Le Creusot Faces the Wehrmacht — the Forges in the Hour of the Exodus
Le Creusot is the heart of Schneider et Cie: blast furnaces, steelworks, forges, and the manufacture of artillery and armor plating. When the German breakthrough collapses southward in June 1940, the plant empties out — the workforce is gathered together, and convoys of trucks evacuate work in progress and the archives to the Nièvre, Bordeaux, and the Château d'Apremont.
On 15 June, Armament officers tasked with organizing the withdrawal and the demolitions in the metallurgical plants arrive at Le Creusot. The blast furnaces and rolling mills cannot be relocated; they can, however, be sabotaged so as not to fall intact into enemy hands.
The management must decide in the hours preceding the occupation, expected at any moment. To destroy an industrial tool unique in France, to withdraw as much of it as possible toward the zone hoped to remain free, or to preserve it by betting on a recovery — each path commits the future of the company and its thousands of workers.
On 15 June 1940, Armament officers come to confer with Schneider's management: what course should be taken for France's largest steel and armament complex as the Germans approach?
The management chose to preserve the industrial tool intact. No destruction of the blast furnaces or the installations was ordered: they confined themselves to evacuating work in progress, valuables, and the archives (design offices withdrawn to Saint-Honoré-les-Bains, valuables hidden at the Château d'Apremont-sur-Allier), while the management headed for Bordeaux. German troops occupied Le Creusot on 17 June 1940 at 12:30 p.m. and demanded that the demarcation line encompass the town within the occupied zone. The plant reopened its doors as early as 7 July 1940 with about 2,500 workers, then quickly accepted German orders — embarking on the path of production under the occupier's control. , the director, returned to the Paris headquarters on 10 July to negotiate with the German authorities.
Learn more about this event
Related polls
10
Billancourt under threat: the old boss and his machines
Citroën under the Occupation: the boss faces German orders
The head of Gnome et Rhône facing the vise of June 1940
Marquet — Bordeaux overwhelmed, 12 June
Article 13: the SNCF and the occupier
Hermann Röchling and the Lorraine Ironworks
The Cherbourg arsenal in the face of Rommel
The nation's gold against the invader
The Unfinished Battleship of Saint-Nazaire
The weapons of the armistice — a secret beneath the table at Wiesbaden
Billancourt under threat: the old boss and his machines
Citroën under the Occupation: the boss faces German orders
The head of Gnome et Rhône facing the vise of June 1940
Marquet — Bordeaux overwhelmed, 12 June
Article 13: the SNCF and the occupier
Hermann Röchling and the Lorraine Ironworks
The Cherbourg arsenal in the face of Rommel
The nation's gold against the invader
The Unfinished Battleship of Saint-Nazaire