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La Coupole

Domed roof of La Coupole
Type bunker
Coordinates 50°42′21″N, 2°14′38″E
Built started April 1943[1]
Built by Organisation Todt
Construction
materials		 concrete
Height 21 m
In use never completed
Open to
the public		 History and Remembrance Centre[2]
Garrison Abteilungen (English: firing detachment) comprising one technical and two operational batteries[3]
Battles/wars Operation Crossbow,Operation Aphrodite

La Coupole ("The Cupola") is the name of a World War II bunker constructed by Nazi Germany in a former limestone quarry close to the villages of Helfaut and Wizernes, Southwest of the French town of Saint-Omer, between Lille and Calais. A military bunker is a hardened shelter often buried partly or fully underground designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks The Organisation Todt (OT was a Third Reich civil and Military engineering group in Germany eponymously named for its founder Fritz Todt, an Concrete is a construction material composed of Cement (commonly Portland cement) as well as other cementitious materials such as Fly ash and Slag Operation Crossbow was the World War II Code name " to designate Anglo-American operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme Operation Aphrodite was the Code name of a secret program initiated by the United States Army Air Forces during the latter part of World War II. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A military bunker is a hardened shelter often buried partly or fully underground designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or Minerals are extracted Helfaut is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. Wizernes is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Saint-Omer ( Sint-Omaars in Dutch) a town and commune of Artois in northern France, Sous-préfecture of the Lille (lil Rijsel is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest Metropolitan area in the country Calais (kaˈlɛ in English often kæˈleɪ traditional English pronunciation /ˈkælɨs/ Kales is a town in northern France. It is located on the territory of the commune of Helfaut. The complex was intended to be a bomb-proof underground assembly and launch facility for the V-2 rocket. See also Vergeltungswaffe The V-2 rocket ( Vergeltungswaffe 2 was the first Ballistic missile and first man-made object to achieve

Construction

Work on the La Coupole was begun after the nearby Éperlecques site had been damaged by Operation Crossbow bombing. Éperlecques (Sperleke is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. Operation Crossbow was the World War II Code name " to designate Anglo-American operations against all phases of the German long-range weapons programme Prior to 1942, the consulting firm of Bauer and Nebel obtained the contract to design the intricate erector to transport checked-out Wizerne V-2 rockets from underground to the surface launcher. Rudolf Nebel ( March 21, 1894 - September 18 1978) was a spaceflight advocate See also Vergeltungswaffe The V-2 rocket ( Vergeltungswaffe 2 was the first Ballistic missile and first man-made object to achieve [4] For launches, the rockets would be hauled from the service chamber through concrete tunnels Gretchen and Gustav past the planned 1,5 m / 5-foot-thick, 16 m / 55-foot-high[5] solid steel bomb-proof doors. [3] The Allies recovered the doors from storage at Éperlecques prior to installation, and the November 1944 mission to inspect the site was led by Colonel T. Éperlecques (Sperleke is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. R. B. Sanders. [5]

In January 1944 an enormous concrete dome, or cupola, was built over the top of the facility, giving the site its name. Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A concrete shell, also commonly called thin shell concrete structure, is a structure composed of a relatively thin shell of Concrete, usually with no interior The dome was 71 m in diameter, 5 m thick and weighing an estimated 55 000 tonnes. Similar to the Verbunkerung method used at the Sottevast bunker, the Wizernes plan was to build a bomb-proof dome on the ground on the edge of the 30 m / 100-foot-deep quarry, then excavate a facility beneath. [3][6] Directly beneath the dome, a 35 m / 117 ft diameter[5]-by-21 m high hexagonal room was planned to house the rocket production facility. Regular hexagon The internal Angles of a regular hexagon (one where all sides and all angles are equal are all 120 ° and the hexagon has 720 degrees Once assembled and fuelled the rockets were to be moved outside and fired, at a rate of 40-50 per day. [7] In May 1944, the 953 (Semi-Mobile) Artillery Detachment, started Abteilungen (English: firing detachment) training at Blizna for operations at Wizerne. Blizna Podlaskie Voivodeship Blizna is a Village in the administrative district of Gmina Ostrów, within Ropczyce-Sędziszów County, Subcarpathian [3]

