Saint-Lô, Manche Département, Normandy, France

🇫🇷 Saint-Lô is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.

Although it is the second largest city of Manche after Cherbourg, it remains the prefecture of the department. It is also chef-lieu of an arrondissement and two cantons. The place name derives from that of a local saint, Laud of Coutances. A martyr city of World War II, Saint-Lô was decorated with the Legion of Honour in 1948 and was given the nickname "Capital of the Ruins", a phrase popularised by Samuel Beckett.

Geography: Location Saint-Lô is in the centre of Manche, in the middle of the Saint-Lois bocage, 57 km (35 mi) west of Caen, 78 km (48 mi) south of Cherbourg and 119 km (74 mi) north of Rennes.

The city was born under the name of Briovera on a rocky outcrop of schist belonging to the Armorican Massif, in the Cotentin Peninsula, between the confluences of the Vire – which dominates the city centre – with the Dollée and Torteron, two rivers channelled in their urban sections. This historic heart of the city became L'Enclos, a site well suited to passive defence.

The east of the territory is the former commune of Sainte-Croix-de-Saint-Lô, south of Saint-Thomas-de-Saint-Lô, absorbed in 1964.

Economy The city, at a crossroads between Caen, Cherbourg and Rennes, has a natural vocation of marketplace in the centre of the Manche bocage. A city of craftsmen and trade, which owes part of its prosperity to its status of prefecture, it has experienced a late industrialisation and attempts to assert its place, today, in the regional agri-food industry. Despite this, the Saint-Lô country became one of the less industrial areas of the region. Its unemployment rate of 6.7% also hides an exodus of young workers to the area of Caen and Rennes. The entry into service of the RN 174  helped open up the centre of Manche and create a new industrial zone (ZAC Neptune).

In 2008, Saint-Lô was equipped with fibre optic cable to allow companies and individuals to have very high speed internet (approximately 1 Gbps and 100 Mbit/s for individuals). Companies should have had access to this speed by September 2008, with individuals not before September 2009. Saint-Lô will be one of the first cities in France of this size to be equipped with a fibre optic internet network.

Economy: Industries • Lecapitaine: Manufacturer of automotive bodywork and refrigeration, a subsidiary of Petit Forestier (320 employees – €33M turnover). • Moulinex: The Moulinex factory has long been the largest plant in Saint-Lô. When the group went bankrupt in 2004, the factory was a subsidiary of SEB, and general company for electric motors was revived as Euromoteurs, with SEB as the only customer. Part of the production lines were dismantled, sold to China and resettled there by the Green de Gourfaleur company. The Saint-Lô site had 150 employees and manufactured small and medium power electric motors. Suffering from only having the single client SEB, Euromoteurs was put into liquidation in 2007. • Alios, production plant which manufactures smart cards and CEV, a company that manages electronic transactions, grouped in the same building (80 employees) and subsidiaries of the Group Chèque Déjeuner. It is one of the key players in the Secure Electronic Transactions competitive cluster. • MT Verbom, company specialising in press tools. Created in 1985 on the Promenade des ports, the Martignoni-Traisnel company specialises in the production of auto parts, and moved in 1990 into the Chevallerie zone. In 1998 the company became closer with Canadian group Verbom and employed 65 people on the site in 2008.

Economy: Tertiary sector The town of Saint-Lô is very oriented towards services, thus since the fall of Moulinex, the France-United States Memorial Hospital became the first employer in the city. There are many jobs in administration related to its status of prefecture. Its location in the heart of the bocage allows it to sustain services connected historically with agriculture: It may be noted the presence of one of the seats of the Crédit agricole of Normandy whose closure was announced in June 2010, but also the insurer Groupama, clearly visible from the Major Howie roundabout, and Mutualité sociale agricole. Finally, many businesses have developed along the ring road.

