1. Introduction
The map Flughafenbereich Morlaix-Flugplätze und Ln Anlagen (Figure 1) (Henoff, 2023) of 14.8.43, among some WWII German military bases in South Finistère (FR) studied in past publications and other not yet studied, discloses the German air-naval base of Lanveoc-Poulmic on the Crozon Peninsula. The presence during the WWII of a German base at Bro Fez (Bronfez, Profez) near said base was signaled to me by Mr. Fleuridas.
2. Historical Context
The domain on which the first installations of the French air-naval base of Lanveoc-Poulmic were built belonged to the Barons de Poulmic family, whose known origins dated back to the 12th century and which died out during the French Revolution. The base took up the family’s weapons to create its ensign.
Figure 1. German air-naval base of Lanveoc-Poulmic.
On 1919 the Navy and Colonies Minister G. Leygues, launched a study for creating near Brest an airfield and a center for seaplanes and captive balloons.
As early as 1920, the Lanvéoc site was selected to become one of the 37 maritime aviation seaplanes centers ensuring the surveillance and protection of the littoral and ports. This choice was suggested by the fact that the Brest Bay, in all weather, was capable of accommodating seaplanes and its airfield was capable of accommodating also air-wings based in Brest (Base d’Aéronautique Navale Lanveoc-Poulmic, 2011; Charles & Bracichowicz, 2024).
The base was officially opened on 4th November 1935 under the commandment of the CF (frigate captain) R. André, the first “pasha” of the base.
On 29th May 1936 at 13:55 an F.B.A. training seaplane leaving Brest for Lan- devennec fell into the sea 1 km from the future Lanveoc-Poulmic base after spinning two or three times and killing all its three occupants (L’Ouest-Éclair, 1936).
The first aircrafts arrived at the base on October 1937. They were the Wibault 74s of the 7C1 aviation squadron.
On 1938, the base received a visit of the Minister of the Navy and Colonies C. Campinchi (Base d’Aéronautique Navale Lanveoc-Poulmic, 2011).
On 12th January 1939, at around 9:15 a.m., a seaplane from the base crashed into houses in the town of Ploumodiern after getting into difficulties on the Menez Hom (Tomezzoli, 2017), killing all its three occupants under the eyes of their parents who watched the flight (L’Ouest-Éclair, 1939).
Another accident involving the commander of a French air-wing occurred on La Motte of Locronan, because of a navigation error (Tomezzoli, 2025a).
The base comprised a Lower Zone (48˚16'53.72"N, 4˚25'3.06"W, height 5.23 m), having: a crane for the seaplane launching and retrieving, launching slips, seaplane parkings, hangars and an Upper Zone (48˚16'54.34"N, 4˚26'46.99"W, h. 86.92 m) having: “l’Étoile” du Béarn, an 8-pointed star formed by eight times the runway of the first French aircraft carrier Béarn, equipped with a clever mechanism allowing the aircrafts to practice take-off and landing maneuvers.
On 6th June 1940, the four-engine aircraft Farman “Jules Verne” took off from the base for the first bombing raid on Berlin.
The base was evacuated on 18th June because of the German invasion of France. The German Luftwaffe occupied the base for deploying ME 109E, He 111H and Do 118 aircrafts.
On 10th August, RAF aircrafts attacked the base also named Brest-Süd in opposition to Brest-Norden corresponding to the Guipavas air base. Some hangars and Flak positions suffered damages (Le Petit Journal, 1940).
The base served as advanced position for German bombing on Great Britain. For its security, around it, were deployed many Flak groups, including one at Tal ar Groas (Tomezzoli, 2025b) and other bases, including one at Bro Fez (Bret.: Land of Faith).
