Location

Bay of La Fossette (a brief history)

A film event

The first film adaptation of the novel by Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse was shot in 1957 at La Fossette, mainly in the house at the tip, owned at the time by the founder of newspaper France-Soir, Pierre LAZAREFF but also on the beach of la Fossette



It was directed by Otto Preminger, and featured Jean Seberg, Deborah Kerr and David Niven as young Cécile, Anne and Raymond. Cécile is saved from drowning by Philippe (Geoffrey Horne) after her dinghy capsized off the beach of La Fossette

A political and military event

The stele that lays at the the east end of the FOSSETTE beach is a reminder of General Giraud(1879-1949) embarking for North Africa on November 7, 1942



General Giraud embarked for Gibraltar at night from the beach of the FOSSETTE with his son to meet up with British submarine "HMS Seraph" which was sailing off the Levant island, one of the three Golden Isles

General Giraud was to meet with General Eisenhower to discuss the terms of the command of the Allied landings in North Africa, but only to be told on boarding by his American counterpart that he was not to take command since Eisenhower himself had been chosen by the US army

He nevertheless took part in "Operation Torch" that pointed Casablanca, Oran and Algiers as landing spots. The operation lasted eight days in the fall of 1942 and was a great success and a critical step in the liberation of France

At the end of 1942 after the assassination of General Darlan on December 24 (by royalist student Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle), he maintained command and control over French civil and military forces alongside the Allies at the request of the US