Economy: Agriculture and agro-food hub The city hosts activities associated with the rearing of cattle and horses. Each week, a calf market took place in the market installed until 30 December 2008 near Les Ronchettes. From January 2009, it was removed and attached to the calf market at Torigni-sur-Vire. The city also has the Livestock Promotion Centre, located next to the stud farm, which hosts the equestrian competition of the Normandy horse show, each year in August. The agri-food cluster has developed since 1990 with the aim of hosting companies in this sector, several public or parapublic bodies are installed: • Adria normandie: technical advice centre for agro-processing. • The agri-food nursery. • Lilano: Laboratoire interprofessionnel laitier de Normandie [Inter-professional dairy laboratory of Normandy]. • The Centre of agri-food formation of Saint-Lô, an extension of the Thère Farming School located at Le Hommet-d'Arthenay. • Ardefa: Association régionale pour le développement de l'emploi et des formations dans les industries alimentaires [Regional Association for the development of employment and training in the food industries.] • Workshop of agri-food rotation. • The agri-food park of Saint-Georges-Montcocq / Le Mesnil-Rouxelin on which the master dairies are established; through lack of implementation, much remains undeveloped.

In 2008, the only success in the agri-food field was the success of the France Kebab enterprise, which had won many prizes in 2007.

Media Several regional media are disseminated in Saint-Lô and have an office. • La Manche libre  (weekly newspaper), headquarters • Ouest-France (daily press), departmental daily • La Presse de la Manche  (daily press) • Tendance Ouest formerly Radio Manche (radio) • France Bleu Cotentin  (radio).

Culture: Facilities • The Jean Lurçat Cultural Centre: media library, museum of fine arts auditorium, drawing school and community building. • Municipal music school • The Roger Ferdinand Theatre • The Normandy: concert hall for current music • Lieu Pluri-artistique Art Plume [Multi-artistic Pen Art Place] in the Valley of the Dollée • The cinema Cinemoviking, on Esplanade Jean-Grémillon.

The Cinemoviking cinema opened on 1 April 2009, and was the first cinema of Lower Normandy to offer 3D films.

Culture: Events • Asian Culture Festival and manga (in February) • Housing fair: Parc des expos (late February) • The Hétéroclites (in June): Street theatre, acrobatics, music, in the bucolic atmosphere of the Valley of the Dollée. • Festival of the Vire: At the Plage verte (last weekend in June) • Festival of music with the Tendance Live Show organised by Tendance Ouest  • Chess Festival (early July) Festival • Criterium of the ramparts of Saint-Lô: Around the Enclos (last Wednesday of July) • The Jeudis du haras [Thursdays of the Stud]: Saint-Lô stud farm (July and August) • Normandy horse show: equine complex (August) • Foire aux Croûtes et à la brocante [Fair of the Crusts and of the flea market]: City centre (in September): exhibition and sale of paintings of local artists and garage sale • Polyfollia: Choral festival (October, biennial; ended in 2014) • Challenges de la ville de Saint-Lô de tir [Challenges of the city of Saint-Lô of shooting] (rifle, pistol and field crossbow) organised annually by Saint-Lô shooting club at the Salle Saint-Ghislain on the Rue de l'Exode, the second weekend of October. • Fair of Saint-Lô: Parc des expos (October) • National stallion competition (October) • Sonic Meetings (in November), music festival.

Sports: Football In 2014–2015, FC Saint-Lô Manche developed its team first in CFA 2 and two other teams in the League of Lower Normandy. In 2004, the club was playing in the CFA. The club home is the recently built Louis-Villemer Stadium.

The Union sportive Sainte-Croix-de-Saint-Lô develops a football team in the League of Lower Normandy and two others in district divisions.

Sports: Other • Jimmer's de Saint-Lô: Baseball team was twice champion of France (1996 and 1997). Evolving in the Championship of France elite in 2006, the club was dropped for the 2007 season for financial reasons and evolved at the regional level in 2008. • The Normandy Horse Show is a major riding event for the promotion of the saddle horse. The annual event takes place around the week of 15 August. • Team Nissan France Dessoude, directed by André Dessoude, participates in Rally raid Championship, including the Dakar Rally. In 2002, he hired Johnny Hallyday. • ASPTT Saint-Lô Handball inhabited the French Championship of handball National 3  in 2012. • Saint-Lô Rugby Club. • Saint-Lô shooting club, formerly Buffalo Club, created 4 August 1952; the main shooting stand is located at 91 Rue Poterne to the level of the Tour des Beaux-Regards in the tunnels of the old unfinished German underground hospital, dug during the World War II. • Agneaux-Saint-Lô Chess Club. Recognised as one of the most dynamic chess clubs in France. The young team is part of the Top 16, first national division. • Saint-Lô Volley was playing in the Men's volleyball Championship of France National 3  in 2012. • Saint-Lô Floorball the first club of floorball in Manche. • ARC Club saint-lois: Archery club established in 1977, premier club in Manche. • Patronage laïque saint-lois [Saint-lois secular patronage]: Table tennis club.

