Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan 1985, fallen cylinder bearing Third Reich markings

Summary

On 25 February 1985 two farmers in Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan witnessed a hot object falling into a nearby field. It was a cylinder roughly 50 cm long, too hot to touch immediately. The Rochefort air base could not identify it and no radioactivity was detected. Initially suspected to be a fragment of a Soviet satellite, later analysis revealed Third Reich markings, pointing to abandoned World War II military ordnance. The investigation lasted nearly five years and took several unexpected turns before reaching that conclusion.