Evreux Airbase: tunnels

[Bruce Dennis]

Hello all,
I understand Evreux airbase had underground storage built by the Luftwaffe and that these were sealed up by the occupying Allies (I believe the RAF). Don't worry, I am not claiming this is another 'underground hangers full of Me262s' tale, but I have reason to believe there is something there. I was first told about the underground storage in 1958 at Evreux by a USAF sarge serving there. According to him, the extensive work to build revetments for NATO aircraft in the '50s had to work around the known sealed up storage sites. They were allowed to pile dirt up to make blast shields on top of the underground storage sites but were not under any circumstances to dig into them. This caution was officially down to the possibility of disturbing stored explosives but all the men working on the job were also told that the 'storage sites' were bunkers with booby traps. Perhaps a pinch of salt is required with parts of the story, but can anyone cast some light this?
Bruce

[Larry deZeng]

Sounds plausible. I was at Mannheim-Sandhofen the same year you visited Évreux-Fauville and it also had numerous buried bunkers that everyone was cautioned to leave undisturbed. We were told that some of them might contain unexploded ordnance and perhaps even war gas canisters. One bunker was opened while I was in Mannheim and it contained hundreds of cases of 9mm ammo. The base gun club confiscated it and sold it dirt cheap for use on the club pistol range for those lucky enough to have found a Luger or a Walther for sale somewhere. As I recall, the rounds were perfectly serviceable once you wiped the green corrosion off of them that had accumulated after ±15 years of storage in a damp, underground bunker.

[ClinA-78]

Hello Bruce,

Perhaps you may ask them:
http://www.anciens-aerodromes.com/?page_id=2567

Working in former Florennes Fliegerhorst/A-78, I heard also stories like that, just adding some 'myth' to the AB history.

[Bruce Dennis]

Hello Larry,
There were also a few anecdotes told about what was found at other bases, jets and gold and everything but Santa's workshop, but I was impressed with the lack of embellishment concerning Evreux: it was a first hand account centred around the known positions of sealed storage bunkers. The sergeant also said he was glad he wasn't working at Dreux during the redevelopment as they had 'real problems' with buried stores, including what he described as 'weird bombs'. This part was second hand information so should be treated as such, but may strike a chord with anyone researching the history of that base.

ClinA-78, thanks, that site is new to me. It looks very interesting and I will dig in it.

Bruce

[Larry deZeng]

*Bruce D. > I have general purpose histories of both Evreux-Fauville and Dreux but they say nothing about underground bunkers, although I am sure they both had them. E-F and D had the stuffing pounded out of them from late 1942 on because of their relative proximity to Allied airfields in the U.K. They both had extraordinarily heavy Flak defenses, too, and that fact might suggest something stored there that they wanted to protect at all costs.

Dreux: Feldluftzeuggruppe Westfrankreich was located there to the end of 1943 and this means mass storage of aircraft components and parts, some of which might need the protection of concrete bunkers. It was also the location of a large Munitionsausgabestelle, and that definitely means underground storage bunkers.

Evreux-Fauville: it was a big wartime bomber base, but I see nothing in the mix of units stationed there that might suggest special storage needs.

BTW, both were pre-war French Air Force bases, so some or all of the underground bunkers may have been built by the French.

L.

[Jaap Woortman]

During a study during 20 years with 15 persons about the history of German build airfields in the Netherlands we have never found any underground bunkers.
What we have found are underground tunnels. These tunnels, with a cross-section of about 1 x 0,8 meters ran from a central heating to bunkers with ammo and bombs and hangars. After the war this system is at certain airfields also used for some time by the Dutch airforce.
Many 70-80 years old persons told us that these tunnels were 'very high', you could walk in it, they say. Yes they could when they were 4 or 5 years old.
Underground tunnels? Yes, but not for escaping Nazi's or storage of gold or paintings at German occupied airfields.

Jaap