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V2 Rocket Launch Sites near Le Touquet

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V1 Doodlebug Rocket

La Coupole Helfaut-Wizernes

An original V2 rocket donated by the US to the Coupole museum.
Original V2 Rocket at La Coupole

V2 Rocket Launch Sites, A Hidden History of Pas-de-Calais.

 The Pas-de-Calais department is rich in history, particularly WW1 and WW2 history, due to the heavy presence of occupying Germans in both conflicts. The WW1 sites are famous, but the French state has also turned the remains of several WW2 sites into historic destinations. In particular, it’s restored the bunkers built as V2 rocket launch sites aimed at England in 1944.   

Barely more than an hour’s drive from Le Touquet, you can visit two fascinating WW2 places in one day.  Both belong to the history of  V2 rockets, the first missiles ever launched. After the war,  Wernher von Braun’s genius but deadly invention became the early rocket technology of the US space program. Most of the V2s that caused so much death and damage in England in September 1944 launched from the Netherlands. However,  the Pas-de-Calais was an experimental and practical site of the V2 rocket programme.

La Coupole: a Megalith for V2s Rocket Launches.

An exterior view of the V2 rocket launch site, the bunker dome at Wizernes, known as La Coupole museum
Exterior View of La Coupole
La Coupole is a spectacular place. Squatting the hills near Saint-Omer, it’s a massive dome that hides an underground bunker made up of large rooms and tunnels that any James Bond villain would enjoy.  Its purpose was deadly: but its construction had been too. Hundreds of slave labourers were used to build what was conceived as one of the main V2 rocket launch sites. In the event, the Germans abandoned the bunker after the Allies bombed it in the summer of 1944,  and it was never used for its purpose.
 

Nowadays, La Coupole is one of the most ambitious museums in Northern France. This giant concrete dome showcases the scientific and military history of the V2 rockets and a 3D Planetarium about the space age. It also serves as the regional memorial to the victims of Nazi Occupation in France.

A centre to educate and entertain, La Coupole offers several exciting exhibits. It also serves to show documentary films about the Second World War and put on temporary exhibitions.  One such is running until the end of June 2019 – British Aviation in the Skies of Northern France, 1943-1944.  

Attractions

By far the greatest draw are the V2 rockets circuit and exhibits and the Planetarium. Charting the development of V2 rockets from von Braun’s design board up to the end of the war, the V2 circuit explains and demonstrates early rocket technology. It also explores the historical use of V2s against London and other cities.

The Planetarium screens a 3D show three times a day and picks up where the circuit leaves off, taking the audience from the V2 rockets to the moon landings. To achieve full impact, it is experiential rather than documentary methods, so that you are launched into the exploration of space in 3D, with film, sound and light effects.

 

Le Blockaus at Eperlecques: hi-tech war in the forest

Bunker at Eperlecques, known as Le Blockaus - V1 and V2 rocket launch site in Pas-de-Calais.
Blockhaus at Eperlecques
Less than half-an-hour from La Coupole, across the Parc Naturel Régional des Caps et Marais d’Opale, is the foreboding concrete block known as Le Blockhaus,  a German word meaning ‘bunker’. Using slave labour, the Germans built the bunker as a launch site for the V1 flying bomb (also known as the Doodlebug), and for the V2 rockets. They abandoned its original purpose after aerial bombardments in the summer of 1944, and converted it into a liquid oxygen factory. 
 
While less sophisticated than the nearby V2 rocket launch site museum at Wizernes, the Blockhaus demonstrates the reality of the V1 and V2 programme in its harsh reality. 
  
V1 Doodlebug Rocket

Practical details for your V2 launch sites visits.

La Coupole-Wizernes site diagram by the Allies in September 1944.
Allied diagram of the V2 bunker at Wizernes

Directions

  • To La Coupole, Wizernes by car from Le Touquet: via the A16 and the N42 roads. 
  • From La Coupole to Eperlecques Blockhaus by car: via the D943 road. 
  • There is a train from Le Touquet (Etaples) to Saint-Omer, and a shuttle called Moveo from Saint-Omer to La Coupole. 
  • Length of visit: La Coupole history museum average length of visit: 2.5 hours. 
  • Open daily from 9AM to 6PM, and in July and August, from 10AM to 7PM. Closed at Christmas and New Year, and every year between the 7th and the 20th of January. 
  • 3D Planetarium: 3 sessions a day, consisting of a 15 minutes introduction and 30 minutes show. Shows available in English via audio sets. 
  • Blockhaus at Eperlecques: 45 minutes approximately. The area near the bunker is also popular for picnics. 
  • Facilities at La Coupole: audio sets, shop and café, and a free picnic area. 
  • Accessibility: both La Coupole and the Blockhaus d’Eperlecques are accessible to wheelchairs. 
Rocket Storage tunnel in La Coupole bunker at Wizernes, Pas-de-Calais
Ida tunnel at La Coupole, Wizernes

If you find the subject of V1 and V2 fascinating then why not give the 1965 movie “Operation Crossbow” ago. It has a big star cast including Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard. It features the methods used to destroy Hitler’s revenge weapons.

