May 24, 1941
In Rennes
Raymond had a nice conversation over coffee at a café with Marquise Fifi Cinq-Mars of Orange. He intimated that he had some aristocratic lineage, but that it was not complementary. She found that amusing and invited Raymond to call on her again.
Laurent and Norris made their way back to the apartment. Laurent noted the man who had disappeared from the crowd during the altercation in the marketplace was following them. He successfully lost the tail before taking Vincent back to the apartment.
Raymond made his way back to the apartment. He was careful to note any suspicious people on his way, but did not see any. He unpacked the meat cleaver from the marketplace so Norris could examine it. He determined that while of high quality, it had been used dutifully for butchering meat and not much else. There was no evidence any occult or other significance. They cleaned it and put it in the kitchen.
They prepared for their trip to Bruz. Examining the map, they noted that the route went right past the Luftwaffe base as well as the chateau mentioned as the location for one of their targets. They decided to reconnoiter the base on their way to and from Bruz.
Raymond packed binoculars, notebooks, and other accoutrements of an insurance investigator. Norris packed some reference books, an archaeologist kit, and a disassembled pistol hidden in the bottom of his bag. Laurent also packed a disassembled pistol in his travel bag. They were careful not to take obvious things that might arouse the suspicions at a checkpoint.
On The Road To Bruz
Traveling down the road, they stopped at a checkpoint and waited while Wehrmacht soldiers hassled a delivery van in front of them. Eventually the van was allowed to proceed and they pulled up to the gate. The feldwebel collected their papers and asked the purpose of their trip.
Raymond replied that they were going to the Abbey at Saint Pol to investigate reports of a cache of stolen art hidden there. He introduced Laurent as his driver and Norris as an art expert coming along to authenticate any art that they find.
The feldwebel was inpassive, but took their papers to an officer, who went into the guardhouse with them. A moment later, the officer came directly to their car and returned their papers saying, “you may go.” They continued on their journey.
The road to Bruz went past the Luftwaffe base at the Rennes Aerodrome 6 km SW of Rennes and immediately W of the village of Saint-Jacques. They got a good look at the base as they passed.
- The runways were concrete on a well-drained grass surface. 1 was approximately 1700 yards aligned ESE/WNW. The other was approximately 1500 yards aligned NW/SE.
- The runways were equipped with perimeter lighting, permanent runway illumination, and towers with lights illuminating the approaches.
- Fuel was stored at both ends of the main hangar group.
- There was a large ammunition dump and explosives factory NE of the landing area, another on the grounds of the château SSW of the airfield and a third storage site in the NW of the airfield.
- The main bomb storage dump was SW of the field.
- At the E end of the field, there were 4 blocks of large quadruple hangars plus a fifth block of large quadruple hangars that were used as workshops.
- Additionally, there was a row of 6 or 7 small hangars on the N boundary with separate workshops nearby.
- The motor pool and garages were reportedly 1.2 km to the N on the far side of the Northwest dispersal.
- The station HQ and the flight operations center were on the N boundary, barracks for station personnel behind the hangars on the N boundary. They reasoned that the barracks were insufficient to accommodate all the personnel required for all the aircraft they could see, so the onsite barracks were probably only for enlisted base personnel.
- The base was protected by a strong defensive system of bunkers, machine gun towers and barbed wire all around the perimeter, as well as 20 88mm flak cannons.
Their slow pace on the road caught the attention of German sentries. A motorcycle and sidecar approached, and the passenger asked what the problem was. Raymond said something about the engine acting up. The soldiers accepted that, but followed them until they arrived at the next checkpoint, where the sentries took notice of them.
The feldwebel spoke with the motorcycle soldiers before approaching their car. He asked inquired as to why the car had troubles in a security area but then started working properly again. Raymond blamed on the poor fuel that civilians were issued. The feldwebel accepted the story, and they were allowed to continue.
In Bruz
Bruz was another 8km past the airfield. The road was bumpy, and Laurent was preoccupied with avoid the obstacles. Raymond noted a lot of Luftwaffe personnel about the village. Laurent and Norris spotted a town hall. It was noteworthy because it had not been taken over by the German authorities. They had occupied a more modern office building nearby.
They went to the town hall. They found it nearly empty. There was a clerk there, and an old woman looking at some documents. Norris said he was interested in researching the Titanic. The clerk thought he was joking, and instead directed them to the newspaper archives in the basement. He mentioned that issues of the local newspaper go back almost 100 years, with the older issues available on microfiche.
Laurent researched the abbey and learned that it was founded in the 1400s dedicated to Saint Pol de Ternoise. The abbey was a central fixture of the region. The village arose to support the needs of the abbey. The abbey was burned down in 1790.
Norris looked for anything related to the statue, and learned that a statue of a fallen angel was the centerpiece of the abbey for many years before it was lost during the revolution.
Laurent looked into what happened to the residents of the abbey and discovered that the abbey was set on fire with all the inhabitants locked inside and there were no survivors.
Raymond noticed that all the information that they had found about the abbey was very old. The most recent article referred to reported spectral visitations seen among the ruins of the abbey in 1810.
When they looked up from their researches they discovered that it was after 5PM. They would not be able to return to Rennes before curfew. They would need to find somewhere to stay for the night in Bruz.