Road Workers Never Expected To Dig Up This HUGE World War II Relic While Working In Chartres

Photo Credit: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP / Getty Images
Photo Credit: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP / Getty Images

Throughout the span of the Second World War, both the Allied and Axis powers mobilized a remarkable amount of soldiers and weapons throughout Europe and the Pacific theater. Their encounters in numerous battles resulted in a large amount of debris that continue to surface even decades later. While the discovery of commonplace items like hand grenades, land mines and other types of debris happen often, significant artifacts from that era are also sometimes found, as shown by recent findings in the French city of Chartres.

Chartres is no stranger to war

Fighters with the Free French sitting on the ground with their firearms
Free French fighters following the liberation of Chartres, 1944. (Photo Credit: Robert Capa / Keystone / Getty Images)

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

Aerial view of Chartres, France
Chartres cathedral, 1935. (Photo Credit: Roger Viollet Collection / Getty Images)

The Americans were the first to arrive in the city, tasked with expelling the Germans and demolishing its towering cathedral, which officials suspected was being used as an observation post. On August 16, Col. Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr., a liaison officer with the XX Corps, questioned if this was necessary and volunteered to go behind enemy lines to verify if the church’s bell tower was housing enemy troops. When it was confirmed to be clear, the order to destroy the structure was canceled.

Fighting to liberate Chartres

Charles de Gaulle standing before a large crowd
Gen. Charles de Gaulle acknowledging the tumultuous welcome given to him by residents of Chartres, France, 1944. (Photo Credit: Bettmann / Getty Images)

While the cathedral was clear of German soldiers, the rest of Chartres was not. Teams from the 3rd Cavalry Group and the 1139 Engineer Combat Group subsequently conducted reconnaissance on the city, after which fighting broke out between both sides, with the Americans assisted by the Free French and the French Resistance.

On August 18, the 5th Infantry and 7th Armored Divisions, under Gen. George S. Patton‘s US Third Army, liberated Chartres. The city’s fall was just one of many of armed meetings between the Allies and Germans that eventually led to the liberation of Paris.

Workers thought they were conducting normal road maintenance…

Crew raising a mud-covered M5 Stuart from the ground with a mechanical digger
Mechanical digger lifting an M5 Stuart from the 31st Tank Battalion out of the ground, 2008. (Photo Credit: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP / Getty Images)

Jump ahead to 2008, and a group of road workers in Chartres were engaged in their usual maintenance tasks throughout the city. As they were digging, they unexpectedly encountered what appeared to be a large machine located in the area of the renowned cathedral, right where they had been excavating.

An amazing discovery beneath the streets of Chartres

Mechanical digger lifting a mud-caked M5 Stuart from a hole in the ground
A mechanical digger lifting an M5 Stuart from the 31st Tank Battalion out of the ground, 2008. (Photo Credit: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP / Getty Images)

Confused by what it was, the workers tried to hoist the vehicle onto their truck, yet encountered difficulty and went to get help from a mechanical digger to dislodge the metallic behemoth from the ground. Despite successfully extracting it, they still needed of guidance from knowledgeable experts to figure out the precise nature of their find.

As later investigation revealed, the origins of this discovery could be traced back to Chartres’ liberation during the Second World War.

A long-lost M5 Stuart

Crowd watching as a work crew uses a mechanical digger to lift an M5 Stuart out of a hole in the ground
A mechanical digger lifting an M5 Stuart from the 31st Tank Battalion out of the ground, 2008. (Photo Credit: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP / Getty Images)

As per the specialists, the unidentified vehicle turned out to be an American tank that participated in the liberation of France in 1944. Surprisingly, they managed to find eyewitnesses who recalled spotting the vehicle amidst the liberation operations, manned by US forces.

Serving with the 31st Tank Battalion

Mechanical digger lifting an M5 Stuart from a hole in the ground
A mechanical digger lifting an M5 Stuart from the 31st Tank Battalion out of the ground, 2008. (Photo Credit: ALAIN JOCARD / AFP / Getty Images)

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

M5 Stuart parked in a field
M5 Stuart, 1940s. (Photo Credit: PhotoQuest / Getty Images)

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

Side profile of an M5 Stuart
M5 Stuart, 1945. (Photo Credit: U.S. Army / Department of Ordnance – Army Ground Forces / Development of Armored Vehicles, Volume I: Tanks / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

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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.

Rosemary Giles

Rosemary Giles is a history content writer with Hive Media. She received both her bachelor of arts degree in history, and her master of arts degree in history from Western University. Her research focused on military, environmental, and Canadian history with a specific focus on the Second World War. As a student, she worked in a variety of research positions, including as an archivist. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department.

Since completing her degrees, she has decided to take a step back from academia to focus her career on writing and sharing history in a more accessible way. With a passion for historical learning and historical education, her writing interests include social history, and war history, especially researching obscure facts about the Second World War. In her spare time, Rosemary enjoys spending time with her partner, her cats, and her horse, or sitting down to read a good book.

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