Boulogne Castle-Museum and Walled City

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Walled City of Boulogne: the Town Hall and traditional Belfry
Porte des Dunes, Old Town of Boulogne, postcard 1910
1910 postcard showing the Porte des Dunes, Walled City, Boulogne-sur-mer.

Fortifications and Castle-Museum: a day in Mediaeval Boulogne

Walking through the Walled City of Boulogne-sur-Mer on a summer morning is a delight for the senses. That is, the five senses… and the sense of history. Built on a hill overlooking the sea, the Walled City encloses its winding streets, quaint boulangeries and flowery squares in thick Mediaeval walls. A short stroll through this lively old town takes you from the elegant 18th century Town Hall, with its ancient traditional Belfry, past the law courts (Palais de Justice), to the 19th century domed Basilica of Our Lady of Boulogne.  Further along, and still within the Walled City, is our main destination today: the Boulogne Castle-Museum.

Walled City of Boulogne: the Town Hall and traditional Belfry
Town Hall and Belfry, Boulogne-sur-mer, Walled City

A hyphen between England and France

The town of Boulogne is an intrinsic part of the history of both England and France. A Count of Boulogne accompanied William the Conqueror in his conquest of England. A century later, a Countess of Boulogne was English King Stephen’s queen consort. A son of the French King Philip Augustus, Philip ‘Spiky-Hair’ (aka Philippe Hurepel), married a Countess of Boulogne. He built the castle and the fortifications of Boulogne in 1231, on the site of the old Roman fort. And his reason? He was rebelling against his sister-in-law, the Queen Regent Blanche of Castille, who was making life difficult the rest of the French royal family. 

But young Philip Spiky-Hair did not survive long after his building spree. In 1234, he died taking part in a joust, having previously killed another tournament participant. It was a dangerous time to be a knight…or even a prince! 

Under the Tudors, the castle and walled city continued to play a role in the history of England and France. Henry VIII conquered Boulogne from the French King Henry II in 1544. Six years later, the French King bought back Boulogne from the English Crown as part of a peace treaty.

The Boulogne Connection

Although it remained in French hands, Boulogne became a centre of smuggling to Britain. Boulogne and Sussex smugglers would pass tea, wine and spirits from France into England, to avoid the heavy taxes imposed by the British Customs and Excise. By the 1780s, this illegal trade had become more lucrative than all the fishing industry of Boulogne and the Sussex Coast put together! Smuggling continued during the Napoleonic Wars: to tea and spirits, the smugglers added spies and information. In the same way as Hastings and Rye across the Channel, Boulogne owed its economy to smuggling. 

Monument to the Boulogne people dead for France, in the French Resistance to Nazi Occupation. Belfry of Boulogne, Walled City, Boulogne-sur-Mer.
Monument to the Boulogne Resistance, Town Hall, Walled City.

From dingy barracks to Boulogne Castle-Museum

From the 17th century, the French authorities used the castle as military barracks.  Much later, the Nazis occupied it, along with the Town Hall, to impose occupation of the region. As a coastal town, Boulogne became one of the centres of the Resistance, with Philip Spiky-Hair’s rebel castle as its symbol. After the war,  the castle became a prison. Finally, in 1974, the town of Boulogne acquired it and the existing museum of Boulogne moved its art and architecture collections into its ancient halls. The Mediaeval chateau revived as the magnificent Castle-Museum it is now.

Castle of Boulogne, seen from the side.
Castle-Museum of Boulogne-sur-mer - Photo: Velvet, Creative Commons.

The Boulogne Castle-Museum today

Inside its imposing fortress, the Castle-Museum of Boulogne houses permanent and temporary collections. Along with Egyptian sarcophagi –  if you’re a fan of The Mummy, you’re in luck! – the Museum is most famous for its Ancient Greek ceramics.  Alongside such treasures, you can see historic European art and decorative arts, including drawings by great masters such as Rembrandt and Manet. The Castle-Museum also showcases a unique collection of French 19th and early 20th century painting, sculpture and glassware. In 1916, Charles Lebeau, an industrialist and art collector, left his art collection in his will to the town of Boulogne. From the sculptor Rodin to the painters Corot, Courbet and Sisley, this collection displays all the technical and artistic innovation of the 1870s to 1910s. Stunning glassware from the pre-war Great Exhibitions rounds off the Lebeau legacy.

