Gestapo Headquarters Bordeaux

From 1940 to 1944, this building housed the headquarters of the Gestapo. The department was commanded by Friedrich-Wilhelm Dohse. Prison cells were located under the building. During the German occupation, a large number of French civilians and Allied soldiers were interrogated, tortured and sometimes murdered here. According to sources, the Gestapo department in Bordeaux was responsible for 2,500 executions. Among the prisoners were six RM commandos who, on 7 December 1942, destroyed several freighters as part of Operation Frankton. The names of these four commandos were: William Mills, Samuel Wallace, Robert Ewart, Albert Laver, James Conway and John MacKinnon.