“Our first reaction was, it is true, very prompt, but legitimate in a context where vandalism is present, and in view of the symbolism of this site. » Contacted this Tuesday by 20 minutesthe departmental council of Gironde admits to having made a mistake, after the Richemont farm memorialin Saucats, was found damaged during the night from Thursday to Friday.
Very quickly, on Friday morning, the department published a press release denouncing “the desecration” of this site erected in memory of thirteen young resistance fighters shot dead by the Gestapo and the French militia, on July 14, 1944, in this Richemont farm destroyed at the resulting from this fight which lasted three hours. Classified as a historic monument, the memorial inaugurated in 1953 is also a monument to the martyrs of the South-West Resistance.
“The obelisk caught lightning (…) causing the areas covered by the slabs to shatter”
But on Friday, the gendarmerie, after going to the site, questioned the version of vandalism, estimating that the damage was rather the result of bad weather following storm Ciaran, which hit the Atlantic coast. During the weekend, it was the Astronomie Gironde 33 association which in turn affirmed that it was “lightning which struck the monument head-on, causing damage to its base. »
“The obelisk, due to its iron structure, captured the lightning, which found a path to the ground encountering a waterlogged area on its perimeter. The energy of the lightning instantly vaporized the water contained in the basement, causing the areas covered by slabs to burst. »
Consolidation work
“The first people who went there on Friday said to themselves that it was not possible that it was the storm, given the size of the stones that had fallen,” explained the departmental council this Tuesday, and the hypothesis of vandalism has been put forward. But, in view of this new information, and especially since it has been confirmed that a lightning strike did indeed occur on this site, we now accept this hypothesis, and have suspended our complaint . »
The departmental council adds “that a specialized company will be requested, in conjunction with the Drac, to carry out an in-depth structural diagnosis, with the aim of consolidating and restoring the entire memorial, for which there already existed a development project. »