Sports: Facilities • Sports complex of Saint-Ghislain (former indoor pool on Rue de l'Exode): ◦ Weight room ◦ Marcel Cerdan Boxing Hall ◦ Straw wall, in the gym, for archery ◦ Stadium ◦ Tennis courts • André-Guilbert – Maréchal-Juin Gym • Gym Hall of the Bois Ardent & Dojo Alain-Crépieux Dojo – Place George Pompidou • Table tennis hall – Rue du Mesnilcroc • Complex of the Vaucelle: Jean-Berthelem Stadium – base of canoeing • Louis-Villemer Stadium  – Ronchettes: football pitch • Aurora Stadium – Ronchettes: rugby ground • Fernand-Beaufils Sports Centre – Champs de Mars: basketball, fencing room • Aquatic Centre – Bois Jugan, opened in January 2005. It has a 25 m pool with a movable floor to adjust depth, a leisure pool (wild river, seat massage, etc.), a wading pool, an outdoor pool open year-round and a gym (cold bath, Jacuzzi, hammam, fitness room and massage shower). • The tennis courts of the Memorial Tennis Club – France-United States Memorial Hospital  • Equestrian centre of the Gourmette saint-loise • Squash – Bois Jugan (near the aquatic centre) • Compact golf – Bois Jugan • Archery field – Rue Valvire (at the end) • Baseball field.

Transport Saint-Lô is located in the centre of the department of Manche and is therefore a node of communication between Nord-Cotentin and southern Manche.

Transport: Road Saint-Lô lies halfway along the Coutances–Bayeux axis (RD 972). A bypass road was commissioned in the 1980s to allow the decongestion of the city from the south. To open up the port of Cherbourg, the region and the department decided the construction of a dual carriageway, RN 174. It is a part of the European route E03 and enables direct connection to Rennes and Europe from the south, through the interchange at Guilberville. The southern section now connects Saint-Lô directly to the A84 autoroute, allowing motorway access to Caen and Rennes. The commissioning of the northern section, which is currently under construction, will meanwhile allow access to Cherbourg and England via the Route nationale 13. The construction of the dual carriageway allowed the extension of the small South ring road heading west and its mutation into genuine urban bypass. It has also enabled the creation and expansion of new business zones which contribute strongly to the current growth of the agglomeration.

Transport: Rail The Gare de Saint-Lô is served by TER trains on the Caen – Rennes railway line. It is in the majority of services for travellers in the direction of Caen via Lison or in the direction of Coutances. A few trains, two daily return trips, serve as far as Rennes via Avranches.

Following the electrification of the section of railway between Lison and Saint-Lô during 2006, the SNCF and local communities experienced a direct Intercités service (without change of train) to the Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris for two years, between December 2008 and December 2010. This service was not sustained due to a lack a sufficient number of passengers. There is also the disused former industrial line to Condé-sur-Vire. The section between Gourfaleur and Condé-sur-Vire, adjacent to the towpath along the Vire, is used by the Vélorail of the Vire valley since 2007.

Transport: Urban Urban transportation is provided by the Transports Urbains Saint-Lô Agglomération: TUSA (formerly Transport Urbains Saint-Lô Agneaux), was created in 1980. In 2010, the network consisted of four lines (Odyssée, Azur, Horizon and Alizé) with 15 buses and one Ocitolà transport on demand minibus. However, since 3 January 2011, it is composed of three lines (1, 2 and 3) still with 15 buses and one Ocitolà transport on demand minibus. In 2008, the company recorded more than 850,000 journeys.

