Friday, May 30, 1941
At The Garage
Laurent prepped the abandoned Garage near the rail yard south of the Ollivier factory to build the bomb in. He found tools and other materials among the ruins. Having set everything up, he went to church where the supply of explosive they arrived with was hidden. He walked the short distance, and crossed the river, to the church near the Hamelin Abbey. He was careful to avoid surveillance.
observe.
When he arrived at the abbey, he walked casually around the abbey for about an hour to ascertain the conditions there. It was around 4:00 in the afternoon, and there was no one going in or out of the church, either from the main entrance or the side door they had used when they had hidden there upon arrival in Betton.
Having determined that the coast was clear, he casually walked up to the side door and found the door unlocked. However, a priest, who did not seem to recognize him, was sitting at the desk. Father Lambert, the priest who had assisted them previously was not there. Laurent asked him, and Father Michel informed him that Father Lambert had been arrested by the Gestapo. He was suspected of aiding terrorists.
Laurent told Father Michel that he was there to look at the furnace at the request of Father Lambert. Father Michel did not believe him, he thought Laurent was in need of his services. Laurent insisted that he did not, and the father bid him farewell. He holed up in the bar across the street and waited until after the priest went to bed. He remembered that the church did not have sleeping quarters. They were located the rectory next to the abbey.
Around 9:00, Laurent saw the lights turn off and Father Michel leave through the front doors and walk to the rectory. The pub was crowded, but the street was not. The side door was not visible from the pub, so Laurent took the long way around the block and approached the side door out of view of the pub patrons. He was careful to avoid being spotted or standing out, and saw no signs of trouble.
The side door of the church was still unlocked. He listed before opening this time, but heard nothing inside. He carefully opened the door. Inside was dark, but he could see via the dim illumination through the windows. He quickly made his way to the spiral stairway into the basement, where it was quite dark. He found a box of candles and lit one.
Laurent recalled that their cache was hidden in the crypt on the opposite side of the basement from the stairwell and made his way there. He did not see any signs of activity at first, but it occurred to him that if Father Lambert was arrested for aiding terrorists, the church had been probably been searched. On careful inspection, he saw many footprints in the dust, but they did not appear to have actually entered the crypts. The Germans probably only shined their lights through the grillwork.
Carefully, Laurent opened the unlocked gate, and glimpsed behind the sepulcher and noticed that the cache was not there. The marble bench that it had been hidden under was gone. Looking about, Laurent reasoned that if Father Laurent had to hide the cache quickly, the only place to put it was in the sepulcher. Looking around, he noticed a large crowbar hidden discretely in the shadows where it would not be observed from the outside. Using the crowbar, he lifted the top of the sepulcher, and found the gear inside.
Laurent extracted two pounds of plastic explosive, same pencil detonators, and a pair of the captured German stick grenades, which he put in the toolkit he had brought as part of his cover. He then expertly restored the lid to its initial position, hid the crowbar back in its place, and removed any evidence that he had been in the crypt. His footprints would blend in with those already in the main part of the basement.
He made his way back up stairs. The church was still deserted. He cracked the side door and peaked outside. He noted two German soldiers patrolling the street going in the direction of the pub. The sun was nearly set. It was too far to get back to the garage or to the safe house, but Antoinette’s apartment was only a few blocks away, so he decided to go there.
He took an indirect route and avoided a pair of gendarmes before arriving at the building. He found the front door to the building unlocked and ascended to the third floor, where Maelys was taking out the trash as he arrived. He was admitted and stayed the night there.
At The Rail Yard
Raymond arranged to search the rail yard for salvage during the workers’ midday break. The rail yard was not deserted. There were about a dozen other people sifting through the debris for things of value. Raymond blended in and found a good quantity of sharp shrapnel for the device as well as a suitcase to put it in. However, he cut himself several times. He also found some copper tubing and spool of heavy gauge wire. As he was preparing to leave, Raymond found a box containing two intact 20mm autocannon shells. He carefully added the box to the suitcase, made his way to the car, and took the materials to the abandoned garage without being detected or detonating the shells. When Raymond arrived at the garage, it was deserted. He hid the shrapnel and shells among the debris there.
Then he returned to the apartment, cleaned himself up, and prepared to go to the gendarmerie to inquire about the art thefts.
Collecting the Van
Raymond sent Norris and Francis to collect the butcher van hidden outside Bruz. On the way to Bruz, Francis hid in the trunk of the car to get through the checkpoints and the soldiers never inspected the trunk.
The security at the checkpoints had not been relaxed as Raymond had suspected. Norris was recognized by the soldiers at the checkpoint. He told them that he was returning to Bruz to collect some books that he had left there earlier in the week. The books were hidden in the trunk with Norris.
The found the van where Raymond and Norris had left it. It would not start at first, but Francis tweaked under the hood and it eventually it started up. Francis drove the butcher van back dressed as a mechanic. The soldiers at the checkpoint were dubious about his costume, but he convinced them that he was driving the van back to Rennes for repairs without having to produce any paperwork or evidence of damage to the van. He took it to the abandoned garage.
On the way back, Norris passed through the first checkpoint but was arrested by soldiers at the second one on suspicion of spying and detained on the airbase. He was held for a few hours at the base until he convinced the duty officer that he had been lost and persuaded the officer to release him let him be on his way. On his way out, Norris noted that there are fewer bombers and dive bombers at the base, but there was still a full complement of fighters. He arrived back at the apartment just before curfew.