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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 longtime, 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 2nd 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
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