Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
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The town hall and abbey in Saint-Leu-d'Esserent
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Coat of arms | |
Location of Saint-Leu-d'Esserent  | |
  Saint-Leu-d'Esserent Show map of France  Saint-Leu-d'Esserent Show map of Hauts-de-France | |
| Coordinates: 49°13′05″N 2°25′22″E / 49.2181°N 2.4228°E / 49.2181; 2.4228 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Hauts-de-France |
| Department | Oise |
| Arrondissement | Senlis |
| Canton | Montataire |
| Intercommunality | CA Creil Sud Oise |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Frédéric Besset[1] |
| Area
1
| 13.08 km2 (5.05 sq mi) |
| Population
(2021)[2]
| 4,606 |
| • Density | 350/km2 (910/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code |
60584 /60340
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| Elevation | 25–137 m (82–449 ft) (avg. 29 m or 95 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Saint-Leu-d'Esserent (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ lø dɛsʁɑ̃]) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.[3]
Saint Leu is notable for 3,000 square metres (32,000 sq ft) of mushroom caves under the Thiverny plateau.[4]
During World War II, the caves were one of three major underground V-1 flying bomb storage depots. In addition to the caves, the facility included blockhouses, bunkers, flak emplacements and railway links. Allied intelligence firmly identified late in June 1944 that Saint-Leu-d'Esserent and Nucourt were V-1 storage depots.[5] On 27 June 1944, Saint-Leu-d'Esserent was initially bombed by the US Army Air Force,[6][7] then on 4/5 July 1944 by two RAF forces (the first unsuccessfully used Tallboy bombs in an attempt to collapse the limestone roof of the caves).[5][8] Finally on 7 July 1944, an evening RAF raid successfully blocked the tunnels.[9]
The storage dump at Thiverny was bombed in 1944 on 5 May,[10] 11 July,[11] 12 July[12][13] and 19 July.[14][15][16][17]
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | 3,587 | — |
| 1975 | 4,462 | +3.17% |
| 1982 | 4,459 | −0.01% |
| 1990 | 4,288 | −0.49% |
| 1999 | 4,867 | +1.42% |
| 2007 | 4,724 | −0.37% |
| 2012 | 4,667 | −0.24% |
| 2017 | 4,688 | +0.09% |
| Source: INSEE[18] | ||
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