According to a report by Admiral Philippon (1967), codename Hilarion, it was at the beginning of May 1941 that the Germans pressed ahead the construction of “Ducs d’Albe” in the Brest Bay. In the sailor terminology, “Ducs d’Albe” indicated a pair of large pillars made of wood or concrete, anchored deep in the seabed, used to moor ships. In a radio message to London, it was indicated that the “Ducs d’Albe” were located at Lanveoc, the Île Longue and Fret and they were provided with torpedo protection nets for berthing of a 35,000-ton vessel (Dupont & Tomezzoli, 2007). Actually, a concrete “Ducs d’Albe” (48˚17'47.59"N, 4˚27'6.23"W, h. 0.00 m), were located at the Pointe of Lanveoc, North to the base, and the attended vessel was the battleship Bismark which, on 26th May 1941, was sunk by British battleships, 400 miles from Brest.
After numerous and devastating bombings, the base was captured by the Allies on 17th September 1944 and the LV (vessel lieutenant) Le Hénaff took possession of it on behalf of the French Navy. The base was rearmed on 21st December 1944 (Figure 2) under the commandment of CF F. Bergot.
Figure 2. Air-naval base of Lanveoc-Poulmic—vision from Bro Fez, on the right the modern control tower (higher) and the older control tower (lower).
3. The Visit
The visit of the Bro Fez base site took place on 8th June 2025. The identified components were the following (Figures 3-5):
Figure 3. Bro Fez base layout—1 rectangular emplacement; 2 farm; 3 bunker; 4 construction; 5 emplacement; 6 bunker; 7 Vf bunker; 8 Vf bunker; 9 water pit; 10 transformer; 11base portal; 12 hygienic services.
IGNF_PVA_1-0_1951-07-27_C0417-D0301_1951_CDP3760_0134
Figure 4. Bro Fez base details—(a) emplacement 1 and farm 2; (b) rectangular bunker 3, construction 4, on the middle bottom the water pit 9 and the access path marked on the terrain; (c) emplacement 5, rectangular bunker 6, Vf bunker 7 with one entrance on the left, Vf bunker 8 with two entrances on the right.
IGNF_PVA_1-0_1951-07-27_C0417-D0301_1951_CDP3760_0134
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Figure 5. Bro Fez base details—(a) rectangular bunker 3 with a blue metallic coverage; (b) internal vision to the East; (c) internal vision to the West; (d) West wall portion with circular opening; (e) local wall stones; (f) elevated cistern of the hygienic services.
A rectangular emplacement 1 (48˚15'22.66"N, 4˚25'39.66"W, h. 58.33 m) disappeared.
A farm 2 (48˚15'23.59"N, 4˚25'35.7"W, h. 54.51 m) in good preservation state, adapted to the nowadays life, only its East wing was gone.
A 24 × 12 m rectangular bunker 3 (48˚15'23.62"N, 4˚25'29.43"W, h. 57.45 m) transformed in stable and agricultural tool shed. Only a portion with a post WWII blue metallic coverage survived. The survived walls, made by local stones, were in good preservation state.
A 7.2 × 3.6 m construction 4 (48˚15'22.92"N, 4˚25'28.75"W, h. 60.19 m) disappeared.
A 9.6 × 9.6 m emplacement 5 (48˚15'21.82"N, 4˚25'27.54"W, h. 62.93 m) disappeared in the years 1960.
A 16.8 × 9.6 m rectangular bunker 6 (48˚15'21.82"N, 4˚25'26.29"W, h. 63.25 m) with two meandering entrances, disappeared in the years 1960.
A 9.6 × 9.6 m Vf bunker 7 (48˚15'20.86"N, 4˚25'29.76"W, h. 63.55 m) with one entrance, buried in the terrain, covered by vegetation and not accessible.
A 9.6 × 9.6 m Vf bunker 8 (48˚15'20.6"N, 4˚25'25.61"W, h. 66.07 m) with two entrances, buried in the terrain, covered by vegetation and not accessible.
A water pit 9 (48˚15'22.34"N, 4˚25'29.65"W, height 60.6 m) disappeared.
