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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-50-sl.gif)
Flag of Saint-Lô - Image by Pascal Vagnat, 3 August 2002
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The municipality of Saint-Lô (18,961 inhabitants in 2016; 2,319 ha) originates in the ancient Gaul town of Briovere, built on a schistose spur dominating the valley of river Vire. The Gaulish root briov- ("a bridge", also found in Brive and Brioude, indicates the strategic location of the town. In the 6th century, the town belonged to Saint Lô, Bishop of Coutances, and was renamed after him. St. Lô, who allegedly cured a blind woman, was invoked to heal eye disease. St. Lô, along with St. Pé, is also the cruciverbists' prefered saint, if not their patron saint.
Saint-Lô is an important junction of roads to
Britanny (Rennes), northern Lower-Normandy
(Coutances, Cherbourg) and eastern
Normandy (Isigny, Caen).
In June 1944, Saint-Lô was more or less at the center of the
German defences to the Allied beachhead on the Normandy coast
starting shortly after D-day (6 June 1944). It was also the center of
the Allied offensive breaking out of the beachhead, which Americans
generally call "the breakout". One of the largest air
attacks of all time preceded the infantry and armored attack which
occasioned the breakout. The attack started during the night (locally
known as Fire Night or Great Blaze) of 6 June 1944.
The battle of Saint-Lô, at least the heavy fighting, ended only
on 19 July 1944 with the capitulation of the German troops. In the
neighborhood, the "Battle of the Hedges", the basis of the Cobra
operation, progressively liberated the road from Saint-Lô to
Lessay (north-west) and allowed Patton's decisive Breakthrough to
Avranches (31 July 1944).
At the end of the war, Saint-Lô was given the honor title of
"Capital of the Ruins", since 95% of the town had been destroyed and
hundreds of its inhabitants killed. After the war, President of the
Republic Vincent Auriol awarded the town with the Legion of Honor, with the War Cross and palms. Auriol said: "During the night of 6 to 7 June 1944, the town was
submitted to such a huge bombing that its inhabitants are entitled to
consider themselves as citizens of the "Capital of the Ruins"". The
rebuilding of the town, immediatly initiated, was achieved in 1962
only. A proposal of transfer of the Préfecture of Manche
departement to Coutances, much less damaged during the war, was
rejected by General de Gaulle during his visit on 10 June 1945:
"Saint-Lô, by its courage, expresses what it thinks and wants.
I think, too, and says to Saint-Lô: "Vive Saint-Lô,
capital of the departement of Manche". The inhabitants of
Saint-Lô were immediatly helped by an Irish hospital located
inside the town. One of the servants of the hospital was Samuel
Beckett (1906-1989), Nobel Prize 1969 in Litterature.
Several towns and vilages located on the way of
major fighting experienced total destruction. For example, Valognes, on the road between
Sainte-Mère-Eglise and
Cherbourg, also was virtually totally
destroyed. In 1946, the re-established Tour de France crossed
the departement of Calvados (around Caen),
which was "awarded" the title of the most damaged departement. The
radio speaker Jean Nohain (1900-1981) asked the French citizens to help
rebuilding the departement by sending funds, which would be given to
a village randomly selected among those completely destroyed. The
village of Épron, in the northern outskirts of Caen, winner of the award, has been nicknamed since then the "village of the radio". The
small town of Aunay-sur-Odon, totally destroyed in June 1944 except the church's bell tower, was rebuilt from scratch in less than three years (1947-1950).
Saint-Lô was initially planned to be rebuilt on a brand new site, the ruins being preserved as a memorial; the inhabitants of
the town, however, eventually decided to rebuild it from its ruins. The two
towers of the Botre-Dame church were kept in their 1945 state and
incorporated into the rebuilt church. The former prison, whose porch
is one of the only remains of the ancient town, was transformed into
a War and Resistance memorial.
At the main eastern entrance of the town, a monument decorated with
two American flags recalls Major Howie's heroism. Howie, who had required to
be the first trooper to enter Saint-Lô after its seizure,
was killed on 18 July. The next day, after the liberation of the
town, his coffin was ceremoniously placed upon the ruins of the bell
tower of the church of the Holy Cross. A Franco-American Memorial Hospital
was built in Saint-Lô after the war. The hospital is decorated
with a big mosaic by Fernand Léger (1881-1955), celebrating
the Allies' friendship.
[Saint-Lô, capitale des ruines]
Ivan Sache & Norman Martin, 16 August 2002
The flag of Saint-Lô (photo) is a red square quartered by a thin white cross. The first and fourth quarters are charged with the two yellow leopards of Normandy. The third quarter is charged with three yellow fleurs-de-lis. The second quarter, based on the municipal arms, "Gules a unicorn argent a chief azure three fleurs-de-lis or" is charged with a white unicorn and a blue canton.
The chief of France appears on the arms of several town that were granted Royal privilege under the Ancient Regime. The unicorn was supposed to be an extremely wild and shy animal, thus explaining why nobody ever saw such an animal; it was in the Middle Ages the symbol of virginity (see for instance the set of tapestries "The Lady with the Unicorn" kept in the Cluny Museum in Paris, which show the lady and the unicorn challenged by the five senses). The unicorn on the arms might recall the strong veneration the Saint-Lois expressed for the Blessed Virgin.
The blason of Saint-Lô is shown on a French postage stamp (0.20 F, YT 1510, M 66-36) released on 19 December 1966. Designed by Mireille Louis, the daughter of the heraldist Robert Louis, this was the first postage stamp manufactured in France by rotogravure. In 1971, this stamp was produced in rolls for vending machines, every stamp out of ten having a red number on its reverse. After 1972, this stamp was charged with three phosphorescent stripes. A vertical pair of these stamps, one plain and one with the phosphorescent stripes, is extremely uncommon and valuable. The stamp was taken off on 17 November 1978.
Ivan Sache, 3 August 2002
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-50-s2.gif)
Simplified flags of Saint-Lô - Images by Ivan Sache, 3 August 2002
Two "simplified" versions of the flag of Saint-Lô are hoisted on the remains of the former town walls. Both flags are square with a yellow thin cross, one with a red field, the other with a blue field.
Ivan Sache, 3 August 2002
