"Kiwi Chateau"
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Battlefieds 12 - La Coupole
"The Dome" - V2 Launch Site
Drive-Time (Via Michelin): Embry to La Coupole: 38 mins (21 miles)
Address: Centre d'Histoire et de Mémoire du Nord–Pas-de-Calais
BP 40284 - Wizernes
62504 Saint-Omer cedex
Web: La Coupole
Admission: Charges (Museum and/or Planetarium)
Opening Hours: Open daily non-stop from 9AM to 6PM all year round
and from 10AM to 19h00 in July and August.
Annual closure from 6 - 19 January.
Average length of visit: 2 hrs 30 mins
Take warm clothing - The lower section (in the tunnels) would make a perfect Wine Cellar !
In Geoff's humble opinion, La Coupole is a "MUST SEE"... Let we forget!
Construction
The Allies first noticed construction activity at Wizernes in mid-August 1943 when the Germans began building railway track and offloading stores into the old quarry. After Hitler authorised the decision to turn the depot into a missile launch site, construction was stepped up. Work on the dome began in November 1943 and tunnelling in the cliff face below began in December. At the start of January 1944, Allied reconnaissance aircraft observed an elaborate system of camouflage on the hill top, installed to conceal the dome. The building works were greatly hindered by the constant air-raid warnings, which stopped work 229 times in May 1944 alone. In response to Hitler's desire to see the site completed the workforce was expanded substantially from 1,100 in April 1944 to nearly 1,400 by June. About 60% of the workers were Germans. Skilled workers, such as miners from Westphalia, were recruited to excavate the tunnels and build the dome. The remainder were principally Frenchmen conscripted by the Service du travail Obligatoire (STO), plus Soviet prisoners of war.
The project was overseen by several large German construction companies. One of the most difficult challenges faced by the Germans was constructing the great dome while under regular air attack. The dome's designer devised a plan under which the dome would be built first, flat upon the ground, and the soil underneath it would then be excavated so that the construction works below would be protected against aerial attacks. A circular trench was excavated on the top of the hill above the quarry to an outside diameter of 84 metres (276 ft). The dome was built within this trench and the galleries and octagonal preparation chamber were excavated below.
As an additional bomb-proofing method, the dome was surrounded by a bomb-proof "skirt" of steel-reinforced concrete, 14 metres (46 ft) wide and 2 metres (6.6 ft) thick. This was supported by a series of buttresses, which were not tied into the dome itself, above the entrances to the Gustav and Gretchen tunnels. Another concrete structure was tied into the skirt to the north-west of the dome, which was perhaps intended for use as an observation and control tower.
A separate underground building was constructed on the western side of the quarry to serve as a hospital and as offices for the engineers.
A Decauville narrow-gauge railway was installed on the quarry floor to transport supplies from the main line to the construction site. A cube-shaped concrete building was constructed on the top of the hill, next to the dome. This was intended to be used as the bomb-proof outlet for a ventilation and air conditioning shaft. It was an essential component of a facility where dangerous and explosive gases were expected to be used in large quantities on a daily basis. It was never finished, and the Allies found when they captured the site that the ventilation shaft had not been fully excavated. The building survived the bombing intact and is still prominently visible today. Unlike its sister site at Watten, there was no on-site power plant. Electricity at Wizernes was provided by a connection to the main electric grid, with power consumption estimated at between 5,000 and 6,000 kVA.
Discovery and Allied attacks
The Allies became aware of the Wizernes site in August 1943 when the Germans began laying extensive new rail sidings which were spotted by RAF reconnaissance flights. In November 1943, the Allied Central Interpretation Unit reported that the Germans had begun constructing the concrete dome and were undertaking tunnelling works in the east face of the quarry. However, it was not until the following March that the Allies added the site to the list of targets for Operation Crossbow, the ongoing bombing campaign against V-weapon sites that had already wrecked the Watten bunker and numerous V-1 launching sites.
Over the next few months, the USAAF and RAF carried out 16 air raids involving 811 bombers that dropped some 4,260 tons of bombs. The bombing caused destruction across a wide area, killing 55 residents of the nearby village of Helfault. Conventional bombing raids only achieved a single bomb hit on the dome itself, causing negligible damage.However, in June and July 1944 the RAF began attacking the site with 12,000 lb (5,443 kg) ground-penetrating Tallboy bombs. The external construction works were completely wrecked by the bombing and one Tallboy landed just beside the dome, blowing out the entire quarry cliff face and burying the entrances to the Gustav and Gretchen tunnels. The entrance to Sophie was also buried, leaving Ida as the only entrance to the facility. The dome was unscathed but the buttresses supporting the protective Zerschellerplatte were dislodged and slid partway down into the quarry. Serious damage was also caused to the tunnels beneath the dome. The damage made it impossible to continue work on the site. Although three launch battalions were formed by the Germans in late 1943, they never got the chance to deploy to the V-weapons launch sites at Watten and Wizernes.