Railway tunnels were bored underground to allow the rocket parts to be brought in safely. In total more than 6 km of galleries were dug by the Soviet prisoners in order to store the rockets 42 m underground. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Liquid oxygen generators were planned to supplement the supply from the Éperlecques site and underground barracks and administrative areas were dug out and lined with concrete. Éperlecques (Sperleke is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais département in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

Following Allied bombing in June 1944 that severely damaged the site, it was closed down in July 1944 before it was completed and before it had fired a rocket. Hitler ordered its abandonment and the Soviet prisoners were put on trains and sent back to Germany. Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately The prisoners have never been traced.

The site has a History and Remembrance Centre[2] open to the public as a museum dedicated to the human cost of La Coupole as well as the legacy of the V2 to modern rocketry. A museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development open to the public which acquires conserves researches communicates and exhibits the

Bombing of Wizernes during World War II

The French resistance informed the British of the devastating potential of La Coupole soon after construction began. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located On November 5, 1943, the Allied Central Interpretation Unit (CIU) reported photographs of the Wizernes rocket project. [3] The first attempts to destroy it took place in March 1944 after the dome had been finished. Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Over the following five months, 3,000 tonnes of Allied bombs were dropped and the Tallboy bombings in June 1944 succeeded at damaging the area. Units of mass There are three similar units of Mass called the ton: Long ton (simply ton in countries such as the United In general allies are people groups or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose The Tallboy was an Earth quake bomb developed by Barnes Wallis and brought into operation by the British in 1944 In late August 1944 the site was captured by the Allies. [3]

Bombing of Wizernes during World War II
11 March 1944 (Mission 255): 34 of 51 B-24 Liberators hit Wizernes using blind-bombing techniques due to thick overcast[8]
19 March 1944 (Mission 266): 1 B-17 is lost[8] -- Boeing B-17G-35-BO Fortress 42-31926 (384th BG, 545th BS, *Lovell's Hovel*)[9]
17 April 1944 (Mission 304): 14 of 15 B-24s bomb the V-weapon site at Wizernes, France without loss; escort is provided by 33 P-47s. [8]
25 April 1944 (Mission 317): 27 of 28 B-24s bomb V-weapons sites at Wizerenes, France without loss. Escort is provided by 40 P-47s. [8]
3 May 1944 (Mission 336): 47 of 51 B-24s bomb the V-weapon site at Wizernes, France; 33 are damaged; 3 airmen are WIA. Escort is provided by 48 P-47s and 53 P-51s without loss. [8]
20 June 1944: 17 Lancasters and 3 Mosquitos of No 617 Squadron attempted to attack a large, concrete covered V-weapon site in a quarry at Wizernes, but the target was cloud-covered and no bombs were dropped. [10]
22 June 1944: 234 aircraft - 119 Lancasters, 102 Halifaxes, 13 Mosquitos - of Nos 1, 4, 5 and 8 Groups to special V-weapon sites and stores. The sites at Mimoyecques and Siracourt were accurately bombed by 1 and No 4 Group forces with Pathfinder marking but the No 617 Squadron force attacking Wizernes failed to find its target because of cloud and returned without dropping its bombs. [10]
24 June 1944: 16 Lancasters and 2 Mosquitos of No. 617 Squadron RAF bombed the Wizernes site and scored several hits with their Tallboy bombs. No 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is better known as the "Dambusters" squadron The Tallboy was an Earth quake bomb developed by Barnes Wallis and brought into operation by the British in 1944 1 Lancaster was shot down by flak, the first loss by the squadron for exactly 2 months. [10] Three Tallboy bomb exploded in the tunnels, one burst under the edge of the dome, and one hit in the mouth of V2 launch rail tunnel. The Tallboy was an Earth quake bomb developed by Barnes Wallis and brought into operation by the British in 1944 The entire hillside collapsed, effectively destroying the facility although the dome remained intact. The whole area around the site was churned up so that it was unapproachable, and the bunker was jeopardised from underneath,[3] with landslides making further work impossible. [6]
27 June 1944: No. 433 Squadron, including F/O Edward Richard Knox-Leet on his third mission, bombs Wizernes[1]
28 June 1944: 103 Halifaxes of No 4 Group with 5 Mosquitos and 2 Lancasters of the Pathfinders attacked the V-weapon site at Wizernes without loss. No report of the bombing results was filed. [10][2]
17 July 1944: 16 Lancasters, 1 Mosquito and a brand new never before flown P-51 Mustang took off for the fourth bombing raid on Wizernes, after markers had been placed three Lancasters managed to drop Tallboy bombs within an area to cause some damage. The Tallboy was an Earth quake bomb developed by Barnes Wallis and brought into operation by the British in 1944 One tallboy caused the dome to shift out of alignment, the two others had the affect of causing a roof collapse and blocking the entrance. [3]
20 July 1944: 369 aircraft - 174 Lancasters, 165 Halifaxes, 30 Mosquitos - attacked 6 flying-bomb launching sites and the V-weapon site at Wizemes. All raids were successful except the small raid by 20 aircraft on the Forêt de Croc site. [10]
20/21 July 1944: 87 aircraft - 54 Halifaxes, 23 Lancasters, 10 Mosquitos - of 4, 5 and 8 Groups attacked flying bomb sites at Ardouval and Wizernes without loss but only 23 aircraft bombed at Ardouval and none at Wizernes. [10] The planned Wizernes attack on the base was called off due to bad weather. [4]
4 August 1944 (Mission 515): On approach to the target, the Operation Aphrodite mothership loses B-17 42-3461 from view in low cloud[9] and the drone overshoots its target by 2,000 feet. Operation Aphrodite was the Code name of a secret program initiated by the United States Army Air Forces during the latter part of World War II. [11]

