La Coupelle and Eperleques

Travel Stories - France

Coupele-La-Dome-bunker-Nazi-WW2-V1-V2-France-Nord-de-Calais

HOME (English) / France / France travelstory's

introduction

I arrive early in the morning by train from Brussels in St. Omer and meet a traveling friend of mine there. After drinking a cup of coffee, we make our plans for today. A little later we are standing along the road with a board in our hand to get a lift. We are picked up not much later.

An elderly Frenchman takes us to the site which is referred to as La Coupell" and is about 5 km from St. Omer. When we get off, we thank the man and walk towards the site. The name also shows exactly what it is - we see a gigantic large dome with a diameter of more than 70 meters (and 5,5 meter thick) and we walk to the entrance at the bottom of the hill.

La Coupole - the underground city

After paying the fee in the entrance building we arrive in the mystical underground city. First a long chilly corridor where the Nazi trains once entered with the tracks and the prepared V2 bombs. In the system of concrete, now empty, rooms they were stored and then prepared to shoot at for instance London.

We pass a damaged V2 engine in one of the rooms. We learn that La Coupole was intended for the storage and launch of 500 V2 rockets which means that 50 rockets per 24 hours were ready to fire. We arrive in a large hall, at least 40 meters wide and 25 meters high where the big bombs were made ready for launch. Here fourteen rockets would enter horizontally and then be placed vertically on carts in two parallel corridors simultaneously where they could be fueled.

The rockets then came out in the quarry, via two launch rails, named Gustav and Gretchen.

The history of La Coupole

The construction of La Coupole started in October 1943 under the code name Bauvorhaben 21 and was outsourced to large German companies by the Todt organization, which was responsible for the construction of the large buildings. First the concrete dome was built and then the earth was taken away from it.

The subsoil, consisting of chalk and clay, worked as a formwork. A total of 100,000 m³ of concrete was poured for the construction of the complex. Day and night, an average of 1300 workers worked here, 60% of whom were Germans and the rest were young French and Russian prisoners of war. The guards were Belgians from collaborative movements. After 9 months of construction, the complex was ready.

The RAF carried out repeated air strikes during the last five months of the construction of the complex, aware of its danger. During the bombing of more than 3000 tons of bombs, 55 people died in the village of Helfaut 21 and in the neighboring municipality of Wizernes 55 people were killed. Twice the Tallboy was dropped, a bomb of more than 5 tons that was only used on very important and dangerous objects. The construction works of the complex were stopped in July 1944. The dome and 7 km of underground passages were finished.

Eperleques-Bunker-Nazi-WW2-V1-V2-France-Nord-de-Calais

under the dome

We take the 42 meter high lift under the mighty dome. Two film halls have been built here and an exhibition hall that functions as a museum and historical center. First of all, we take a look at that part of what WWI entails and especially what its role was in the region of Artois.

Then we walk to an exhibition called life under the Nazi’s rule; Here you can read and see everything about daily life during the occupation, but also about the invasion on the Norman beaches. Finally, we come to the section that, among other things, leaves the hidden and secret laboratories in Penemunde where, among other things, the V1 and V2, secret miraculous weapons of Nazi Germany were invented and tested. There is also a model of the gigantic V2 rocket here.

On one of the many information panels I also read that the site was chosen here deliberately because of the presence of the railway between Calais and Bouloge-sur-Mer. In addition to the fact that from here the capital of Great Britain could of course be hit with a then stunning speed of almost 6000 km per hour. Finally you can read a lot about the space but we decide to leave the museum.

The mega bunker of Eperleques

When we get outside of the Coupelle, it is still very early and we decide to raise our thumb again. It is almost unbelievable but we stand just a few minutes and we have another lift. Where do we want to go? To the site of Eperleques si-vous-plait. We drive about 10 kilometer when we stop at a parking lot in the middle of the woods. Is it here we wonder? The man points to the building and we thank the man for the lift.

We are now outside and do not see anything yet of the gigantic big bunker I have seen in pictures on the internet. In front of the entrance building stands a German 8,8 cm anti-tank gun next to an old engine with a trailer. After we have paid the entrance fee, we pass two freight wagons that evoke memories of Jewish transports to concentration camps.

We walk over a forest path and we see various war attributes between the trees - including an American half track and a mini submarine. Then suddenly we see through the trees the concrete bunker we were looking for. The block is 22 meters high and 75 meters long; also keep in mind that the colossus continues 11 meters below the ground.

