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Landscape Archaeology of World War Two German Logistics Depots in the Forêt domaniale des Andaines, Normandy, France

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Abstract

Archaeological survey in the Forêt domaniale des Andaines has recorded nearly 900 discrete earthwork bunkers, building foundations, trenches, and other features associated with WW2 German fuel, munitions and logistics depots. Documentary evidence establishes these depots were administered from Bagnoles-de-l’Orne and were a key component of the Seventh Army logistics network before and during the Normandy Campaign of June-August 1944. Post-war survival of features has been remarkably good in this forested setting and it is argued that this likely constitutes one of the best-preserved and most extensive examples of a non-hardened WW2 archaeological landscape yet documented in Western Europe.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the help and support of Sue Rouillard (cartography, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter), Stéphane Robine (Archives Départementales de la Manche), Serge Raison (Raison Bois et Débits, Perrou), Christian Clement (Office National des Forêts) and Stephen Walton (Senior Curator, Documents & Sound Section, Imperial War Museum Duxford). We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the original manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lieu Dit Le Point Du Jour, 61140, La Chapelle d’Andaine, France

    David Capps Tunwell

  2. Department of Geography, University of Toronto (Mississauga), 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada

    David G. Passmore

  3. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK

    Stephan Harrison

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  1. David Capps Tunwell
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Correspondence to David G. Passmore.

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Tunwell, D.C., Passmore, D.G. & Harrison, S. Landscape Archaeology of World War Two German Logistics Depots in the Forêt domaniale des Andaines, Normandy, France. Int J Histor Archaeol 19, 233–261 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-015-0287-4

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