On 15 May 2013, seven new vehicles were integrated with the fleet, namely five Vehixel  Cytios 4/44, and two Mercedes-Benz Citaro K BHNS. The total fleet is composed of a Renault Master B.20 (for the Ocitolà transport on demand), 5 Vehixel Cytios 4/44, 2 Mercedes-Benz Citaro K BHNS, two Van Hool A320 five Heuliez GX 317 and a Heuliez GX 327.

A new vehicle wrapping campaign is underway, the yellow livery will disappear in favour of a red livery. Added to this, a campaign of improving vehicle facilities, to meet the new standards of accessibility of public transit, including on-board announcements and scrolling banners. The old Renault PR 100.2 (nos. 97205, 97207 to 97210) and Renault PR112  (nos. 97211 and 97212) were scrapped.

Transport: Intercity The commune is associated with the departmental public buses (Manéo) by the lines: • 001: Cherbourg-Octeville – Valognes – Carentan – Saint-Lô • 002: Coutances – Marigny – Saint-Lô • 109: Saint-Lô – Periers • 113: Villedieu-les-Poêles – Saint-Lô • 117: Guilberville – Torigni – Saint-Lô • 303: Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët – Vire – Saint-Lô – Lison • 304: Brécey – Villedieu-les-Poêles – Saint-Lô – Lison.

Transport: Air and river Despite its status of prefecture, there is no airfield in the vicinity of the town. The nearest is that of Lessay, and for an airport, to join that of Caen-Carpiquet, Cherbourg-Maupertus or Rennes – Saint-Jacques.

Inland waterway transport on the Vire once existed with scows ensuring the transport of tangue. It is no longer possible, due to lack of maintenance of the various equipment and the Vire.

Education: University Institute of Technology The site of Saint-Lô is a component of the IUT of Cherbourg-Manche  which offers the following courses: • DUT Multimedia Professions and the Internet  • DUT Thermal Engineering and Energy  • Professional licence, development and protection of the cultural heritage, option virtual reality and multimedia training • Professional licence, management maintenance and industrial exploitation.

A part of the Groupe FIM, training organisation of the CCI of Centre Sud-Manche  and that of Cherbourg.

Education: School of Management and Commerce The School of Management and Commerce of Saint-Lô was established in 1988 under the auspices of the FIM Group and is currently headed by Yves Ricolleau. A member of the national network of the EGC, the school offers post-BAC training  consisting of three years of responsible marketing, commercialisation and management. The school gains about 40 new students each year.

History Saint-Lô has long been an important centre of the economy of Normandy. It has attracted the covetousness of neighboring nations, including England, resulting in many successive invasions. It lost its dominant position towards the end of the 19th century because it failed to take advantage of the first Industrial Revolution, which instead affected much of the predominantly peasant population. However, the decentralisation policy allowed the city to return to the foreground.

History: Briovère Originally called Briovera (meaning "Bridge on the Vire River" in Gaulish) (often written in French as Briovère), the town is built on and around ramparts. The town started life as a Gallic fortified settlement, occupied by the tribe of the Unelli of Cotentin. Briovere was conquered by the Romans led by Quintus Titurius Sabinus in 56 BC, after the defeat of their leader Viridovix at Mont Castre. Roman peace led the development of Gallo-Roman rural areas, on the model of the Roman villae rusticae as in Canisy, Marigny and Tessy-sur-Vire, whose names are based on the suffix -i-acum of location of Celtic origin *-i-āko-, and often composed with a Latin personal name, carried by a Gallo-Roman native. Then, the region was the scene of various Saxon invasions during the 3rd century. The Franks did not establish an administrative power there, although Briovera was nevertheless entitled to hammer coinage. Historian Claude Fauchet said, "the Coutentin, at the same time as our Merovingian kings, was inhabited by the Sesnes (Saxons), pirates, and seems to have been abandoned by Carolingians, as variable and too remote for correction by our kings, to the Normans and other plunderers of sea"…

Sainte-Croix Church was built in 300, said to be on the ruins of a temple of Ceres. Christianity grew quite late. There were only four bishops of Coutances  before 511. Laud of Coutances, bishop in 525–565, had a residence here. After his death he was beatified and was particularly honoured by Briovera, which would have housed his tomb. A pilgrimage was conducted and the city took the name of Saint-Laud, and then the name Saint-Lô which has been known since the 8th century.