Gustave Courbet, Marée montante (Incoming Tide), 1860-1865, Museum of Boulogne sur mer
Gustave Courbet, Marée montante (Incoming Tide) - Inventory nr: 69L, Provenance: Museum of Boulogne-sur-mer, Copyright: Photography service, Museum of Boulogne-sur-mer.

Boulogne Castle-Museum presents: A Season in Greece

Next to the Louvre Museum, the Greek collection at the the Castle-Museum of Boulogne is the greatest in France and one of the most important in the world. Boulogne owes its Greek collection to the early 19th century collector Charles Panckoucke. This Paris-based publisher and antiquarian satisfied his obsession with the Greek demigod Herakles (Hercules) and other Greek mythological characters by buying up a phenomenal number of Greek vases depicting the heroes. The Museum of Boulogne acquired the collection in 1861, and it forms a central part of the artefacts in the Castle-Museum.

From the 6th July to the 8th December 2019, the Castle-Museum is putting on a special exhibition on Greek ceramics. As well as its own stunning collection of Greek vases and other artefacts, it will be displaying some unique pieces from all over the Ancient Greek world. During that time, the museum will be closing its local history rooms to the public.

Suicide of Ajax, black figure vase by Exekias of Athens, circa 550-525 BC, on display at the Museum of Boulogne sur mer.
Suicide of Ajax, Black figure vase by Exekias, Athens circa 530 BC. - Inventory nr: 558.R3, Provenance: Museum of Boulogne-sur-mer; Copyright: photography service, Museum of Boulogne sur mer.

Useful information

Boulogne-sur-Mer is 45 minutes from Le Touquet, via the A16 road.
Trains from Etaples (Le Touquet) to Boulogne take 26 minutes.

The Walled City is at the top of the town, on a steep hill. You can reach it by car and park just outside the fortifications, or inside along the streets or in two main car parks: Parking de l’Enclos de l’Êveché and Parking de la Place de la Résistance. Go early, as the car parks fill up.

It’s a 20 minute walk from the main train station to the Old Town, and a 15 minute bus ride from the central bus station (900 metres from the train station) on bus line B1.

Castle-Museum opening hours: between the 2nd May and the 30th September, opens at 9.30 am and closes at 6pm. From the 1st October to the 30th April, opens mornings between 9.30 am and 12.30 pm and afternoons between 2 pm and 5:30 pm. The Castle-Museum closes on the 1st January, 1st May and 24th, 25th and 31st of December.

Permanent collections cost €6 and €4 for concessions*. Temporary collections cost €3 and €2 for concessions. To view all exhibits, €7 and €5.
To see the whole museum, including the historic castle, the crypt and the exhibits: €10 and €6 for concessions.

Children up to 16 can visit the Castle-Museum for free, as can students in history, history of art, art students and students in museum and heritage studies.

*concessions: seniors over 65, young people between the ages of 16 and 25, students apart from those who can go for free.

 

Nehemsimontus' median sarcophagus, Thebes, 25th-26th Dynasty, at the Museum of Boulogne-sur-Mer
Sarcophagus of Nehemsimontu, author unknown, Thebes 25th-26th Dynasty. - Inventory nr: 1b.R2; Provenance : Museum of Boulogne sur mer copyright: photography service, Museum of Boulogne sur mer.

5 Places to Explore In Le Touquet

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Westminster Hotel Le Touquet

Le Touquet Architecture

The sophisticated seaside resort of Le Touquet has many buildings listed on the historic monuments registry. There are  grand art deco designs mingled in with 19th century thatched cottages, layered on modern interpretations of the art deco style.  Le Touquet evolved to provide a playground for the rich and famous in the 1920’s and 30’s, Noel Coward was a regular visitor. You can visit the various buildings independently or join one of the regular walking tours organised by the tourist office – cost around €7.

Westminster Hotel

The Westminster Hotel was built in 1924, and is now the region’s last grand hotel of the era. It is hard to believe that Le Touquet used to have an even grander Hotel – The Royal Picardy Hotel.  In its day the most luxurious hotel in the world – a place where apartments had their own private swimming pools. Opened in 1930 the Hotel was spread across 9 floors, and consisted of  120 lounges, 500 bedrooms plus 50 apartments with there own kitchens and butler. The Hotel was commandeered by Hitler and bombed several times, after the war ended it never regained its grandeur.
The town demolished the remaining ruins in 1968 and the site is now a hotel school.

