Mimoyecques

Mimoyecques V-3 base - This is an absolute unique WWII -era relic, the remains of a planned underground installation for so-called “V-3” multi-chamber superguns, intended to shower London with hundreds of shells every hour, a truly scary concept indeed. Fortunately for Britain , the design never worked properly and the V-3 base under construction at Mimoyecques in the Pas-de-Calais region of France was heavily bombed by the Allies, rendering it unusable before it was completed anyway. Today parts of the remaining underground tunnels have been made accessible for visitors and feature a replica V-3 section, various info panels and a few memorials. > 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: The V-3, so named in accordance with the existing V-1 flying bomb and V-2 ballistic missile dubbed “Vergeltungswaffen” (‘retaliation weapons’), hence the V, though all were really just sheer terror weapons aimed mainly at the civilian population of England , and in particular London . The V-3 was not a missile but a special type of supergun. The design goes back to an American idea from the 19th century for a multi-charge gun, by which subsidiary propellant charges lined up along the gun barrel were fired in sequence as the projectile passed through in order to increase the muzzle velocity of the projectile and hence its range. The American prototypes never delivered the intended results and were given up. Similar designs were also developed in France, and a French version of a multi-charge gun was envisioned after WW1 , but that never even reached a prototype stage.