Le Molay-Littry

In 1833, Edouard, Count of Chabrol – Crousol, transformed and extended the chateau; giving it the architectural style it has today. The Count of Chabrol – Crousol was a member of the House of Peers, during the reign of Napoleon III. An art collector and avid book – lover, he was the grandfather of the French composer Vincent d’Indy who died in 1931. Edouard was the prefect of the Seine region of Paris and inaugurated the Palais Brongniart which was built by order of Napoleon Bonaparte to offer a permanent home to the Paris stock exchange in 1826.

At the end of the 19th century, the chateau became the property of the Viellard family.

There followed a sumptuous period of 50 years up to the dark hours of 1940 when the chateau was commandeered by the German Army.

The Balleroy and Molay-Littry area was one of the places where the Germans were setting up V-weapon installations, which though never used, is a fascinating and scary story. The chateau is one of the places were the weapons were planned to be launched from. The devastating V2 weapon was the first ever ballistic missile. It was estimated that by the later stages of the war some 100 rockets per day could have launched. The area and the V-weapons project were under the control of Generalleutnant (General) Dietrich Kraiss and his 352nd Static Infantry Division.

Kraiss was a commander of the 90th Infantry Regiment (from September 1939 to March 1941), 168th Infantry Division (from July 1941 to March 1943) and 355th Infantry Division until May 1943. In November 1943 he took command of the 352nd Infantry Division which was in 1944, with six other divisions, located in Normandy in front of the Allied invasion. His 352nd Infantry Division had 7,400 soldiers and kept defensive positions around St. Lô. He was eventually killed in the fighting of Omaha Beach when one of their own mortars hit him blowing him to pieces. Dietrich Kraiss was born on November 16, 1889 in Stuttgart and died on 2 August 1944 – he was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves for his services.

Tournières is a little village not far from Molay-Littry where U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower established his first HQ in France code-named Shellburst. The success of the landings on June 5, 1944, led the Red Cross, and later the Maquis, to establish themselves here temporarily. Many important meetings took place at Shellburst.

After the liberation of the area by Allied Forces in early June, engineers of the Ninth Air Force IX Engineering Command began construction of a combat Advanced Landing Ground outside of the town. Declared operational on 25 June, the airfield was designated as "A-9", it was used by photo-reconnaissance units and various repair and support units until October when it was closed.[2][3]

A boarding school for girls from Saint–Lo, then a summer camp for Citroen both benefited from its peaceful grounds until 1978. At that time, the chateau was completely renovated and transformed into a three star hotel. In February 1993, the Chateau du Molay was purchased by Travelbound, an English company owned by TUI Travel.