On 3 July 1944, the Oberkommando West authorised the cessation of construction at the heavily damaged sites. On 18 July 1944, Hitler abandoned plans for launching V-2s from bunkers and authorized the downgrading of the Wizernes bunker to make it a LOX production facility. However, these plans were overtaken by the Allied liberation of Northern France following the Normandy landings. The site was finally abandoned a few days before the Allies reached it at the start of September during the rapid liberation of the area by British, American, Canadian and Polish troops. British engineers inspected it on 5 September 1944. By this time much of the site was becoming unsafe due to the progressive collapse of timbering and it was recommended that the tunnels and workings under the dome should be destroyed to prevent subsequent accidents or misuse.
Pic of Nuke
Museum of La Coupole
The museum opened in May 1997. Visitors enter and leave through the Ida railway tunnel, though the rails have been removed and the floor levelled. Short branch tunnels lead off on either side originally used for storage, they now display wartime objects. Headphone stands along the way present multi-lingual accounts of the construction and purpose of the facility. The tour continues along the Mathilde tunnel to reach a lift that has been installed to bring visitors up to the space beneath the dome, where the main exhibition area is located.
Focusing on the story of the V-weapons, life in occupied France, and the conquest of space after the war, the tour presents audio-visual displays in English, French, Dutch and German.
The museum houses a large number of original artifacts including a V-1 provided by London's Science Museum: and a V-2 provided by the Smithsonian Institution: and incorporates a memorial to the 8,000 people who were shot in or deported from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region during the war. Cmputer terminals track the paths of several hundred of the deportees. In 2011, the museum welcomed 120,000 visitors.
3D Planetarium
In July 2012, the museum opened a planetarium as part of Cerendac, a newly established Centre de ressources numériques pour le développement de l'accès à la connaissance (Resource Centre for the development of digital access to knowledge). The €6 million centre is funded by the Pas-de-Calais départment, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, the French state, the European taxpayer and the intercommunality of Saint-Omer. Since 2010, the museum has also managed the V-3 site of the Fortress of Mimoyecques.
Return to primary La Coupole page. ~ More to come ~ Photos by Geoff McIntosh
The Allies first noticed construction activity at Wizernes in mid-August 1943 when the Germans began building railway track and offloading stores into the old quarry. After Hitler authorised the decision to turn the depot into a missile launch site, construction was stepped up. Work on the dome began in November 1943 and tunnelling in the cliff face below began in December. At the start of January 1944, Allied reconnaissance aircraft observed an elaborate system of camouflage on the hill top, installed to conceal the dome. The building works were greatly hindered by the constant air-raid warnings, which stopped work 229 times in May 1944 alone. In response to Hitler's desire to see the site completed the workforce was expanded substantially from 1,100 in April 1944 to nearly 1,400 by June. About 60% of the workers were Germans. Skilled workers, such as miners from Westphalia, were recruited to excavate the tunnels and build the dome. The remainder were principally Frenchmen conscripted by the Service du travail Obligatoire (STO), plus Soviet prisoners of war.
The project was overseen by several large German construction companies. One of the most difficult challenges faced by the Germans was constructing the great dome while under regular air attack. The dome's designer devised a plan under which the dome would be built first, flat upon the ground, and the soil underneath it would then be excavated so that the construction works below would be protected against aerial attacks. A circular trench was excavated on the top of the hill above the quarry to an outside diameter of 84 metres (276 ft). The dome was built within this trench and the galleries and octagonal preparation chamber were excavated below.
As an additional bomb-proofing method, the dome was surrounded by a bomb-proof "skirt" of steel-reinforced concrete, 14 metres (46 ft) wide and 2 metres (6.6 ft) thick. This was supported by a series of buttresses, which were not tied into the dome itself, above the entrances to the Gustav and Gretchen tunnels. Another concrete structure was tied into the skirt to the north-west of the dome, which was perhaps intended for use as an observation and control tower.
