Watten V2 Rocket Site & Museum

The V1 Flying Bomb on display at the Watten V2 museum


Address:

10 Rue du Fort Vesques
62910 Éperlecques

Coordinates:
50.826900
2.182358


You will definitely want to use GPS on this visit as it is off the beaten track a bit. But as always most of these museums are easy enough to find. If you are coming from the west take the D221 motorway (highway) which will turn into the D207. You will take a left on the D207 at a road called Rue des Sarts. I filmed this trip in my car and will include that footage at a later date. Once on the Rue des Sarts keep driving until the road turns into a slight right hand turn, that street is called Rue du Fort Vesques. The museum is to your left, there are plenty of sign posts leading you to the museum parking lot. If you are coming from the north take the D219 motorway (highway) that will turn into the D221. If you are coming from the north easterly direction take the D300 motorway (highway) and take a left at the road Rue du Fort Vesques.

Click map to enlarge


The parking lot and entrance to the museum. There is also a really nice gift shop as you go in. (click to enlarge image)


This is one of the most staggering museums I have ever seen, it's a truly remarkable place and I really can't quite put into words at how massive this bunker site is. It is an astonishing site and if you are visiting France put this museum at the very top of the list.

You really don't get the full magnitude of this place until after you have gone through a small number of outside exhibits. The train tracks which brought the slave labor into the site during the construction are still there as are two of the box cars that held the men that worked on the construction. As you walk into the box car during a sweltering summer day in France the doors are shut and an audio track is piped in with the sounds of the train, the journey to the site and finally it's squeaking wheels grinding to a stop. The sounds of German soldiers ordering you off the train and the moans of those that are there to do the work begin. As you leave the car you walk up a path where there are some small exhibits to the left and right, but at the end of the trail you come face to face with a concrete structure that defies the imagination, it is truly one of those moments where you say out loud "oh my god"!

The bunker launch comlex at Eperleques, France. To give you an idea of the enormity of this structure I couldn't stand in one place to get the photo of the whole complex!

The daunting V2 rocket at Eperlecques.


One of the original rail cars that transported slave labor to the construction site.


All photographs on this visit were taken on July 14th, 2016 and are subject to copyright. Please be respectful and do not copy them for your own personal or professional use. If you would like to contact the photographer and admin of this web site please e-mail admin@germanbunkers.com

I used two different cameras on the 2016 visit. The Nikon Coolpix 35mm and the Apple iPhone Six S Plus.

The original rail cars that transported slave labor to the construction site.

Side view of the rail cars.

The tracks still in place 70 plus years later...

A concrete shelter stands close to the entrance of this breathtaking museum.

The concrete door to the shelter. The shelter was used by a German guard that would work on the railroad crossing as well as taking cover during the air raids that occurred at the site.

An open style concrete sentry box.

Turning the corner at the end of the trail you are confronted with the staggering size of the V2 launch facility.

The east side of the V2 Launch bunker complex.

The exhaust exit ports for the gasses that would vent out of the complex during a launch.

Rebar sticks out of the south face of the unfinished complex.

At the farthest end of the eastern side of the complex which was severely damaged by Allied bombing raids in 1943.

The North face of the complex.

A look down into the waterway beneath the complex.

Facing the destruction of a bombing raid from the West side of the complex.

One of the original construction cranes in place at the complex. Clearly seen are two of the rocket entry canals.

The massive steel doors that lead inside the V2 rocket launch bunker complex.

Giving you a perspective of the steel doors width.

Another angle of the steel door.

Once inside you immediately grasp the enormity of this site.

And then you turn to the right and you have a collective gasp! The V2 rocket bathed in an eerie yellow light.

A truly impressive and remarkable part of this museum, the V2 Vengeance weapon, poised for launch.

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