Colombelles is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Calvados

Calvados

The French department of Calvados is part of the region of Basse-Normandie in Normandy. It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off the English Channel coast...

 department in the Basse-Normandie

Basse-Normandie

Lower Normandy is an administrative region of France. It was created in 1956, when the Normandy region was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy...

 region

Régions of France

France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 in northwestern France.

It is located on the Canal de Caen à la Mer

Canal de Caen à la Mer

Canal de Caen à la Mer also called the "Caen Canal") is a short canal in the department of Calvados, France, connecting the Port of Caen, in the city of Caen, downstream to the town of Ouistreham and the English Channel....

.

Population

The population of this sleepy little village mushroomed after Auguste Thyssen bought some land in 1909 and established a steel mill there.

Twin towns

Colombelles is twinned with Fremington, Devon

Fremington, Devon

Fremington is a village and civil parish in North Devon three miles west of Barnstaple. It was formerly a borough that sent members to Parliament in the reign of Edward III. The parish includes the neighbouring villages of Bickington and Yelland, the latter only asserting its identity as separate...

 (UK) since 1983 and with Steinheim am Albuch

Steinheim am Albuch

Steinheim am Albuch is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Steinheim is known for its meteorite crater.-References:...

 (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) since 1986 (see that article in German).