History: Middle Ages The Bretons, led by King Salomon, began to occupy the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula from 836. Before their advances, in August 867, Charles the Bald gave Salomon the Comitatus Constantiensis, territory over which he had little influence. In 889, the Vikings travelled up the Vire and besieged Saint-Lô. Protected by solid ramparts built, according to tradition, in the early 9th century by Charlemagne, the town did not initially surrender. The attackers then cut the water supply, resulting in the surrender of the inhabitants. The Vikings massacred the inhabitants, including the Bishop of Coutances, and then razed the town. The seat of the diocese moved to Rouen. It was only in 1025 that Bishop Herbert decided to return to the walls of Saint-Lô and restore the episcopal see. Then, under Geoffrey de Montbray, the town experienced a great economic development, taking advantage of the Norman expedition in Sicily. Robert Guiscard, a close associate of Geoffrey, brought important loot to Apulia and Calabria, and it was thanks to this treasure that Geoffrey was able to rebuild Coutances Cathedral in 1056. Saint-Lô is famous for its goldsmiths and even Matilda of Flanders, the wife of William the Conqueror, ordered two candelabra for the Abbaye aux Dames.

The population of the region participated in the conquest of England. Henry I, Count of Cotentin and eventually King of England strengthened Saint-Lô in 1090. In 1091, Geoffrey de Montbray, Bishop of Coutances, had a lock and mills built on the River Vire. With the death of Henry I in 1135, Stephen of Blois, Count of Mortain and Geoffrey of Anjou disputed the legitimacy of the realm. Saint-Lô sided with Stephen but was taken in 1139 by the Plantagenet army in just three days. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, passed through Saint-Lô and a church, of which there remains no trace except the name of the Rue Saint-Thomas, was dedicated to him. In 1204, Saint-Lô submitted to Philip Augustus and became French. During this period of peace, the town prospered: It had the Hôtel-Dieu built on the edges of the town along with part of the Notre-Dame church and in 1234 a guild of tailors was established. Saint Louis came to the city twice, in 1256 and 1269. Saint-Lô was then the third largest town in the Duchy of Normandy after Rouen and Caen. In 1275 it received the right to mint coins from King Philip III of France, which it maintained until 1693. It specialised in tanneries with the designation la vache de Saint-Lô [the cowhide of Saint-Lô]. After Toustain de Billy its own trade of laces and leather aiguillettes amounted to one million in 1555; in knife making: A 16th century saying "Qui voudroit avoir bon couteau, Il faudroit aller à Saint-Lô" ['Who would wish to have good knife, it would be necessary to go to Saint-Lô']; in goldsmithing; and in textiles, one of the main centres of France. There were more than 2,000 weavers, located mostly near the Dollée, a less powerful river than the Vire but with a smoother flow. Wool was imported from across the Cotentin peninsula. An order of 20 June 1460 fixed a special edge to the sheets of Saint-Lô.

On 24 September 1351 the king, John the Good, created a mint but did it did not receive the right to strike under the letter "S" in 1389. In January 1538, the letter "C" was attributed to him. The coins minted in Saint-Lô in the Middle Ages are also characterised by a "secret spot" under the nineteenth letter of the legend. The city was robbed of its monetary title in September 1693 in favour of Caen. Then, it returned to conflict with the Hundred Years' War. Geoffroy de Harcourt, a knight with franchises in Nord-Cotentin, betrayed the King of France and gave his homage to Edward III. In response, the barons Percy, Bacon and La Roche-Tesson were beheaded in Paris and their heads were exhibited in Saint-Lô for two years. The English landed at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue on 12 July 1346 and then move upon Saint-Lô on 22 July. Jean Froissart describes "the big town of Saint-Leu in Constentin… for the hard times, was rich and mercantile". The town was again sacked. Then the town was struck by the Black Death in 1347. Saint-Lô was reconquered in 1378 by Charles VI but it was again lost to English rule on 12 March 1418. During this period of political unrest, the lesser lords no longer knew where to place their allegiance. The French regained Saint-Lô on behalf of Charles VII on 12 September 1449. The king confirming the status of the Duchy of Normandy, it was the turn of the Duke of Brittany to occupy Manche, but Saint-Lô successfully repelled an attack in 1467, decimating a part of the Breton troops who were trapped by surprise in the Rue Torteron. On 9 November 1469, the ducal ring was broken and Normandy was definitively integrated into the Kingdom of France.

