Pont de Pierre
Brick nineteenth-century river crossing whose seventeen arches once carried a wired-for-demolition port to the brink of ruin.
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About this audio guide
This guide to the Pont de Pierre in Bordeaux opens with a question: who held the key that could have levelled this bridge in a single night. In August of nineteen forty-four, the retreating German garrison wired the entire port of Bordeaux for demolition, quays, warehouses and every bridge over the Garonne included, and put the explosives under the control of a young Kriegsmarine petty officer named Heinz Stahlschmidt. You'll hear what he chose to do with that control on the evening of the twenty-second of August, and what it cost him afterward. Look down at the brick pier beside you, still carrying its plaque cut in eighteen twenty-two.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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