Page "Tours" Paragraph 13

Tours was also marked by the Second World War.

In 1940, the city suffered massive destruction and for four years it was a city of military camps and fortifications.

From 10 – 13 June 1940, Tours was the temporary seat of the French government before its move to Bordeaux.

German incendiary bombs caused a huge fire which blazed out of control from 20 – 22 June and destroyed part of the city centre.

Some architectural masterpieces of the 16th and 17th centuries were lost, as was the monumental entry to the city.

The Wilson Bridge ( known locally as the ' stone bridge '), carried a water main which supplied the city ; the bridge was dynamited to slow the progress of the German advance.

With the water main severed and unable to extinguish the inferno, the inhabitants had no option but to flee to safety.

More heavy air raids devastated the area around the railway station in 1944 causing several hundred deaths.