Title: The Story of How Le Havre Was Rebuilt After WWII
Headings: The Story of How Le Havre Was Rebuilt After WWII
The Story of How Le Havre Was Rebuilt After WWII
Le Havre first faced hardships during World War I
Hitler’s Festung made the city a massive target
Auguste Perret gave the post-war city a complete overhaul
Concrete allowed the project to move along faster
Le Havre’s unique architecture is recognised by UNESCO

Content: A bombed out Le Havre in the winter of 1944 to 1945 | © Arizonaman1 / WikiCommons
In total, Le Havre endured 132 bombings during the Second World War. The most impactful came on September 5 and 6 when the British Royal airforce carried out Operation Astoria, also known as the ‘storm of iron and fire’. This bombing swiftly wiped out Le Havre’s downtown core and weakened its port. Le Havre undoubtedly became one of the most destroyed European towns during the war, a disaster than translated into 5,000 fatalities. On September 12, 1944, the city was liberated by the Allied forces and its horrors were acknowledged by a Legion of Honour from General Charles de Gaulle on July 18, 1949. An aerial view of Le Havre as it looks today | © Olivier2000 / WIkiCommons
Auguste Perret gave the post-war city a complete overhaul
With approximately 12,500 buildings eradicated and roughly 80,000 left homeless, tending to the destruction became a national priority for France. Auguste Perret was enlisted as the lead architect and the city was to be built anew in a massive project that began in 1945 and finished in 1964. Perret, a Belgian-born architectural pioneer and teacher of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier, aimed to maintain the town’s original pattern and build upon it using new planning ideas, advancements in construction technology and structural classicism. Not your typical French church - St. Joseph's in Le Havre | © ddzphoto / Pixabay
Concrete allowed the project to move along faster
Perret’s material of choice was reinforced concrete, which would get the job done quickly, efficiently and see that Le Havre’s residents would soon again have a home. Along with his team, he constructed a series of uniform apartment blocks using large slabs of concrete with interiors to match the needs of modern families.