A separate underground building was constructed on the western side of the quarry to serve as a hospital and as offices for the engineers.
A Decauville narrow-gauge railway was installed on the quarry floor to transport supplies from the main line to the construction site. A cube-shaped concrete building was constructed on the top of the hill, next to the dome. This was intended to be used as the bomb-proof outlet for a ventilation and air conditioning shaft. It was an essential component of a facility where dangerous and explosive gases were expected to be used in large quantities on a daily basis. It was never finished, and the Allies found when they captured the site that the ventilation shaft had not been fully excavated. The building survived the bombing intact and is still prominently visible today. Unlike its sister site at Watten, there was no on-site power plant. Electricity at Wizernes was provided by a connection to the main electric grid, with power consumption estimated at between 5,000 and 6,000 kVA.
Discovery and Allied attacks
The Allies became aware of the Wizernes site in August 1943 when the Germans began laying extensive new rail sidings which were spotted by RAF reconnaissance flights. In November 1943, the Allied Central Interpretation Unit reported that the Germans had begun constructing the concrete dome and were undertaking tunnelling works in the east face of the quarry. However, it was not until the following March that the Allies added the site to the list of targets for Operation Crossbow, the ongoing bombing campaign against V-weapon sites that had already wrecked the Watten bunker and numerous V-1 launching sites.
Over the next few months, the USAAF and RAF carried out 16 air raids involving 811 bombers that dropped some 4,260 tons of bombs. The bombing caused destruction across a wide area, killing 55 residents of the nearby village of Helfault. Conventional bombing raids only achieved a single bomb hit on the dome itself, causing negligible damage.However, in June and July 1944 the RAF began attacking the site with 12,000 lb (5,443 kg) ground-penetrating Tallboy bombs. The external construction works were completely wrecked by the bombing and one Tallboy landed just beside the dome, blowing out the entire quarry cliff face and burying the entrances to the Gustav and Gretchen tunnels. The entrance to Sophie was also buried, leaving Ida as the only entrance to the facility. The dome was unscathed but the buttresses supporting the protective Zerschellerplatte were dislodged and slid partway down into the quarry. Serious damage was also caused to the tunnels beneath the dome. The damage made it impossible to continue work on the site. Although three launch battalions were formed by the Germans in late 1943, they never got the chance to deploy to the V-weapons launch sites at Watten and Wizernes.
On 3 July 1944, the Oberkommando West authorised the cessation of construction at the heavily damaged sites. On 18 July 1944, Hitler abandoned plans for launching V-2s from bunkers and authorized the downgrading of the Wizernes bunker to make it a LOX production facility. However, these plans were overtaken by the Allied liberation of Northern France following the Normandy landings. The site was finally abandoned a few days before the Allies reached it at the start of September during the rapid liberation of the area by British, American, Canadian and Polish troops. British engineers inspected it on 5 September 1944. By this time much of the site was becoming unsafe due to the progressive collapse of timbering and it was recommended that the tunnels and workings under the dome should be destroyed to prevent subsequent accidents or misuse.
Pic of Nuke
Museum of La Coupole
The museum opened in May 1997. Visitors enter and leave through the Ida railway tunnel, though the rails have been removed and the floor levelled. Short branch tunnels lead off on either side originally used for storage, they now display wartime objects. Headphone stands along the way present multi-lingual accounts of the construction and purpose of the facility. The tour continues along the Mathilde tunnel to reach a lift that has been installed to bring visitors up to the space beneath the dome, where the main exhibition area is located.
Focusing on the story of the V-weapons, life in occupied France, and the conquest of space after the war, the tour presents audio-visual displays in English, French, Dutch and German.
The museum houses a large number of original artifacts including a V-1 provided by London's Science Museum: and a V-2 provided by the Smithsonian Institution: and incorporates a memorial to the 8,000 people who were shot in or deported from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region during the war. Cmputer terminals track the paths of several hundred of the deportees. In 2011, the museum welcomed 120,000 visitors.
3D Planetarium
In July 2012, the museum opened a planetarium as part of Cerendac, a newly established Centre de ressources numériques pour le développement de l'accès à la connaissance (Resource Centre for the development of digital access to knowledge). The €6 million centre is funded by the Pas-de-Calais départment, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, the French state, the European taxpayer and the intercommunality of Saint-Omer. Since 2010, the museum has also managed the V-3 site of the Fortress of Mimoyecques.
Return to primary La Coupole page. ~ More to come ~ Photos by Geoff McIntosh
