Welcome

Campsite

History

Neighbourhood

Le Village

Route

Tariff

Plan

Contact

THE UNDERGROUND STONE-PITS OF THE “COTEAUX DE LA PREE ” IN SAINT-LEU D’ESSERENT

From extraction of stone in the Gallo-roman age up to the fitting up of the “VI” German flying bombs in 1943/1944

EXTRACTION, SHAPING AND LIFE OF ASHLAR

Since the beginning of the first century of our era, on a hill-side, at the place named “La Prée”, near the last houses of the street called “du dernier bourguignon”, in Saint-Leu d’Esserent and up to the place named “ La Grande Goulette ”, where was created a path which cleared the high slope of the Oise Valley, near Thiverny, the Gallo Romans opened a stone-pit, in the different places where was the good ashlar. Traces of this exploitation were dug by Pierre DURVIN and a small team of benevolents, after the Second World War. Archaeologists set in full daylight workrooms of the stone-pit, a gallo-roman house, three sarcophaguses, two coffins in the inclined part of the “talus de la prée” (La Prée slope) near the current stone-pits of “Couvent”, “Montanier”, Notre-Dame”, “Saint-Quentin”; also near the inhabited quarter of La Prée , the “Dernier Bourguignon” street.

A large part of these stone-pits, opened by monks at the end of the twelfth century, was for a long time, for the current and up to 1939, worked by FEVRE & CO and after the German occupation of the last war, time in which the stone-pit was prohibited, taken back by the same company for extraction of this good “Pierre de Saint-Leu”(Saint-Leu stone), for twenty years.

The “Pierre de Saint-Quentin” (Saint-Quentin stone) has two different classifications, it’s a stone which is especially extracted in Saint-Leu:

A yellow stone, with fine and close texture and close texture which had remarkable uses for example building of the Saint-Leu abbatial church ( XIII th century) and the Pont-Neuf in Paris.

A soft stone with which were built the Saint-Leu d’Esserent Abbey (XIIIth century), the Chartres cathedral (Portal, in the XVth century) and the Palais de Luxembourg in Paris (1624)

1939, THE 2^nd OF SEPTEMBER, DECLARATION OF WAR AFFECTATION OF THE BIG UNDERGROUND STONE-PIT OF THE “COUVENT MONTANIER” ROAD FROM CREIL TO SAINT-LEU D’ESSERENT.

BRISSONEAU and LOTZ & CO, in their workrooms in Montataire, had to build the fuselage of the “LEO 45” planes, modern French bombers which were very useful during the hard battles of May and June of 1940 in north of France. A blitz in the BRISSONEAU and LOTZ workrooms getting more and more probable, it was quickly decided to move the workrooms to the big pit, on the road from Creil to Saint-Leu, this pit being equipped with new electric and ventilation devices. By this way the fuselage assembly lines where protected against blitz and sabotage.

END OF 1942 AND 1943 : STUDY AND OCCUPATION OF THE STONE-PIT OF THE “COUVENT MONTANIER” BY GERMANY FOR MOUNTING OF THE “VI FLYING BOMBS”

In the pits, Germans settled an important VI assembly line, which came in spare parts by train from the studying and testing base of Peenemünde, Germany. The small spare parts were sent away from the “VI pit” stocked and assembled on several places in the woods of Isle-A Dm, to avoid their destruction in Saint-Leu where the assembly rooms, which had only one exit, could be bombed frequently.

The “flying bomb” FIESELER FZG-76/VI looked like a little plane without pilot. Its motors had a 355 kg static thrust – Weight: 3 metric tons, including explosives – Power : 600 kg of a powerful explosive (Füllung 52 A or “Trialon 105”) – speed : 600 km per hour – accuracy of fire : 8 km – range: 240 km – ceiling : 2790 m – flight altitude : 800 m – cruising speed : 580 km/h at 760 m (speed stabilized by gyroscopes) – width : 5.38 m – length : 7.74 m. V, in ”VI”, means “Vergeltungswaffen”, or “ retaliation weapon”.

