Frontstalag 133 Rennes (Camp de La Marne / Camp de Verdun)

Frontstalag 133, also known as Camp de la Marne in Rennes, was established on 20 July 1940 and remained in operation until 16 August 1944. It held thousands of colonial prisoners of war, with the Camp de la Marne site alone accommodating around 1,700 men, and at its peak as many as 6,000 prisoners were concentrated in Rennes across several subcamps. In total, an estimated 12,000 colonial soldiers passed through Rennes during the war.

The camp was part of the German system of Frontstalags, temporary prisoner-of-war facilities set up in western France. Unlike white French soldiers, who were generally deported to Germany, colonial troops from North and sub-Saharan Africa were deliberately kept in France. The official justification was that the German climate was too harsh for them, but in reality this policy reflected Nazi racial ideology and the desire to segregate colonial soldiers. Rennes became one of the central hubs of this system, with Frontstalag 133 administered under the Kriegsgefangenen-Bezirk IX.

Camp de la Marne, located on the Route de Redon, was the largest of several sites in the city. Other camps included the Parc des Sports on the Route de Lorient, which held about 800 men, as well as facilities on Boulevard de Guines and at Marguerit. Prisoners endured overcrowding, poor nutrition, and forced labor assignments. The segregation between European and colonial prisoners was strictly enforced, and conditions for the latter were consistently harsher.

The camp also played a role in the fate of Allied commandos. After raids such as Operation Aquatint and St. Nazaire, captured British and colonial soldiers were temporarily held in Rennes before being transferred deeper into Germany. The German authorities assigned multiple Feldpostnummern to Frontstalag 133 over the years, reflecting its administrative importance and longevity compared to other temporary camps.

After the liberation of Rennes in August 1944, the site was repurposed to hold German prisoners of war. Eventually, the camp was dismantled, and the area redeveloped. Today, little remains of the physical structures.

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Source

• Text: TracesofWar
• Photos: TracesofWar