The reconstruction of Vierville
6 - Demining in 1946-47
After limited demining by the Americans in 1944 for their needs, many fields in Vierville remained mined at the end of 1944, when the soldiers left. These mined and marked spaces were all located near the cliffs, usually to the west of the descent.
In addition, it should be noted that there were no more usable and abandoned weapons of war, American soldiers having systematically taken them away. Only weapons remained out of use, the main ones being the 3 anti-tank guns of the bunkers of the descent of Vierville:
- an 88mm German PAK43 cannon, which was voluntarily kept in the bunker-monument of the United States National Guard,
- a 50mm German KWK barrel runs in the double-end bunker, cammed today and which serves as a store. This cannon was scrapped around 1949, nothing remains.
- a 75mm cannon in a bunker along the trail leading to the campsite. He was also scrapped, his mouth brake was kept and sealed on a wall along the boat descent ramp
Example of signs installed by the Germans. These warnings were sometimes fictitious, the minefield not always being in place.
Generally, farmers knew when a field was actually mined and Americans quickly learned to recognize safe fields when cattle were there.
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The plan of the minefields established approximately by the Americans before the landing, north of the Grandcamp road. There were few mines north of the St. Lawrence road
June 1944, first demining of the slopes of the descent of Vierville.
At the time, the valley was used by a crane transfer station for cargoes of "ducks" on trucks
War damage, list of parcels, work document
Their final demining was carried out in 1946 and early 1947 by the Ministry of Reconstruction with civilian means.
A team of about twenty German prisoners accompanied by some French workers, under the responsibility of a French mine-up chief, carried out this difficult and dangerous work.
This demining caused at least one accident in Vierville that cost the life of a French minerer, in bad circumstances, suicide or accident? It seems that the trap had been detected before the explosion and the operator would have deliberately ignored the warning.
The team of mineswers, German prisoners, some French people and the mine-emining chief Mr. Lancry (with a black hat), later a painter craftsman in Trévières.
In the photo above, the man on the right with a cap is Mr. Dubois, former mayor of Vierville. During the years 1935 to 1941, his farm was the last on the right on the Grandcamp road and many of his fields were mined.
These 2 photos were taken one in summer, the other in winter, we don't know exactly by whom. It is likely that each member of the team will receive a copy. It seems that it was a German who brought them back long after to Mr. Leveel at the Vierville museum.
The same team ensured the removal of the large 270mm shells trapped and suspended at the top of the cliff, spaced about 100 or 200 meters apart, as well as the removal of abandoned or unexploded ammunition that could have been found at the time.
Since the end of demining, every year, bombs, shells, ammunition and various explosives are discovered by chance and destroyed by a specialized service dependent on Civil Protection. This service intervenes very quickly and it still has work all year round on all the Departments of the Manche coasts.
An "engineer" examines a jumping mine S, anti-personnel, which he has just taken out of the slope of the descent of Vierville
"Tellerminen" anti-tank mines, with 2 trapped shells. These mines were rare on the cliff, but frequent on beach obstacles and on the edges of paths
270mm shell trapped, in the cliff, about 1 or 2 m below the cliff crete.
It does not seem that these traps were used on June 6, 44, they were placed far from the forts occupied by too few Germans to watch over everything.
Periodically shells of this type are found under the cliffs, still in 2008, see the article in the Renaissance.
A 160 kg shell neutralized in Englesqueville-la-PercéeRead the rewritten text
This reading version has been rewritten from the newspaper clipping. Connecting phrases and any reconstructed words are not a verbatim quotation.
A 160 kg shell required a neutralization operation at the foot of the Englesqueville-la-Percée cliff. At 2 p.m., a dozen firefighters, the miners of the Ifs center and the gendarmes were on site. Access to the beach and the coastal path were forbidden, while waiting for the civil security helicopter, then engaged in Granville and expected around 3 p.m.
Nicole d'Hérouville, mayor of the municipality, had been notified the day before by fax from the prefecture. She had taken an order prohibiting access to the beach, without evacuating the inhabitants. She recalled that in 2005 a similar operation had forced her to warn local residents from door to door so that they would stay at home. Representatives of the DDE and the General Council were also present.
Before the intervention, the helicopter had to fly over the cliff to verify that no one was near the area. In the late afternoon, the shell, whose caliber was given at 270 mm, had been brought back to the Ifs demining center.
The mayor stressed that erosion, landslides and large tides could still cause more bombs or shells to appear in the following years.
View the archive imageDownload the rewritten text
Original OCR text
The original OCR text is kept for comparison with the image. Its reading order and some words may be incorrect.
They were wooden boxes each containing 2 bags of 8 loaves of explosives. These boxes were grouped in large piles placed every 50 meters along the Vierville-Formigny road. Other neighborhood roads were also used, including Saint-Laurent - Formigny and others in Asnières.
These deposits were often the subject of thefts, the local population used them as a fire starter, without any accidents to my knowledge.
A box of explosives C (tetrytol) contained 2 green bags with 8 loaves of explosives each
At the end of 1945, the Americans began to remove these dangerous deposits. It was in these circumstances that a dramatic accident took place in Asnières on Thursday, October 25, 1945 (see "http://omahabeach.vierville.free.fr/91-ExplosionAsnieres.html").
The explosion caused the death of 41 people (4 French civilians from Asnières, 7 American soldiers and 30 German prisoners). The village of Vierville, located 2 km as the crow flies from the explosion, suffered very significant damage to the roofs and doors and windows, damage that often occurred on houses already repaired by the inhabitants, creating a strong feeling of discouragement.