Every year, thousands of day-trippers make the short boat trip from the north coast of France to the island of Cezembre, marveling at the spectacular sea views and thriving wildlife.
But you better tread carefully and stay on the path as almost the entire island remains dangerous due to WWII duds.
Cezembre only opened to visitors in 2018, over seven decades after the end of World War II, after extensive demining efforts allowed a marked trail to open to visitors.
However, the area safe for visitors accounts for only three percent of the island, which experts say was the most heavily bombed area of the entire Second World War, measured by the number of hits per square meter.
“That’s great!” gushed Maryse Wilmart, a 60-year-old visitor from the south-west city of La Rochelle, as she gazed at the sandy beach with turquoise waters and the ramparts of the port city of Saint-Malo beyond.
“But when you see all this behind us… can you even imagine what happened here?” she asked, pointing to the barbed wire and signs warning: “Danger! Area behind the fences not cleared!”
– “Like Stalingrad” –
A visitor has to go back 80 years to understand what happened on this normally uninhabited rocky outcrop.
In 1942, the Nazi German occupation army conquered the strategically important island and built bunkers and artillery pieces.
On August 17, 1944, Saint-Malo was liberated by the Americans, but the Nazi commander of Cezembre, leading about 400 men, refused to surrender.
A devastating Allied air raid followed.
“It’s said to have suffered the most bombardments per square meter of any theater in World War II,” said Philippe Delacotte, author of The Secrets of the Island of Cezembre.
“Between 4,000 and 5,000 bombs were dropped,” some containing napalm, he said.
Finally, on September 2, 1944, the white flag was raised and about 350 exhausted men surrendered.
“Some survivors claimed it was like Stalingrad,” Delacotte said. The island was completely devastated, so that its height even dropped due to the bombs.
After the war, the island became the property of the French Ministry of Defense and access was completely closed, with demining attempts beginning in the 1950s.
It was handed over to a public coastal protection agency, the Conservatoire du Littoral, in 2017.
– ‘Repopulated and Greened’ –
The approximately 800 meter long path lets visitors wander between rusty cannons and bunkers, with breathtaking views of Cap Frehel and the Pointe de la Varde.
Since the trail opened, “there hasn’t been an accident,” although “there are always people who want to go beyond the authorized section,” said Jean-Christophe Renais, a coastguard.
Colonies of seabirds have reappeared over time, including gulls, cormorants, razorbills and guillemots.
“Biodiversity is doing great, everything has been repopulated and greened, birds have reclaimed the site,” said Gwenal Hervouet, who manages the site for the Conservatoire du Littoral.
Because of the focus on wildlife restoration, the trail was partially closed in April “to maximize the chances of success and flight of the peregrine falcon chicks,” said local conservation activist Manon Simonneau.
Some hikers hope the trail will be lengthened to allow for a full tour of the island, but according to the Conservatoire that’s unlikely to happen – the cost of another demining would be astronomical, so now it’s birds and nature masters of Cezembre .
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