La Pallice (also known as grand port maritime de La Rochelle) is the commercial deep-water port of La Rochelle, France. During the Fall of France, on 19 June 1940, approximately 6,000 exile Polish soldiers under the command of Stanisław Sosabowski arrived at La Pallice, from where they were evacuated to Great Britain - thus able to go on fighting till the end of the war. Under the Nazi Occupation of France, La Pallice was used as a U-boat base. The large submarine base built at that time still stands but is not in use.