Within walking distance of the campsite is Le Blockhaus
d’Eperleques, built by the Germans in WW2 as a launching facility for the V2
rockets. We have seen this advertised many times when we have visited France
but had not managed to visit it. When I found this campsite in the ASCI Card
book, I thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to investigate the site.
The campsite reception staff also gave us a card that gave us a reduction on
the entry fee, which was quite handy.
As you can see from the photographs, the bunker is a massive concrete
construction with the original design requiring 200,000 tons of concrete and
20,000 tons of steel. A fortified railway station was attached and it was here
that the rockets were to be delivered and then assembled inside the bunker.
Construction started in spring 1943 but was soon spotted by allied air
reconnaissance. The allies did not know the purpose of the construction but,
from the scale of the project, they knew that it had to be something very
important. In August 1943, American bombers targeted the partially built
facility using ‘earthquake bombs’, designed by Barnes Wallis, to disrupt the
foundations of the building. The bombing destroyed the northern end of the
building and led the Germans to abandon the intended use. For some reason, they
continued with the construction but only used the building for liquid oxygen
construction. Needless to say, forced labour of political prisoners and concentration
camp inmates were used and suffered appalling conditions and often death.
Le Blockhaus d’Eperlecques make a very interesting visit and I highly recommend
it.
Photos: Despite the massive size of the bunker that we saw, this was only one third of the original plans - V1 in foreground and V2 rocket behind; Some evidence of the huge bombing raid that used ‘earthquake bombs’.
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