Blockhaus d’Éperlecques

Le Blockhaus d’Éperlecques - This bunker and open-air museum was originally constructed as one of the V-weapons bases by Nazi Germany in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France during WWII and was intended to fire V2-missiles at London and southern England as sheer terror bombings. It never went operational, however, as it was heavily bombed by the Allies and seriously damaged before it was completed. The site is now run as a private museum. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: for general background see also under V1/V2 and cf. La Coupole /> background . “Blockhaus” is a German loan word in French meaning as much as ‘bunker’ (see also Atlantic Wall and cf. St-Laurent du Maroni ), and indeed it’s a huge concrete monster of a bunker. The place name is taken from a nearby village, although the site is actually closer to the small town of Watten, and hence an alternative name for the site is simply ‘Bunker Watten’. Internally, the project was code-named “Kraftwerk Nord-West” (‘north-west power plant’) to conceal its real purpose. It was part of a larger plan to utilize the new V1 and V2 weapons designed at the Peenemünde research and test site to fire a constant stream of missiles at London and other targets in Britain (in the vain hope that this showering with pure terror weapons would make Britain abandon its war effort). To this end, several sites in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France were picked that were within the missile’s range from London, but set back from the coast to avoid attacks by British commandos.