During World War II, both the Allied and Axis powers deployed large numbers of soldiers and weapons across Europe and the Pacific. The fierce battles that followed made a lot of debris, much of which is still visible even decades after the war ended. While it’s common to come across smaller objects like hand grenades and land mines, there are occasional finds of larger and historically important artifacts from that period, as recently shown by discoveries in Chartres, France.
Chartres is no stranger to war
Chartres is no stranger to conflict, having experienced it for decades, and this was no different during World War II. It was one of many European cities to suffer heavy bombings during the early years of the conflict, and it was also the site of intense fighting in August 1944, just over two months after the D-Day landings at Normandy.
Saving the Chartres cathedral
The Americans led the charge into the city, given the responsibility of driving out the Germans and demolishing the grand cathedral, which officials feared might be serving as a lookout point. On August 16, Col. Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr., a liaison officer with the XX Corps, questioned if this was necessary and suggested a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines to check if the church’s bell tower was occupied by enemy forces. After it was verified that the bell tower was clear, the order to destroy the cathedral was revoked.
Fighting to liberate Chartres
Although the cathedral was free of German soldiers, the rest of Chartres was still occupied. Teams from the 3rd Cavalry Group and the 1139 Engineer Combat Group then carried out reconnaissance on the city, leading to clashes between both sides, with the Americans supported by the Free French and the French Resistance.
On August 18, the 5th Infantry and 7th Armored Divisions, part of Gen. George S. Patton‘s US Third Army, liberated Chartres. The capture of the city was one of many confrontations between the Allies and Germans that eventually led to the liberation of Paris.
Workers thought they were conducting normal road maintenance…
In 2008, while performing their routine maintenance duties around Chartres, a team of road workers stumbled upon something surprising. As they dug in the vicinity of the famous cathedral, they unexpectedly unearthed what seemed to be a large machine right in the area where they were working.
An amazing discovery beneath the streets of Chartres
Baffled by what it might be, the workers attempted to lift the vehicle onto their truck but faced challenges, prompting them to seek assistance from a mechanical digger to free the metallic giant from the earth. Although they managed to extract it, they still required the expertise of specialists to determine exactly what they had found.
Later investigation uncovered that this discovery dated back to the liberation of Chartres during the Second World War.
A long-lost M5 Stuart
According to experts, the unidentified vehicle was identified as an American tank that played a role in the liberation of France in 1944. Remarkably, they were able to locate witnesses who remembered seeing the vehicle during the liberation efforts, operated by US troops.
Serving with the 31st Tank Battalion
The M5 Stuart light tank, as they identified it, had served with Maj. Leslie Lohse of the 31st Tank Battalion, 7th Armored Division, who’d helped with the liberation of Chartres. The tank was the first to enter the city during the Allied liberation efforts, but it was abandoned while on a reconnaissance mission, with witnesses stating it had either slipped off of its tracks or ran out of fuel.
When World War II was over, the M5 was pushed into a bomb crater and buried, as a means of clearing the road. For the next eight decades, it remained beneath the ground, with few aware of its existence.
The M5 Stuart was a variant of the M3
The M5 Stuart was developed by the Americans in 1942 as an improved version of the M3. As a result of the increased demand for radial aero-engines, which were in short supply, the US military wanted to develop a tank that could operate with another engine. One designed by Cadillac, the V8, was chosen to power the new armored vehicle, which also featured a redesigned hull.
By the end of the Second World War, 2,074 M5s had been produced. While a good tank, it was rather small, compared to others.
No match for larger enemy tanks
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It’s not unusual that the discovery made in Chartres was an M5, given it was readily used by the Americans during their push into France. However, it was a poor match for enemy vehicles, as it was only equipped with a 37 mm cannon, compared to the 88 mm ones many German tanks were equipped with.