FORTRESS IN SOLID ROCK

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24371, 25 September 1944, Page 6

FORTRESS IN SOLID ROCK

SECRETS OF BREST REVEALED LONDON. Sept. 22. “The Brest fortress, which is now in Allied hands, is a staggering work, cut in solid rock," says the correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” after a visit of inspection. “Four hundred rooms open from the main tunnels. The officers’ quarters had carpeted floors and papered walls, and the whole place was lit by electricity and stocked with stores of every kind. “Prisoners said that the night before the surrender the garrison had a farewell party. Thousands of empty bottles suggested that it must have been a good one. “The U-boat pens were staggering. A nine-feet-thick doorway opens into an enormous corridor, in which there are submarine berths, machine shops, stores, and administrative buildings piled in storeys to the roof far overhead. The scene resembles that in a munitions factory. There are 15 berths, the first 10 with gates for drydocking, and the other five wider housing two submarines each. Thus 20 U-boats could shelter under the massive roof. “Varying from 15ft to 30ft in thickness. the enormously thick steel gates closing the pens from the harbour are still intact. The strength of the structure, in which the internal walls are sft to Bft thick, defied demolition."