The military Fort de Pierre Levée was built in the years 1858-1866 for 400 soldiers and their officers.
'Pierre Levée' was the name of a large menhir that had to be removed from the site (it was chopped to pieces
to be used as building stones).
After 1971 part of the fort was used as a prison. The most famous inmate was
marshal Philippe Pétain (1856-1951), from 1940-1944 Chief of State of Vichy France.
During World War II, with the imminent fall of France in June 1940, Pétain was appointed Premier of France
by President Lebrun at Bordeaux, and the Cabinet resolved to make peace with Germany.
The entire government subsequently moved briefly to Clermont-Ferrand, then to Vichy.
The Vichy government voted to transform the discredited French Third Republic into the 'French State'.
After the war, Pétain was tried and convicted for treason.
Originally sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted to life in prison.
He served his sentence in the Fort de Pierre Levée from 1945 to 1951, and died in Port-Joinville on Île d'Yeu
where he -already terminally ill- was allowed to stay a few weeks before his death.