Cherbourg Naval Base is important
Besieged port is third ranking French harbor
By the Associated Press
Cherbourg, the transatlantic port for thousands of American visitors to Europe in peacetime, is the third naval harbor of France, a gun-bristling fortified city at the tip of the Normandy Peninsula jutting into the English Channel.
The triangular bay forming its harbors is protected on the north by a long and thick breakwater surmounted by strong forts, which guard the city of 36,000 peacetime inhabitants.
Through the long and steady Allied air offensive, the docks and quays and ships sheltered at Cherbourg repeatedly drew down firebombs and explosives.
The capital of an arrondissement in the department of La Manche, Cherbourg lies at the mouth of the Divette River 230 miles from Paris.
The city is said to be on the site of the Roman station of Coriallum, but nothing is definitely known about its origin. William the Conqueror founded a hospital and church there. Cherbourg was pillaged by an English fleet in 1295, and in the 14th century suffering during the wars with the English. It was captured in 1413, remaining in British hands until 1450.
Louis XIV began the task of making it a military port. Harbor works were begun under Louis XVI and continued by Napoleon Bonaparte with the French pouring vast sums into the construction.
The naval harbor, half a mile from the commercial harbor, consists of three main basins cut out of rock, and has a minimum depth of 30 feet. There are drydocks and other installations, and a naval hospital. The commercial harbor and transatlantic port is at the mouth of the Divette.
The chief industries are fishing, saw-milling, tanning, shipbuilding and metal work.