Le Portel

French commune
name= Le Portel
region=
departement=
arrondissement=
canton= Le Portel
insee=62667
cp=62480
maire=Laurent Feutry
mandat=2008-2014
intercomm=Communauté d'agglomération du Boulonnais
longitude=1.57444444444
latitude=50.7075
alt moy=27 m
alt mini=0 m
alt maxi=59 m
hectares=385
km²=3,85
sans=10 720
date-sans=1999
dens=2784|

Le Portel is a commune and chief town of a canton in the Pas-de-Calais "département" in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Geography

A tourist, fishing and light industrial town situated some convert|2|mi|km southwest of Boulogne town centre, at the junction of the D236 and D119 roads. It has a beach and the white cliffs of the English coast can be seen across the sea on clear days.

History

Le Portel translates as "the little port." The original Le Portel was a hamlet east of the town of Outreau. It became an independent municipality on June 13, 1856 by an imperial decree of Napoleon III.
In the 19th century, flint tools were discovered in the centre of the village, by the river near the Hamel Bridge, evidence of the long occupation of the site. A Gallo-Roman cemetery has been excavated in the hamlet of Chatillon.

Of agricultural origin, it grew rapidly during the 19th century because of fishing, along with the nearby port of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Sailors of Portel were as numerous as those of Boulogne before World War I. In 1841, two Le Portel sailors were on the ship "Belle Poule", that brought back the remains of Napoleon.

During the Second World War, on 8 and 9 September 1943, Le Portel suffered as part of Operation Fortitude, a diversionary manoeuvre by the Allies to fool the Germans into believing the possibility of a landing on the English Channel. The bombings, which destroyed nearly 90% of homes, also killed more than 500 people. On 12 August 1944, Charles de Gaulle was at Le Portel for its liberation. The town received the Croix de guerre with silver star for its sacrifice.

Population

Places of interest

* Two 20th century churches.
* Fort de l'Heurt, built from 1803/1805 by order of Napoleon Bonaparte.
* Fort d'Alprech, built in 1883.
* The lighthouse.
* The Fort de Couppes 1883 .
* The Atlantic Wall German fortress.

People with links to the commune

* Alfred Desenclos (1912-1971), composer, was born here.
* Lucien Leduc (1918-2004), football player, was born here.

Twinned with

* Portel-des-Corbières, France
* Stockelsdorf, Germany
* Kawara, Burkina Faso

See also

*Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

External links

* [http://www.agglo-Boulogne-cotedopale.fr/ Communauté d'Agglomération de Boulogne-Côte-d'Opale] fr
* [http://fortdelheurt.googlepages.com/ Association de Sauvegarde du Fort de l'Heurt et du Patrimoine Portelois ] fr
* [http://perso.orange.fr/leportel/ Web site on the history on the city of Le Portel Plage] fr
* [http://www.ville-leportel.fr/ Official Web site on the city of Le Portel Plage ] fr
* [http://www.ville-leportel.eu/ Directory of Web sites on the city of the Portel Plage ] fr
* [http://www.ot-leportel-plage.com/ Tourism Office of Le Portel Plage ] fr
* [http://video.google.fr/videoplay?docid=-974469477406496092&q=le+portel/ Beach of Le Portel on video ]
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=27154&req=Le+Portel Le Portel on the Quid website] fr

Notes

*"This article is based on the original and the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted on September 5th 2008."