Tuesday, May 27, 1941
Raymond and Laurent considered their options. Raymond suggested using the butcher van to approach Café Morvan and disguised as butchers, use the van to bomb it. He proposed watching the café to identify when the best time to hit it was (e.g., when the most nationalists and Germans were there and the fewest other folk. They needed to find a convenient location from which to observe.
Laurent located an insurance broker’s office across and down the street from the café whose occupant had not been seen in some time. Raymond checked with his office and learned that the broker was a frequent business contact who had been arrested for fraud. They provided documentation for Laurent to be legitimately present in the office for a few weeks. They planned for a 48 hour surveillance.
In the meantime, Raymond was at the apartment, where he wrote up a report for von Laue as he was reluctant to meet him face to face. He noted in it that he would need access to the Museum of Fine Arts in order to establish if the art thieves had stolen anything from there and to establish a pattern. He walked for a while to a random post office and mailed the report to von Laue at the Hotel Royale.
Laurent’s surveillance revealed that the café was generally open between 9AM and 2AM. The L’Heure Breton journalists came and went all day long. There were a couple who were there most of the day. It seemed that the propaganda was being formulated at the café. The Parti National Breton political types were generally there from 10AM to 4PM, leaving during the late afternoon and returning around 8PM until 11PM. The militia types had a presence there all day long, with about a dozen people coming and going throughout the day. Rene Celle seemed to be there mainly in the evening.
Laurent noted that while the street was in the center of the entertainment district and fairly well lit, it was not especially crowded. He only saw patrols every two or three hours. He also noted that he did not see any deliveries to the café, so there must be a delivery entrance hidden from his view, perhaps in the rear. He reconnoitered the rear of the café and discovered that the alley behind was not passible for vehicles. The deliveries must have been hand carried down it from one of the streets it emptied on to. He also noted that the rear entrance to the café went to the basement.
Raymond returned and they considered their demolition options. They could acquire a significant quantity of methane gas collected from decomposing manure with which to make a claymore style device out of the butcher van with rocks and ball bearings. They debated how to ensure that the resultant explosion had the greatest death toll among the nationalists, but also that Rene Celle was eliminated. They considered either setting it off through the front windows, or mining the ceiling under the table from the basement.
In the end, they opted for the claymore route from the van through the front windows. Laurent determined that he could set it up to fire through the front windows above table height to inflict the maximum damage diagonally across the taproom. To facilitate the plan, they would need some 55 gallon drums, the explosives that dropped with them, as well a quantity of ball bearings and other potential shrapnel.
Friday, May 30, 1941
They set out to put plan into action. Raymond ventured to the construction site to contact Francis about materials. They met outside the fence of the rail yard at a café where the workers congregated. Francis informed him that he could acquire some 55 gallon drums, but suggested using the rubble and shrapnel scattered about the rail yard. Carting off a truckload would not be suspicious. They could rendezvous at a hidden location to assemble the device in the butcher van.
As he was leaving the office, Laurent was accosted by Yann, who insisted that he join him at Café Morvan. Laurent told him that he was in a hurry, but Yann would not take no for an answer. When Laurent tried to walk away, Yann grabbed his arm. Laurent shoved Yann hard, broke free, and ran around the corner, where he blended seamlessly into the crowd and escaped.
He then sought out a warehouse or similar structure in which to assemble the bomb. After being unable to find something in the vicinity of the café, he remembered the ruined buildings near the Ollivier factory just north of the rail yard. There were a number of suitable structures there. He selected an abandoned garage.
The next step was to get the van from outside Bruz. They would have difficulty getting back and forth through the checkpoints with it, but Raymond suspected that security might be reduced as the forces were being shipped out. He sent Norris and Francis to collect the van.
Raymond went to the rail yard to scout out suitable shrapnel. He was accosted by a laborer, who warned him that the rail yard was not safe and that he could not pass. Raymond asked who he might gain permission from so that he could collect some salvage to feed his family. The laborer sent him to speak with the foreman, who happened to be woman. He fed her a sob story about being unable to find work and needing to feed his family. She was persuaded to allow him access to the site after the crew stopped for the day at 2PM. It was 11AM at the time.