If we look closely, we see a kind of bulge on the side wall – on this spot the control tower of the launch had to be built. You can also see the three railway tracks and with a little imagination you can still see the place where the V2 rockets, liquid oxygen and supplies came in. Inside it was of course the intention to store the deadly rockets but also where it was tinkered and where the liquid oxygen plant was made. There was a storage capacity for 120 missiles. In one of the floors of the assembly room for the V2 rockets is a bomb crater. This is the result of the first Allied bombardment of August 27, 1943. Through two tunnels on the sides, the missiles would then be placed on launching platforms and fired, but this has never happened.

The tunnel entrance (and those on the other side) could be closed with 2-meter-thick doors which weighed 216 tons each! On the other side was the main bunker; here you can see a model of the V2. A tallboy hangs close to the ceiling. A film is shown in the main hall.

History Eperleques

Since January and February 1943, German specialists from Peenemünde and Organization Todt were in the process of preparing the concrete building to be constructed. It would become one of two complexes from which the A4/V2 rocket would be fired in northern France (Eperlecques was KNW, Kraftwerk Nord West, the other in Wizernes was SNW, 'Schotterwerk Nord West') - La Coupole.

In March 1943 the construction of the complex was started by nearly 3000 people working shifts of 2x12 hours. The vast majority of the workforce came from the labor input and volunteers. On May 16, 1943, the British RAF took photographs of the object for the first time. The decision to bomb it was taken on 29 June by the British War Cabinet. The first bombing was then carried out on August 27 by 185 B-17 Flying Fortress bombers from the USAAF.

Within an hour, 266 bombs of 1000 kilos each fell down. The northern part of the bunker was badly damaged and many people were killed and injured. Between 30 August and 7 September, 4 more bombings followed, which stopped eventually the construction work. The construction was only resumed in November when they started at the liquid oxygen plant in the southern part. With a roof of 5 meters thick, the construction of this part was completed in January 1944. Between February 2 and August 25 the complex was bombed 20 times, on June 19 and July 27, the 617 squadron Tallboy's of 6 tonnes each dropped.

When the Canadians occupied the complex on September 6, it was only ready for one-third.

We leave the concrete bunker behind us and walk back towards the forest. Now we come across the old but complete V1 launcher that looks more like a rusty ski slope. Again we encounter some war material on the forest path - now, among other things, a Bofors cannon that was used to launch a V1 rocket.

Arriving outside the site is pretty late and we decide to camp somewhere in the woods tonight. But where? We walk down a forest road and see a fence with electric fence wire. Because we do not feel like walking much further, we climb the fence and after two hundred meters we find two perfect spots next to some craters from WWII - the place for us to sleep peacefully.

tips & advice (2006)

Museum La Coupole is located about 5 km south of the city of St. Omer and can be reached from the train station of this city.

The Eperlecques site is located about 7 kilometers northwest of St. Omer.

Name: La Coupole

Address: Rue Clabaux - Wizernes

Price: 9 euros (2006)

Time: 09: 00 / 10:00 - 17: 00 / 18:00

Website: www.lacoupole-france.com

Content (evt):

La Coupole is one of the two sites in northern France where during WW2 the plan was to store and launch German V2 rockets on, among others, London. Today, under the gigantic dome, a museum with a number of exhibition spaces and two cinemas has been set up. They give an overview of the secret weapons of the Nazi empire, the concentration

camps, the liberation of northern France, the invasion of 1940, daily life during the Second World War, the resistance etc.

All information is fully offered in four languages: French, English, Dutch and German. Under the dome is the authentic underground complex to see the damped tunnels and halls where the powerful V2 would be located. You can get a free audio guide. Finally, there is now a planetarium where 3D simulates a lifelike journey through space, Mars and Saturn.

Name: Blockhaus Eperleques

Address: Rue du Sart,

Price: 10 euros (2006)

Time: March to November 10: 00 / 11:00 - 17:00

Website: www.leblockhaus.com/en

Content (evt):

Eperleques is one of the two sites in northern France where the plan was to store and fire V2 rockets on, among others, London. Around the gigantic concrete bunker that is more than 20 meters high and 70 meters wide, war material is already displayed in the forest. The concrete mass which also continues 11 meters underground is spectacular without being too commercial (as La Coupole may be).

It is the largest bunker in northern France and a must-see for war-buffs.