Hi,

it's an interesting question. Everybody know that 1st Flotilla was located in the former L'Ecole Navale (over the U-Boat bunker):
[goo.gl]
Both buildings exist till today.

While reading "Die Festung", I was wondering about location of the 9th Flotilla too.

In the novel is a description of the route from the 9th Flotilla headquarter to U-Boat bunker and some other details that can help locate the site.

Some useful information also can be found in the following three reports from the interrogations of the survivors from the sunken U-Boats:

U 660 [www.uboatarchive.net]
"Brest. The 9th U-Boat Flotilla has recently been formed at Brest. The Senior Officer is Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, formerly in command of "U 96." This flotilla is stated to consist of about 26 U-Boats, most of them newly-commissioned. A former hospital at Kerebecam has been taken over to accommodate personnel of this flotilla."

U 188 [www.uboatarchive.net]
"Personnel of the 9th Flotilla were said to be quartered in the Kerebecam section of the city in a group of buildings formerly designed as a sanitarium. The guard house and garage were to the right and left of the main gate. Behind them was the five-story building containing offices, mess halls, and recreation rooms. The driveway went under this building to the officers’ quarters and mens’ barracks, and the two-story air raid shelter."

U 409 [www.uboatarchive.net]
All officers and men including the Personnel Reserve of the 9th Flotilla are quartered in a group of buildings, known as the Stutzpunkt (Base) on the site of the old cycle track in the Kerebecam district. The sketch plan of the base shows the arrangement of the buildings which were originally designed by the French for a sanitarium. They were completed by he Germans and occupied in the latter part of 1942. Commuting between the U-boat shelter and the base is by motor bus following the Rue de Siam. Just north of the Place de la Liberté, known to the Germans as the Theater Platz, is the main gate to the Base. Inside the wall the first building to the left contains the living quarters of the flotilla commander and visiting officers. In another building to the right are housed the officers of the Personnel Reserve and a unit of the guard. Behind these buildings lies the long curved 4-story Haus Endrass in the left end of which is located the canteen, and the Mess for officers and men; the Personnel Reserve occupy other parts of the building. The main driveway goes under Haus Endrass to reach the large and small air raid shelters, behind which are the crew headquarters in Haus Gilardone, the flotilla officers' quarters and the administrative offices in Haus Jürst. Up the hill inside the rear wall are the swimming pool and the athletic field. Outside the rear wall are storage facilities for gasoline and materials used by the Organization Todt.



Combining all these information together and using some pre-war maps of Brest, I guess sure that 9th Flotilla headquarter was located at the area of the Hôpital Augustin-Morvan, which was build at the former Fort des Fédérés


(source: [alain.liscoet.pagesperso-orange.fr])


(Map from 1899, source: [www.wiki-brest.net])


(Map from 1913, source: [www.discusmedia.com])


Today, this area: [goo.gl] is occupied by Faculté de Médecine et de Sciences de la Santé, CHRU de Brest Hôpital Morvan and Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire.

--
Regards
Maciek


[www.tvre.org]