16th to 20th centuries The period of peace had returned but the Cotentin lost its importance. Francis I was acclaimed at the door of the Neufbourg in 1532. In the 16th century, Protestantism won the round. Saint-Lô had a reformed church from 1555 and early printed books would be Protestant works. Saint-Lô suffered notably during the Wars of Religion. The Huguenots, holding Saint-Lô and Carentan, ransacked Coutances in 1562 and seized the Bishop Artus de Cossé-Brissac, who was dragged in the town of Saint-Lô on a donkey. Although, while the Edict of Pacification of Amboise had prompted the city to submit to Charles IX in February 1574, Norman Protestants made their headquarters in Saint-Lô. Troops led by the Marshal de Matignon  besieged the city on 1 May, assaulted it 10 days later and captured it on 10 June. There were more than 500 deaths among those whose leader was Colombières, Lord of Bricqueville, but the Protestant Grand Captain Gabriel I of Montgomery escaped through the door of the Dollée. The town was ceded to Jacques II de Matignon  who built the citadel. Two years later the seigneury of the bishops of Coutances over the town ceased forever.

As a result of the war, in 1580, Saint-Lô lost the headquarters of the présidial, transferred to Coutances, capital of the bailiwick. In the mid-17th century part of the walls were destroyed, and the town grew with a new borough known as Neufborg. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), most craftsmen abandoned Saint-Lô. The Revolt of the va-nu-pieds shook the area slightly in 1636, when the Government wanted to extend the gabelle in Cotentin. The region flourished especially in the manufacture of so-called d'estame wool socks. In 1678, the relics of Saint Laud were brought back to Notre-Dame. The route between Paris and Cherbourg, built to 1761, passes to Saint-Lô, facilitating trade. The French Revolution of 1789 overthrew the administrative division of the France and the capital of the department was temporarily set at Coutances between 1794 and 1796. Saint-Lô took the Republican name  "Rocher de la Liberté" [Rock of Freedom] and a tree was planted on the Champ de Mars. The city was relatively untouched during the Reign of Terror although there were some clashes with the Chouans.

The Napoleonic period saw the creation of the national stud. In 1827, Marie Thérèse of France, Duchess of Angoulême, passed through Saint-Lô and she was struck by the beauty of the landscape. She then planned to bring the sea to Saint-Lô making the River Vire navigable. The creation of the Vire and Taute Canal  in 1833 allowed the establishment of the connection between Carentan and Saint-Lô. Then, by order of 10 July 1835, the Vire was classified as navigable. Baron Alfred Mosselman built a port at Saint-Lô in recruiting nearly 250 military detainees and Spanish prisoners. A boatyard was created and traffic flowed at 50 tons in 1841 to more than 132 in 1846. Mosselman  then launched barges and introduced horse traction by arranging the towpaths of the waterway. Several goods were transported but mainly the tangue  and the lime from the quarries of Pont-Hébert and Cavigny. It thus passed from 1,233 tonnes of lime production in 1841 to 30,000 in 1858. In 1867, the paper mill of Valvire was built near the spillway and manufactured packing paper. It was destroyed by fire in 1930 and little remains beyond the chimney of the plant.

Saint-Lô ruled out the Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg railway because its inhabitants, having fear of industrial progress, refused a path linking them to Paris. It would be attached to the rail network in 1860. In the 19th century, Saint-Lô, in the heart of a rich farming area, established itself as an important place for trade in animals, but the fear of the rural population towards the industrial revolution was blocking its development. River traffic transit saw 53,000 tonnes of goods, only 6% of which were foodstuffs. A leak was discovered in the canal and the River Vire was decommissioned in 1926. The region experienced a significant rural exodus and suffered casualties of the war of 1870 and the First World War. The Valvire paper mill burned down in the 1930s and would never be rebuilt. The demographics of the department was very negative from 1850. The city entered World War II in a declining situation.

