During the summer of 2023, Sylvain Mathieu, president of the Bunker Archéo Dieppe association, was called following the discovery in the Eawy forest, in Maucomble (near Dieppe), of remains of a… German base.
It was here that a V1, the flying bombs which were launched on London by the Nazi regime, would have exploded in 1944.
Here too, Germans are still buried in the rubble, according to the testimony of Dominique Lemercier, a retired gendarme.
The discovery was quickly relayed by the local press but, at the time, despite the testimonies, the specialist was skeptical.
Bunker Archéo Dieppe (www.bunkerarcheodieppe.fr) is an association defecting from Bunker Archéo region Dieppe (now Bunker Archéo Côte d'Albâtre) founded in May 2023. “We are working on the R600 (a bunker Editor's note) found on the private property of Léon Rodenbourg, a Dutch citizen.
We are on the cliff overlooking Puys beach, where on August 19, 1942, the Allies suffered numerous losses during the Canadian raid on Dieppe.
The owner found concrete under his lawn.
After an assessment, we told him that a bunker was buried.
He wanted to update it and the work was carried out in September 2018.”
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It was then that the R600 was unearthed, a structure of 700 m3 of concrete which supported a 55mn cannon and housed a living room for six soldiers permanently linked to the radar stations and the general staff. as well as a hold for 2000 shells.
Since then, the association has restored it to allow visitors to visit it.
“We received 600 visitors in 2023,” continues Sylvain Mathieu.
The dozen volunteers will soon tackle a new project in partnership with the Conservatoire du littoral on the L412, another Dieppe bunker.
“For the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings,” he announced, “we are going to prepare it for visits.
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So, when the president of Bunker Archéo Dieppe was contacted about the V1 base at intersection 118, he did not make it a priority.
“To develop such a site you need funds and logistics, in particular a mini-excavator.
And then, what to do with it?
What purpose ?
Especially since a few kilometers away is the heavy base of Val Ygot d'Ardouval.
» Despite everything, after contacts with the DRAC, the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (State) and the National Forestry Office (ONF), he went there with Dominique Lemercier and the editor-in-chief of Le Réveil de Neufchâtel.
Also read: First World War: German soldiers from the Winterberg tunnel will not be exhumed
“The former soldier gave us his directions, his positions including a concrete chimney and the location of possible graves.
My observations are that we are on a light camouflaged base to avoid Allied bombing.
There are around ten listed, including this one.
That it is not a chimney, normally made of bricks, but a support for lifting a V1 in order to adjust its compass.
That there was no explosion because, otherwise, we would have a crater 15/20 meters in diameter nearby.
We found the runway and the supports for the take-off ramp.
It is a site that has been forgotten over time and covered by vegetation.
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Despite everything, Sylvain Mahieu agrees, “there was excitement, interest.
There may be things to do.
I made a report to the DRAC and the ONF where I suggested that in February 2025, we could launch research, geolocate the works to redo a plan of the site, go through the metal detector to possibly find a piston and clear the site.
Then, it's up to the NFB to see if a sign is needed.
This remains interesting, but it is not a great discovery.
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