Industrial accounting note: alert of 21 May 1940

In this document

The document is an industrial accounting label, glued onto a red cardboard cover. It records a specific event: an alert on 21 May 1940 which resulted in a work stoppage time of "From 6:15 PM TO 7 PM i.e. = 3/4h" p. 2.

A numerical element, noted "2454V", appears but its reading is uncertain p. 2: it cannot therefore be used with certainty.

The medium also bears a handwritten initial in black ink, the reading of which remains uncertain p. 2.

Context

21 May 1940 is in the middle of the Battle of France: German troops have just broken through the front and are advancing towards the English Channel, causing air raid alerts in many French factories. Paul Magès, who joined Citroën in August 1925, was then working in the design office, where he had notably developed the braking limiter for the TUB van in 1939-1940 (Draft letter from Paul Magès to Mr. Sarre and interview plan of 11 May 1969) ; this alert therefore directly concerns his working environment at Citroën during this period.

This type of "industrial accounting" sheet corresponded, in the factories of the time, to a common practice: recording production interruptions (strikes, breakdowns, alerts) to adjust payroll or performance statistics. These alerts often forced staff to evacuate to shelters, temporarily suspending work in the workshop.

Archivist's perspective

This document, very brief, has in itself only a modest documentary value: it reveals nothing of Magès' technical work, but it indirectly testifies to the climate of the time and the material constraints weighing on industrial activity in the spring of 1940.

It seems to come from a larger file devoted to work carried out during this troubled period, as evidenced by other nearby documents dated 1940, such as the Handwritten calculation notes: pedal car, cable and propeller or the study of the direct-acting brake master cylinder of 24 April 1940.

This note thus constitutes a valuable chronological marker, making it possible to situate this research in the precise context of the weeks preceding the exodus and the armistice of June 1940.