In 1914 and 1915, Saint-Lô welcomed the temporary hospital No. 2 of the 10th Army Corps.

The criminal case of Jean Philippe took place in Saint-Lô, and was then judged by the Court of Assizes of Manche, at Coutances on 9 December 1940.

History: World War II France was invaded in 1940 and the 7th Panzer Division, commanded by Rommel, entered Normandy. The objective being the capture of the city of Cherbourg, the centre of Manche was bypassed as the German Army occupied Saint-Lô, a strategic crossroads, on the night of 17 June 1940. During the occupation, the statue of the Norman dairywoman and the Havin statue, both made by Arthur Le Duc  were sold and melted to make cannons, despite opposition from local politicians. In March 1943, the Germans decided to dig a tunnel under the rock. For the time being, no one is able to say what the usefulness of this tunnel would have been, though it was dug at the same time as the Agneaux Institute. Workers from the STO would be required until the beginning of the Battle of Normandy. Then, the underground, under construction, would house the sick of the Hôtel-Dieu located opposite and a part of the Saint-Lô population.

A German soldier was shot in January 1944 and several local people were arrested. The cinema, theatre and bars were closed, radios confiscated and the curfew was extended to 8pm.

During the Liberation, Saint-Lô suffered two series of air attacks during the Battle of Normandy. The first was the bombardment of the city by the Americans during the night of D-Day 6–7 June 1944. The first American air strike killed almost eight hundred civilians. Allied planes continued to attack the power plant and rail facilities daily for a week.

A second series of air attacks began on 17 July, during the Battle of Saint-Lô, which would give its name to the USS St. Lo. This time the city was bombed by the Germans. As a main transport centre, the city was a nexus of military activity starting the Battle of Normandy and on to the breakout from Normandy, Operation Cobra. As a result of air and ground attacks, Saint-Lô was almost totally destroyed (90–95% according to common estimates). The city was dubbed "The Capital of the Ruins" by Samuel Beckett. Saint-Lô was one of the key cities to the opening of the Falaise Gap, which ultimately allowed Allied forces to expel the Germans from northern France.

By order of Major General Charles Gerhardt, a jeep carried the body of Major Thomas Howie, later immortalized as "The Major of St. Lô", wrapped in a flag on its hood so that it could be said that he was the first American to enter the city.

Saint-Lô received the Legion of Honour  and the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 on 2 June 1948 with a citation for "capital of the Manche Department which has retained full confidence in the destiny of the country. Suffered on the night of 6–7 June, with a heroic calm, an air bombardment to such a point that its inhabitants could consider themselves as citizens of the capital of the ruins". These awards would be given on 6 June by President Vincent Auriol. The two communes, now absorbed from Sainte-Croix-de-Saint-Lô and Saint-Thomas-de-Saint-Lô, were also decorated with the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 on 11 November 1948.

History: Postwar After the war the question arose as to whether the town should be rebuilt or left with its ruins intact as a testimony to the bombing. One American soldier laconically commented: "We sure liberated the hell out of this place".

Almost totally destroyed (97%), Saint-Lô had the unenviable nickname of Capital of Ruins, an expression attributed to Archbishop Bernard Jacqueline. It was the reason which compelled the prefect of the ruins Édouard Lebas  to settle in Coutances. This Capital of Ruins was revived by Samuel Beckett in his text The Capital of Ruins of 10 June 1946, which he wrote for Raidió Éireann, proving how much it remained marked by what he had seen and done in Saint-Lô. The Notre-Dame church located on the ramparts still bears the scars of bombing and bloody clashes which took place. The population timidly returned to the city. There were 180 people on 12 August 1944, but U.S. authorities decided not to issue authorisation of residence and supplied tickets. A lengthy clean-up began, including the corpses of residents and soldiers, which lasted until 15 October 1944. However, officials hesitated to rebuild Saint-Lô. Indeed, some were willing to leave the ruins as a testament to the martyrdom of the city and later rebuild a new Saint-Lô. The population declined, preferring to reinhabit its city.

