defeat by the FFI and FTP maquisards. Doctor Dietrich Koreuber of 7th Vorpostenflottille, captured as a medic, concealed grenades, a Maschinenpistole 40, and a pistol. He complained he was almost lynched by “a horde of hysterical women,” but was saved by a French officer, Lieutenant Victor d’Aloès. But d’Aloès also demanded his hanging. Koreuber wasn’t hanged; he admired the care the FFI gave the wounded Nazi German sailors. He would survive to practice medicine after the war in Hamburg. Kadett Helmuth Tischer called the maquisards “terrorists,” and claimed that he was told 1 in 10 of the Nazi German prisoners would be executed for their cruelty towards the French people. He was stripped of his shoes in Quimper. Gefreiter Fritz Reila was beaten by the FFI during the march to Pont-Croix. He later said, “a young FFI kept kicking me in the buttocks. An officer recommended me not to defend myself. My God, don’t do anything, otherwise they will kill you…” The Battle of Beuzec Cap Sizun marked the best capability of the French resistance in World War II. The maquisards were rarely able to stand and fight regular Nazi German forces. Only the appearance of Allied armies on the continent and the disintegration of 7th Army allowed the FFI and FTP to coordinate and sustain combat operations while the Axis was unable to reinforce their formation. Isolated and cut off, Stützpunkt Audierne was doomed to destruction. Henderson drove to Audierne and parleyed with Braeckow. He refused to surrender. It would be 3 weeks before Stützpunkt Audierne would finally capitulate. The Audierne garrison left the seriously wounded behind to be captured and cared for by the FFI. Original caption: “Two German prisoners of war are being taken to the Sixth Division Prisoner of War Encampment for interrogation and searching. There were 218 captured by the Free French Infantry and Sixth Armored Division troops.” Soldiers of the 6th Armored Division hold 2 Kriegsmarine sailors in field dress gray uniforms at bay with an M3 “grease gun” .45-caliber (11.5 millimeter) submachine gun. The 2 sailors approached them with passes to surrender, having escaped Audierne. They were stripped of all their personal effects and searched, then taken to Plouay, Headquarters of the 6th Armored Division. On August 3, Nazi German Wehrmacht General der Artillerie Wilhelm Fahrmbacher (September 19, 1888 – April 27, 1970) ordered the smaller garrisons to fall back to reinforce the festungs (“fortresses”) to deny the Allies channel ports in Brittany. Cut off from land passage by the Forces françaises de l’Intérieur (FFI – “French Forces of the Interior”), and the Francs-tireurs et partisans français (FTPF – “French Snipers and Partisans”) the Kreigsmarine knew the operation would be detected, but they felt they had no choice to evacuate Stützpunkt (“Base”) Audierne, under the command of Oberleutnant Günther Braeckow (1917 – 2003). Fahrmbacher ordered a complete evacuation of Stützpunkt Audierne on August 21. Kriegsfischkutters (“War fishing cutters”) of the 7th Vorpostenflottille (“Outpost Flotilla”) sailing for Lorient were destroyed in combat the night of August 22-23 by Allied patrols; some 300 shipwrecked sailors joined the Audierne garrison, many of them wounded. Other Stützpunkts attempted a land withdrawal and were destroyed by air attack when their vehicles were discovered on the roads. Stützpunkt Audierne radioed Brest, and 300 Kriegsmarine soldiers and sailors would be taken out by sea on August 26, 1944, from the Pors-Lesven Cove in Beuzec Cap-Sizun. With 600 soldiers and sailors now needing evacuation, this was to be the 1st of several nights of operations to transport the garrison to Brest. Some 250 men, some of them wounded but able to walk, commandeered carts from the local French civilians, and to protect against aircraft, flak guns were brought to the beach. The hundreds of Nazi German soldiers and sailors gathered at the town of Kervigoudou under the command of Oberleutnant Wilhelm Kieppe. Critically underestimating the capabilities of the FFI, they do not deploy screening forces along the heights above the beach. This will later prove fatal to their entire operation. Oberleutnant Zur See Grassoff, Captain of Kriegsfischkutter V719, would later say: “We did not take the Resistance seriously, we thought they were young people, not soldiers.” 