A transformer 10 (48˚15'22.62"N, 4˚25'34.92"W, h. 59.17 m) disappeared.
A base portal 11 (48˚15'23.34"N, 4˚25'32.06"W, h. 57.69 m) disappeared.
Hygienic services 12 (48˚15'24.1"N, 4˚25'28.8"W, h. 54.96 m) disappeared. Only a concrete elevated cistern, in good preservation state, survived. It lets visible metallic portions of the armored concrete and pebbles of the Ero Vili (Tomezzoli & Marzin, 2015). Because no trace of scaffolding on the concrete, typical of the German masonry, was visible, it is possible that it was built by a French firm.
4. Discussion
Ms. X, inhabitant of Bro Fez, born in the years 1950, gave valuable information concerning the base and its components. She received information from her grandmother dead during an American bombing and her father who was soldier during the WWII, captured near Amiens and deported to Germany to participate to the German war effort.
Ms. X affirmed that Bro Fez was never bombed.
According to Ms. X:
The rectangular emplacement 1 remained free and hosted no constructions;
The farm 2 hosted neither the headquarter nor part of the base garrison;
The rectangular bunker 3 protected a barrack which was disassembled after the war;
The construction 4 hosted a water reservoir;
The emplacement 5 hosted an antenna;
The rectangular bunker 6 protected a barrack whose foundations were still visible on Figure 4(c); the barrack was disassembled and the bunker demolished by a neighbor after the WWII for letting place to wheat cultivation;
The Vf bunker 7 was a soldier lodgment;
The Vf bunker 8 was an ammunition depot;
The water pit 9 was used for filling up the water reservoir 4;
The transformer 10 provided electrical power to the base and to the farm;
The base portal 11 was disassembled after the war;
The hygienic services 12 were outside the rectangular bunker 3 and comprises an elevated cistern and lavabos.
Ms. X is of the opinion that the base was a jamming signal base, but provided no details about the instrumentation and the antenna in service. Mr. Fleuridas is of the opinion that the base was a Luftwaffe radar base with annexed FuSZ (Funksendezentrale) (Tomezzoli et al., 2021). In this last case, the radar, Würzburg Riese or Freya, was accommodated at the emplacement 5 and the FuSZ antennae located somewhere on the base surface.
The headquarter and the garrison of the base were lodged part in the barracks of bunkers 3, 6 and Vf bunker 7.
Figure 3 shows no evidences of Flak emplacements unless they were positioned on the Vf bunker 7, 8 coverages.
The base appears to correspond to the red dot with four rays near the Upper Zone of the base of Lanveoc-Poulmic (Figure 1). Unfortunately, the acronym under said dot is unreadable. The Unterstellungsverältnis (subordination relationship—Figure 1) ensures that on 14.8.43, date of the map, it belonged to the Jafu 4 (Ln Regt. 64).
5. Conclusion
The visit on the base site permitted to determine that many of its components disappeared, one has been adapted to the agricultural works, others were inaccessible because of the vegetation. Therefore, for the moment, the preservation of the surviving components is assured, but a more certain legal status and cultural recovery of the site would be desirable.
As usual in such kind of archaeological researches, further issues remain to be investigated: the determination of the actual status of the base: either jamming signal base or a Luftwaffe radar base with annexed FuSZ, the kind of antennae and transformer, the unit/s in service at the base, the missions actually accomplished by the base during the WWII.
In addition, the map shows the presence of FMa20 near Guipavas, FMa21 at the Ouessant Island and FMa23 at Le Conquet possible subjects for further studies.
Acknowledgements
I express my gratitude to Ms. X for her explanations concerning the components of the Bro Fez base, to Mr. Patrick Fleuridas for having signaled me the Bro Fez German base and to Mr. Frederic Henoff for having provided me with the map Flughafenbereich Morlaix—Flugplätze und Ln Anlagen 4318-631.