During World War II, both the Allied and Axis forces mobilized massive numbers of troops. The intense battles that followed left behind a pretty big amount of debris, much of which can still be seen even decades later. While smaller items such as hand grenades and land mines are frequently unearthed, larger and historically important artifacts from that time are occasionally discovered as well.
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, assigned to drive out the Germans and demolish the grand cathedral, which authorities feared could be used as a lookout. 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 verify if the church’s bell tower was indeed occupied by enemy forces. When it was confirmed that the bell tower was unoccupied, the order to destroy the cathedral was canceled.
Fighting to liberate Chartres
While the cathedral was free of German troops, the rest of Chartres remained under occupation. Reconnaissance operations by the 3rd Cavalry Group and the 1139 Engineer Combat Group sparked clashes, 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 Patton‘s US Third Army, liberated Chartres. This triumph was one of many Allied-German confrontations that cleared the path for the eventual liberation of Paris.
Workers thought they were conducting normal road maintenance…
In 2008, a team of road workers conducting routine maintenance near Chartres stumbled upon an unexpected find. While excavating near the renowned cathedral, they inadvertently uncovered what seemed to be a large machine directly in the area where they were working.
An amazing discovery beneath the streets of Chartres
Baffled by the peculiar object, the workers attempted to load it onto their truck but faced challenges, prompting them to call in a mechanical digger to lift the enormous metal relic from the earth. While they succeeded in extracting it, they still required experts to determine exactly what they had uncovered.
As they investigated further, it became clear that this discovery was connected to the liberation of Chartres during World War II.
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.