8 different FFI units approach over the course of the next day; some lightly armed with bolt-action captured Mausers, others better equipped with Bren guns and grenades. At 0145 hours on August 26, the FFI began firing on the Germans from the heights. Initially the Nazi Germans drove the FFI back into Kervigoudou; armed Kriegsmarine sailors took the village. 20 millimeter (0.79 inch) Flakvierling 38 were fired into the heights by the Nazi Germans to suppress the FFI; they pulled back until reinforcements arrived from Quimper. The beach is showered with hundreds of grenades. Only about 20 wounded Nazi soldiers and sailors were evacuated by sea. On land, the Nazi Germans killed a French civilian by smashing his skull and burn some farms in Kervigoudou as their causalities mount. 11 residents are held hostage. Other reprisal atrocities are committed in Lesven as Nazi Germans attempt to flee the FFI’s attack. By 1730 Hours, Nazi German resistance collapses. Kieppe committed suicide in a chicken coop in Kervigoudou rather than be captured. 12 maquisards and 25 Nazi Germans were dead. That night, the surviving 138 Nazi Germans were locked in the Pont-Croix Seminary. The other half of the Nazi German force was taken to the Lanniron camp at Quimper by the Briec FFI company. Some Germans were killed in reprisals for the execution of FFI maquisards earlier in the month. The withdrawing FTP convoys were strafed by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Republic P-47 Thunderbolts of 362nd Fighter Group at Poullan; 5 are killed, 1 later died of wounds, and 14 are injured. Not everyone in the FFI was in agreement about handing over the Nazi German prisoners over to the American 6th Armored Division, headquartered at the time at Plouay. In the evening of August 26, Troop A, 17th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, under the command of Lieutenant Jurdon R. “Ralph” Henderson (September 7, 1917 – December 30, 2012), arrived. In a heated discussion with the FFI, finally convinced them to release the prisoners to his unit. The children of Pont-Croix form a guard of honor for Henderson as he leaves the town hall. The next day, August 27, Troop A picked up the other half of the Nazi German prisoners at Lanniron camp. The Nazi Germans were furiously embarrassed at their defeat by the FFI and FTP maquisards. Doctor Dietrich Koreuber of 7th Vorpostenflottille, captured as a medic, concealed grenades, a Maschinenpistole 40, and a pistol. He complained he was almost lynched by “a horde of hysterical women,” but was saved by a French officer, Lieutenant Victor d’Aloès. But d’Aloès also demanded his hanging. Koreuber wasn’t hanged; he admired the care the FFI gave the wounded Nazi German sailors. He would survive to practice medicine after the war in Hamburg. Kadett Helmuth Tischer called the maquisards “terrorists,” and claimed that he was told 1 in 10 of the Nazi German prisoners would be executed for their cruelty towards the French people. He was stripped of his shoes in Quimper. Gefreiter Fritz Reila was beaten by the FFI during the march to Pont-Croix. He later said, “a young FFI kept kicking me in the buttocks. An officer recommended me not to defend myself. My God, don’t do anything, otherwise they will kill you…” The Battle of Beuzec Cap Sizun marked the best capability of the French resistance in World War II. The maquisards were rarely able to stand and fight regular Nazi German forces. Only the appearance of Allied armies on the continent and the disintegration of 7th Army allowed the FFI and FTP to coordinate and sustain combat operations while the Axis was unable to reinforce their formation. Isolated and cut off, Stützpunkt Audierne was doomed to destruction. Henderson drove to Audierne and parleyed with Braeckow. He refused to surrender. It would be 3 weeks before Stützpunkt Audierne would finally capitulate. The Audierne garrison left the seriously wounded behind to be captured and cared for by the FFI. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0437.jpg |
| Image Size | 872.92 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2299 x 2898 |
| Photographer | H. M. Kuehne |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 28, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Plouay |
| State or Province | Brittany |
| Country | France |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-111-SC-339075 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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