6th February 1945
St.Nazaire Pocket

Presentation 2nd May 2026 (G&CPS Midland regional group)

Festung St. Nazaire

On the 6th June northern France was attacked with landings east of Cherbourg on beaches code named Utah, Omaha, Gold, June and Sword.

The allied advance was arduous but decisive, with Cherbourg liberated on 27th June, Rennes of the 6th August and Nantes 12th August.

As the German resistance in the east faulted, the armies of the Reich retreated to coastal ports forming ‘pockets’, commonly known as Atlantic Pockets. Most notably at St. Malo, Brest, Lorient, St. Nazaire, La Rochelle and Royan.

St.Malo was liberated 2nd September 1944, Brest on 20th September 1944, and Royan on the 20th April 1945 (it’s noted that during the battle of Royan the early implementation of napalm incendiary bombs was used).

However, attacks on Lorient, St. Nazaire and La Rochelle proved ineffective in breaking the German defences. They each held out until the end of the war in May of 1945.

The largest of these pockets was St. Nazaire. The pocket is illustrated here with the boundary indicated with black dots.

It was in August 1944 that the pocket established itself, with Allied forces facing fierce resistance as they advanced towards the town. With changing priorities most of the Allied troops were transferred to the main battles in Normandy and the East. The containment of the German forces was left to the combined units of the Free French Forces (F.F.I.) and the American 66th and 94th Divisions.

St. Nazaire itself had been devastated by heavy bombing in 1943 and to all intents and purposes looked more like a ghost town. In 1945 it’s 15,00 daytime population was reduced to 5,000 in the evenings - due to evacuation to the countryside (note that the pre-war population was in excess of 43,000).

The postal service at this time comprised of a postmaster, two employees and two postmen.

The Pocket remained almost unchanged during it’s nine months existence. The encircled Germans undertook attacks, partly to improve morale but chiefly to obtain extra food supplies for the garrison. So with the aid of minefields, destroyed bridges, artillery barrages and skirmishes the pocket held out.

From August 1944 the civil postal system was effectively cut off from the rest of France. Letters from France to St. Nazaire were returned to the sender, and those from within the pocket to the outside were retained for delivery after the war

For the defending Germans the situation with mail had also become problematic following the invasion of June 1944, and now these surrounded ‘festungs’ were becoming increasing isolated. 

Direct communication by sea was not possible and so the German Naval High Command set out to provide air communication, with  mail being landed (St. Nazaire had a airport nearby), dropped, or by delivered by sea-planes.

Records show that 14 flights were made to St. Nazaire up to the end of October 1944, with 8 in November and 3 in December. It appears that little mail was flown in or out after January 1945.

Therefore, what I’m presenting here is quite a rarity with its date stamp of 6th February 1945.

However, it is unclear how the envelope was transported from St. Nazaire to Germany.

The censorship office used in Germany was based in Frankfurt.

The Frankfurt office applied the red hand-stamp (Landsmann EP4.1), and is catalogued as being in use from August 1944 until March 1945, and mostly on Atlantic fortress mail. The wording at the head is ‘Zensurstelle’ (censorship office) with the Frankfurt office designation ‘e’ to either side of the eagle. The designated censor has the number  ‘17’ (there were 30 numbers). The wording to the foot states ‘Geprüft’ meaning ‘approved’.

The sealing tape (Landsmann EV4.1) again states ‘Zensurstelle’ and the Frankfurt designation of ‘e’. Amongst other things, it is recognised due to the damaged head of the letter ‘G’ in ‘Geöffnet’ (opened).

The hand-stamp and tape are both cataloged as scarce.

Research material: The Saint Nazaire Pocket by Robert Stuckey (1982)

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