When having crossed the line of demarcation, November 11, 1942, the German army had broken on France still nonoccupied and had placed it under its authority, the littoral was prohibited. A few weeks later, the population had to evacuate all the dwellings which were between the littoral road and the shore, of Pharo with Callelongue.
In 1944, the German authorities ordered even with the French authorities to make urgently apply a " general plan of evacuation " carrying to a " maritime zone " including all the districts ranging between " the Small valley of Oriol, the Périer boulevard, Prado, the street of Rome, the Course Belsunce, the street of Aix, the boulevard of Paris, the avenue of Arenc, St-Louis, Estaque and the sea ". It was not carried out.

The occupant destroyed at the direct edge of the littoral all that was on the fields of fire of the heavy weapons that it started to install all along the coast, Spain in Italy.
In Marseilles, the Todt organization and the German army reinforced existing defenses, built walls and defenses anti-unloading, the powerful ones and enormous blockhouses, sites of batteries, as well along the littoral on the islands. Some of these blockhouses and their shelters annex (connected sometimes by underpasses) are still noticed on the road of Goudes, there was immense with the Borély park (it was demolished to increase the racecourse), at the height St-Jean. Part of the " Wall of the Mediterranean " always borders the road, on the left, between Bonneveine and the Point-Red. And the most spectacular installation, the underwater base of the course Janet, was integrated into the port and was arranged in hangar. The interior walls were decorated by it naive paintings and graffitis of sailors and soldiers... The building site had been bombarded by it on 2 December 1943 and there had been a hundred died and casualties among the civil and military " manufacturers ".

With the Release, all the German batteries of the city and surroundings took part in the Battle of Marseilles which continued during one week. One saw leaving the islands the blows of the parts of very large gauges which drew on the troops of Montsabert advanced in the valley from Huveaune, close to Aubagne. Others, lighter, posted at the height St-Nicolas sprinkled shrapnells all the center, setting fire to the building of Mixed and part of the Palate of the Stock Exchange, transforming Canebière into field of broken glasses, torn off wire, of thousand remains, adding thus to the considerable already undergone destruction on previous 27 May.
August 25 in the morning, of the Cornice, while the guns thundered of cuirassé NEVADA, one saw ten eight American planes to bombard the Friuli, as the day before English planes had taken for target Extremely-St-Nicolas.