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Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
Commune in Hauts-de-France, France From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Saint-Leu-d'Esserent (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ lø dɛsʁɑ̃]) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.[3]
Saint Leu is notable for 3,000 square metres (32,000 sq ft) of mushroom quarries under the Thiverny plateau.[4]
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History
During World War II, the quarries were one of three major underground V-1 flying bomb storage depots. In addition to the quarries, the facility included blockhouses, bunkers, flak emplacements and railway links. Allied intelligence firmly identified late in June 1944 that Saint-Leu-d'Esserent and Nucourt were V-1 storage depots.[5] On 27 June 1944, Saint-Leu-d'Esserent was initially bombed by the US Army Air Force,[6][7] then on 4/5 July 1944 by two RAF forces (the first unsuccessfully used Tallboy bombs in an attempt to collapse the limestone roof of the quarries).[5][8] Finally on 7 July 1944, an evening RAF raid successfully blocked the tunnels.[9]
The storage dump at Thiverny was bombed in 1944 on 5 May,[10] 11 July,[11] 12 July[12][13] and 19 July.[14][15][16][17]
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Population
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References
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