Saint-Leu-d'Esserent () is a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Oise
Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,41 ...
department in northern France.
Saint Leu is notable for of mushroom caves under the
Thiverny plateau.
History
During World War II, the caves were one of three major underground
V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...
storage depots. In addition to the caves, the facility included
blockhouses,
bunkers,
flak
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...
emplacements and railway links. Allied intelligence firmly identified late in June 1944 that Saint-Leu-d'Esserent and
Nucourt
Nucourt () is one of the communes of the Val-d'Oise department in the Île-de-France region of northern France. It is the location of limestone caves which were used as a World War II V-1 flying bomb
The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungs ...
were
V-1 storage depots.
[
] On 27 June 1944, Saint-Leu-d'Esserent was initially bombed by the US
Army Air Force
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
,
[
][
] then on 4/5 July 1944 by two RAF forces (the first unsuccessfully used
Tallboy bomb
Tallboy or Bomb, Medium Capacity, 12,000 lb was an earthquake bomb developed by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis and used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War."Medium capacity" refers to the ratio of bomb ...
s in an attempt to collapse the limestone roof of the caves).
[
]
The storage dump at Thiverny was bombed in 1944 on 5 May,
11 July,
12 July
and 19 July.
See also
* Communes of the Oise department
The following is a list of the 679 communes of the Oise department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):[V-1 flying bomb (facilities)
To carry out the planned V-1 "flying bomb" attacks on the United Kingdom, Germany built a number of military installations including launching sites and depots. Some of the installations were huge concrete fortifications.
The Allies became aware ...]
References
Communes of Oise
Caves of France
V-weapon subterranea
World War II strategic bombing
World War II sites in France
Landforms of Hauts-de-France
{{Oise-geo-stub