In April 1945, the Reconstruction  Minister Raoul Dautry advocated a provisional wooden barracks building. These huts are built through the generosity of the donations. Thus, the association of the Swiss grant  unblocked an appropriation of 620,000 Swiss francs to build homes and a community centre. On 10 October 1949, Switzerland offered a gold ingot to the city which yielded 649,490 francs. There were ten housing estates in 1948, some which contained over 70 houses. The barracks were delivered in kit form, and it was enough to build them on the spot. Each had different specifics according to their place of origin (Swedish, Finnish, Swiss, French, American, Canadian). The Irish Red Cross participated in the construction of a 100-bed hospital consisting of 25 buildings (located level with the Pasteur college) and landed 174 tons of equipment starting in August 1945. The hospital was inaugurated on Sunday, 7 April 1946 and the Irish medical team left Saint-Lô at the beginning of January 1947. This hospital, consisting of wooden shacks, operated until 1956.

By 1948, a more permanent Saint-Lô had to be rebuilt. This would be done on the basis of plans designed by the Chief Architect of the reconstruction André Hilt (died 1946), which had proposed to retain the general fabric of the town by adapting it to modern needs. President Vincent Auriol laid the first stone just four years after landing.

As partial reparation for the destruction of the city, the Americans, behind the bombing, decided to build a modern hospital. The plans were made by the architect Paul Nelson, who decided to build a contemporary-style building. It is located on the Route de Villedieu. Work began in 1949, and it was completed on 10 May 1956. A monumental mosaic was made by Fernand Léger, which pays tribute to peace and Franco-American friendship: Both hands towards the Cotentin Peninsula symbolised with an apple tree branch in bloom. It was at that time the largest hospital in Europe. On 29 November 1949, the journalist Frédéric Pottecher submitted a hypothesis to not move the prefecture of Manche from Saint-Lô. Although, during the reconstruction, it was temporarily placed in Coutances. The whole of the population reacted and a petition collected more than 2,400 signatures: in the journal le Réveil, an article quotes: So come back to Saint-Lô, Sir! Not for burial, but to see the prefecture, the building sites, the plans, the nerve of the victims. You will see how keenly the people of Saint-Lô will kick your backside.

The prefecture returned to Saint-Lô in 1953, into new premises.

Saint-Lô was rebuilt. The dominant style was a neo-regionalist functionalism which was dominated by concrete. Its dated and monotonous character was soon criticised. If this choice, dictated by the circumstances and the immediate problems of the housing of Saint-Lô, leaves regrets today, it makes Saint-Lô, on a smaller scale than Le Havre or Lorient, one of the most striking testimonies of the reconstruction period. A few streets contain vestiges of the old Saint-Lô: some houses on the Rue du Neufbourg, Rue Croix-Canuet and Falourdel, Rue Saint-Georges and Porte au Four. This last street houses the last medieval way of Saint-Lô. In 1964, Saint-Lô absorbed two neighbouring communes, Sainte-Croix-de-Saint-Lô (660 inhabitants in 1962, to the east of the territory) and Saint-Thomas-de-Saint-Lô (306 inhabitants to the south). The town benefitted from the economic growth of the Trente Glorieuses and the population grew by 30% between 1968 and 1975. It built neighbourhoods of buildings in the Valley of the Dollée and Val Saint-Jean. The theatre, meanwhile, was inaugurated in 1963.

The square of the town hall was completely redeveloped in the 1990s. The city organised a large demonstration on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Normandy landings. The edges of the Vire were reconfigured with the rehabilitation of the towpath and the creation of a green beach, at the Place du Quai-à-Tangue. A scow was rebuilt and crossed the river, in order to remember former river traffic. In 2004, the rural area of Bois-Jugan was urbanised, with the creation of housing within a framework of preservation of green spaces and a large aquatic centre. Later, the Des Ronchettes water tower was built following an unusual method for the time, since the tank (strongly resembling a flying saucer) was built at the ground level, then raised by a system of jacks, as the rings composing its body were manufactured. As such, its elevation allows a mounting point for telecommunication (mobile phone, WiMAX, and FM radio) networks.