The VI were carries away, after assembly in Saint-Leu, to the rocket-launchers near the coasts of the Channel (region of Dieppe , woods of Crecy-en-Ponthieu) and on the coasts north of France, at less than 50 km of the sea. Wings and wings-tips were set on the fuselage in the rocket launcher’s spots.

The launchers were trained toward London. The VI were carries by train or by motor lorries.

THE WHOLE REGION OF CREIL SUFFERED GREAT DAMAGE

The German headquarters for assembly lines were settles in the current Town hall of Saint-Leu. Barracks had been built for the troops, near the H.Q. Because of the nearness of the stone-pits, the city of Saint-Leu was bombed many times, between march and august of 1944. Inhabitants sheltered, in daytime or nighttime, in their caves or, for more security, in the pit-holes of the street “du dernier bourguignon”. Some, in the downtown, used to go to the “Prieuré”, where Mr and Miss FOSSARD received them in the underground galleries of their property.

The VI base, dug under a natural 25 to 30 meter-thick vault, made of hard rock, resisted the bombings; a single secondary entrance suffered important damages. The approaches became more and more inaccessible, due to the big-size bomb impacts. The Little town of Saint-Leu, being destroyed for 85 percents, got after the war the “Croix de guerre” (Cross of War. a distinction) with a mention for the regiment.The store and the rail viaduct at Petit-Thérain, the airfield of Creil and its equipment, the fuel store and the material in Creil, the town of Saint-Maximin, where German soldiers were quartered, the town of Verneuil-en-Halatte next to the airfield, the material and fuel sore of “Bois aux Bouleaux” at Montgrésin, the town of Montataire in which the occupying forces had requisitioned the factories, the cities of Creil and Nogent-sur-Oise where were some important railway junctions: all theses spots were bombed.

The bridges over the Oise river were destroyed to block the way of the barges which carried the military equipments and the coal from northern regions of France: Nord, and Pas-de-Calais.

Germans stood on the defensive night and day! Anti-aircraft batteries were set near the stone-pit and the bridge of the Précy town, in the “Camp de César” (Caesar’s camp) in Gouvieux and around the airfield of Creil.

SOUTH OF THE OISE , A SPOT RESISTER OBSERVED WELL

Resister of the Creil region marked all the German installations and sent to London messages about troops and their movements, VI factories in the region, expeditions toward the rocket-launchers, carryings of troops and materials. They also transmitted to London the sites of the anti-aircraft batteries, of the blockhaus and of the different military equipments around the underground base, and the material and ammunition stores in all the region of Creil.

It has been a pleasure for the allied nation’s planes to break these spots to pieces during the first half of 1944. Unfortunately, many of the planes never got back to their base in England!

The Saint-Leu’s bridge over the Oise river having been destroyed in June of 1944 by French forces, the crossing of the river had to be done on barges which left Saint-Leu at the “Hôtel de l’Oise” (Oise river Mansion) and arrived in Saint-Maximin at “L’Auberge du Pont” (Bridge Inn). Everybody, French or German used this way for crossing. It gave the resisters a source of information about troop and material movements, military works etc… and permitted them to join together in little groups at the Hôtel de l’Oise, its owners being resisters. That’s the way they used to send to London the information they gathered.

Let’s notice that GOERING often came to Chantilly, maybe he also came to the Rotschild’s Castle in Saint-Maximin, where was the German aircraft H.Q., to meet the commander of the “Underground VI Base”. But even now we cannot be sure of that.

The study and information in this historical account, which are based on photographs, texts and slide about the reminded facts, made for ancients who lived during this war and for the youngs who have to know the pain of their elders, have been gathered thanks to the help of these “Living Memories” of the last war : Resisters, War Prisoners,

Internees and Self-Willed of Freedom, who I sincerely thank.

Paul MERCIER

Academic Society of History and Archaeology of Oise