References & Footnotes

  1. ^ Henshall, Philip (1985). Hitler’s Rocket Sites. New York: St Martin's Press, p75.  
  2. ^ a b History and Remembrance Centre, LA COUPOLE. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Irving, David (1964). David John Cawdell Irving (born 24 March 1938 is a British writer specializing in the Military history of World War II. The Mare's Nest. London: William Kimber and Co, p142,169,223,247,309.  
  4. ^ Ordway, Frederick I, III; Sharpe, Mitchell R. The Rocket Team, Apogee Books Space Series 36. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, p31.  
  5. ^ a b c “The V-Weapons”, After The Battle: p14,24, <http://www.afterthebattle.com/ab-con1.html#index> 
  6. ^ a b Dornberger, Walter (1952 -- US translation V-2 Viking Press:New York, 1954). Major-General Dr Walter Robert Dornberger ( 6 September 1895 - 27 June 1980) was a German Army Artillery officer V2--Der Schuss ins Weltall. Esslingan: Bechtle Verlag, p176,179.  
  7. ^ Wizernes V-2 Bunker - France. A4/V2 Resource Site. Brothers Designs. Retrieved on 2008-01-06. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1066 - Harold Godwinson is crowned King of England. 1205 - Philip of Swabia becomes King
  8. ^ a b c d e 8th Air Force 1944 Chronicles. Retrieved on 2007-05-25. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. 1944:March, April, May, August
  9. ^ a b USAAF Serial Numbers. Encyclopedia of American Aircraft. Joseph F. Baugher. Retrieved on 2008-02-06. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar defeats the combined army of Pompeian followers and Numidians under Metellus Scipio 41-24340 to 41-30847, 42-001 to 42-30031, 42-30032 to 42-39757, 42-39758 to 42-50026, 42-57213 to 42-70685
  10. ^ a b c d e f Campaign Diary. Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. UK Crown. Retrieved on 2007-05-24. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned 1944: June, July
  11. ^ JFK's Brother Flew Drone. Orwell Today. Retrieved on 2008-02-06. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar defeats the combined army of Pompeian followers and Numidians under Metellus Scipio
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