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Mines, torpedoes and espionnage...
La Londe is a nice, quiet stopover in the Hyères bay. If you stop at the very modern Miramar harbour, just think that there are some very surprising stories behind this holiday setting.
When you approach La Londe harbour, you can’t miss two things right next to it. To port, a bunker under the pine trees reminds you that these beaches were the subject of fierce fighting during the Provence landings in August 1944. To starboard, behind high railings topped with barbed wire, there are industrial buildings. Nearer the beach is a single-storey building with five big French windows with fanlights, making it look like you could happily move in there and use it as a little cottage by the sea... This is a small part of the old Schneider factory, which used to make torpedoes and test them there, from a pontoon. Here’s the story:
THE IRON MINES
Around 1875, Victor Roux, a rich financier from Marseilles who had recently purchased the Bormettes estate, rediscovered and developed the silver-bearing lead vein which was found there.
In 1881, he founded the Société des Mines des Bormettes (Bormettes Mining Company) and exploitation of the zinc-rich Argentière mines began as early as 1885, creating many jobs. So, from being essentially a forested, agricultural and pastoral region, La Londe entered into a mining era at the end of the 19th century.
From 1890, other veins were discovered and exploited. The most important of these were at La Rieille and at Le Verger (in the north of the commune). The mine then expanded over a surface area covering almost all of the La Londe region and even part of the Collobrières and Bormes communes.
These mines were so prosperous that they had to build a railway line to serve them in 1899. It not only transported the workers to the various points of extraction, but also transported the ore to Argentière, where it was processed and shipped out by sea.
Another sign of prosperity was the foundry. Its impressive chimney-tunnel, built for experimental purposes in 1897, so that the ore could be processed on site, can still be seen today.
The development of the village was a direct result of the mine’s prosperity (construction of terraced housing for the miners, creation of a post office and telegraph office, a police station…). It also led to the creation of the commune...
From 1890 onwards, the village was also opened up to the outside world by the inauguration of the Toulon-Saint-Raphaël coastal railway line.
La Londe les Maures gained autonomy little by little. The second part of its name comes from the Latin word “mauros” which means “dark brown”, evoking the colour of the massif.
Although the village continued to grow, the exploitation of the Bormettes mines recorded an increasing drop in productivity from 1904, and ceased production altogether in 1929.
THE TORPEDO FACTORY
As the mining business was falling into a decline, another industrial activity took up the baton. The Schneider company established an armaments factory at Bormettes, a subsidiary of the Le Creusot factories. This strategic site by Hyères harbour meant that they could take advantage of the available work force and the structures belonging to the failing mine.
At first, its activity was limited to trials, launching the torpedoes manufactured in the Harfleur and Le Creusot factories into the sea. For this purpose, an artificial launching islet was constructed from reinforced concrete, according to the principles of the engineer Hennebique. This was built in 1908, in the sea near Léoube Point (Bormes). This was where the first self-propelled torpedoes to be manufactured in France were tested.
Then, in 1912, following a large order for torpedoes for France and Italy, the Le Havre design office moved here. A true armaments factory was born: in 1913, the workshop with shed roofing was built, so that torpedoes could be manufactured on site, and a foundry was developed. In the run-up to World War I, 234 torpedoes were made there. During the war, the factory mainly made parts for the army (shells, aeroplane parts...).
After the war and until 1921, with Toulon becoming the home of the torpedo in France, the factory was re-converted to manufacture electric motors. Many women were then employed there for the winding processes, which required a lot of dexterity. From 1920 onwards, the Schneider company began to build a railway line. It was linked to the coastal line which went through the village, transporting workers but also equipment, fuel and the metallurgical products needed for fabrication.
In 1921, the factory went back to its original vocation. In 1937, the Schneider company was subject to a compulsory purchase order and the factory was nationalised and combined with the one at St Tropez, becoming the DCN [Department of Naval Construction]. These two factories, along with the one in Toulon, worked in close collaboration with each other: plans and prototypes were created at St. Tropez, the torpedoes were cast at Toulon and they were assembled and had the finishing touches put to them at La Londe.
A NEST OF SPIES...
In 1929, the private company sold the château to a strange company from Alsace, supposedly a cinema holding company, L’Astrolabe Omnium de l’Est. During the 1930s, under the cover of cinematographic productions, this company had the astrolabe built. This building, which is military in appearance, in the same style as the château above it, would be used as a base for spying on activities at the Schneider torpedo factory on the edge of the sea. In 1936, when the security services intervened, its activities were put to an end and the company was subject to a compulsory purchase order. However, following international competition in terms of armaments and Defence budget cut-backs, the Bormettes establishment had to close in 1993.
This industrial activity had spawned a town, built between 1913 and 1920, with 103 small workers’ houses and 11 villas reserved for the managers. These little houses, which were built in rows and extended by a vegetable garden and a courtyard, were reminiscent of miners’ housing. 
It was completely independent from the village and included everything that was needed for day to day life and leisure activities: a food cooperative, supplied by two farms belonging to Schneider and where everything could be found at highly competitive prices, a school, a nursery, a post office, a bakery, a bar, a community room, a music kiosk and, later, a hairdresser’s, public showers and a sports centre.
Still lived in today by almost 80 families, this is one of the rare examples of a workers’ town in the Mediterranean. It’s still full of life, owing to the strong cultural and sporting sense of community, originating in the workers’ world, and, every year at Pentecost, the town comes to life with a traditional festival, which was invented by the workers over 80 years ago.
- Source: La Londe town hall archives
