22 May 1941
Observing the Factory
Raymond and Laurent continued observing the Ollivier factory complex. They noted that two of the buildings appeared to be normal assembly plants, but the third, which originally appeared to be administrative, occasionally had people in lab coats coming out for smoke breaks out a side door.
They also noticed that the Ollivier factory was guarded by civilians armed with pre-war French equipment, not German soldiers, and that there was only a fence on the north side of the complex, which was not bordered by water.
The power plant consisted of a main building on the plant side of the river, but was connected to a block house on the far side of the river such that one could walk across the river from the block house to the main building.
Raymond suggested that the best plan was to take out the transformers and the power plant so as to distract the garrison and enable them to eliminate the target. Preferably at night with explosives. The goal was to divert the German resources to the southern end of Rennes.
Laurent suggested plugging the cooling pipes to the steam building, but Raymond said that unless they knew what the steam building was used for, it was uncertain how long it would take to have any effect. Raymond suggested putting flour into the water to ascertain how often and how much water is sucked into the factory.
They noted that the pipe was not always submerged. There were times when the pipe was completely submerged, and other times when the pipe was only about a quarter below the surface. They also noticed that there seemed to be a constant flow of steam from the steam building.
Raymond noted that the steam building was not used for power. He surmised that if they took out the power plant and the transformers, the factory would be down for a long time.
Raymond suggested killing the target in his office and using the explosion of the power plant as cover for their exfiltration.
Observing the factory, Raymond noted that the factory buildings appeared to be making ceramic inserts for artillery shells. He considered that they could potentially be used for gas shells. He proposed that blowing up things not directly related to the production of the gas shells would be preferable to attempting to sabotage the factory.
Raymond’s plan was to wire up some of the captured stick grenades to some plastic explosive and use a pencil detonator to set them off in the transformers.
Laurent countered that the timing would be critical. He suggested setting off a diversionary explosion somewhere else, perhaps one of the out-buildings near the plant entrance. Raymond responded that setting off a diversionary explosion would put the guards on alert. He proposed that limiting movement around the complex would be preferable, with the exit strategy to go around the reservoir and into the woods to the east.
Laurent suggested blowing up the machine shop next to one of the factories so as to damage production and cause the diversion. Raymond suggested doing that as the same time as blowing up the transformers to cause multiple distractions and scatter the guards in several directions. That would pull the guards away from the target.
They considered rigging the machine shop to blow on a timer, then go down the river to the power plant and rig it to blow on a timer. They would then take a position outside the target’s house, and wait for the machine ship to burst into flames, then hit the target, using the timed explosion of the transformers to cover their escape across the reservoir. They would use a log or other buoyant item they find to float with.
At the Apartment
When they returned to the apartment, they found Antoinette waiting with Norris. She informed them that the Gestapo was abandoning the 4th Floor of the POW hospital and that the Gestapo prisoners were being relocated, probably to concentration camps. She had taken up residence with Maelys of the Resistance.
Before he was sent “away,” Marlon provided a farewell sketch and described a nightmare that he believed was related to the sketch. The sketch was of an industrial complex with lots of pipes snaking all over. In the center was a large tank. Within the tank was something indistinct, but not natural. Raymond hypothesized that that might be in the steam building.
Marlon’s nightmare was of him running. There was chaos all around him. Everywhere people were fighting tooth and nail. Men, women, children tearing each other apart. He was repeatedly set upon by people, but managed to evade them. However, he suffered from numerous small wounds that quickly took their toll. He falled and was set upon by a mob of crazed people.
Antoinette also relayed that Paol Bosser, the Gestapo prisoner who was present on the 4th floor of the POW Hospital when she arrived there was also sent “away”. He had been put there under guard by Obersturmfuhrer Kalb, but Kalb’s replacement had no knowledge of why, so Bosser was shipped out.
However, Antoinette had managed to gain his confidence and learned that Bosser believed that there was a threat to the city by some sort of Satanic cult. He told her that there were documents relating to the imprisonment of a demon at a local abbey, the Church of Saint Pierre in Chateaugiron east of Rennes, and told her exactly where to find the hidden material.
They considered getting support from the Resistance on the factory raid, and asked Antoinette to set up a meeting through Maelys.