The Charente Maritime - History

In 1810, Napoleon passed an imperial decree which in effect moved the prefecture of the region to la Rochelle.

Formally a part of Saintonge and previously known as the Charente-Inférieure, the Charente-Maritime was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was in fact on 4 September 1941, it was renamed Charente-Maritime.

During the Second World War, the Department became a part of occupied France after being invaded by the German army. Fearing possible beach landings by the Allied forces, the Germans constructed many sea defences in the area and still today pillboxes can be seen on some of the beaches of this region.

By the end of the war the only remaining pockets of German resistance were based in la Rochelle in the North and Royan in the South. Royan was almost completely destroyed during an RAF bombing raid on 5 January 1945 but in spite of this the town wasn't liberated by the French resistance until April of that year. La Rochelle was eventually liberated on 9 May 1945