Le Touquet Casino

This Casino was the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s  first James Bond Book Casino Royal written in 1967. Other notable visitors were the “Dolly Sisters”  identical twin dancer/ actresses who were blessed with good luck in the Casino’s of France. Reportedly Jenny Dolly won 4 million Francs in one evening in Canne. It is still a working Casino although mostly taken over by slot machines. 
If gambling is not for you don’t be put off by the noise of the the Casino slot machines. There is  an excellent restaurant with a varied menu which offers great value for money.
Once a month proud owners of vintage and expensive cars park on the lawn for all to admire. I have never really worked out if this is just an excuse for owners to photograph their car with a great back drop  or easy parking for a long lunch. 

Le Touquet Casino

Le Touquet Town Hall

One of the finest features of Le Touquet is the  town hall or Hôtel de ville as it is also known. Still a working centre of administration its is difficult not to admire this grand architecture especially at night when it takes on another dimension.  Built around 1928 the construction was financed by the income from the town’s casino after just one year of trading.

Le Mascaret & Post Office

One of my favourite buildings in the heart of Le Touquet next to the police station and post office. Le Mascaret is a imposing Edwardian building constructed in 1905. When you visit be sure to make a purchase in the wonderful fish shop close by. The post office next door is unusual with its bell tower and  yellow paint.

Le Village Suisse

The Village Suisse Restaurant located in the heart of Le Touquet in an area that carries the same name. In 1906 Mr. Perret-Maisonneuve, assisted by the architect Bertrand, built a village on the dunes of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage which was to remind him of Switzerland. Close to the Westminster Hotel.

Village Suisse Resturant Le Touquet

Le Touquet Market

The covered market was built in 1931-1933 in the neo-regionalist style, in the form of a semicircle. The south wing was converted in 1960 to accommodate a fishmonger.
The Marche Couvert is a very impressive building.  Food stalls in the permanent covered market are laden with the fresh vegetables, local cheeses, jams, sweets,great fish and home produced goodies. My favourite is the spit roasted chicken with roasted potatoes, an ideal takeaway for lunch. The surrounding area flourishes into an interesting flea market. 

Party Le Touquet Market

New Architecture

It is interesting to see that the style of architecture is being maintained even with newly built properties. A selection of vibrant properties have recently been built close to the Westminster Hotel. I have shown just a selection of the architecture in Le Touquet but you will find many interesting examples of your own. Such as the Villa Le Castel and the Church of Joan of Arc with its unusual wooden ceiling recalling an upside down ship. Many photo opportunities await so pack your camera for your historical tour of Le Touquet.

Le Touquet New Architecture

The Historical Walking Tour Of Le Touquet

Le  Touquet-Paris-Plage  has created a History Trail to discover 31 remarkable sites  of its architectural heritage and history. Among these sites, the city can proudly present 20 buildings listed on the Inventory of Historic Monuments. From the 1900s, the time of the Roaring Twenties, through the two world wars and the adventure of the 70s, to the contemporary period, the tour allows visitors to cross the twentieth century with a cultural walk or by bike.
You will find lots more information about each building and the fascinating history of each by visiting the Le Touquet Museum website.

Historical Route of Touquet-Paris-Plage

Historical Walk Map

 

Ride The Tourist Train in Le Touquet

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Le Touquet Tourist Train

Discover  Le Touquet from the comfort of the pretty little tourist train. Hop on the train outside the Aqualud and take an enchanting tour of the town. The route takes you from the promenade to the  town centre. You will pass  historical monuments, the forest with its sumptuous villas, and the equestrian park. A great way to discover the town.
Tours are conducted in French and English and take  approximately 40 minutes.
Hop on for a great ride and buy your ticket on the train.

Available from Easter to October and during school holidays.

Rates : 
– Adults: 7 € 
– Children up to 12 years old: 4 € 
– Groups (from 20/25 people – all year on reservation): 6,50 € per person half an hour 

Find Out More

Guyomard Retro and Rock Art Exhibition – Le Touquet

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Gérard Guyomard Le Touquet

5th March - 20th May

The art exhibition covers the entire floor of the museum and is a marvellous display of Gérard Guyomard’s free spirit and joyous rebellion.

Thirty paintings from the 1960s are on show. They take you back to the vibrant sounding 60’s when Jimmy Hendrix, The Rolling Stones and the Beatles topped the charts. The scenes depicted of popular life are close to “Departure on vacation” (1968) and “Halles Rock” (1987).
Gérard Guyomard began painting in 1964 and became inspired by images of everyday life and erotic fantasies. His monumental works include 1985 – Mural in Vittuone, Italy and 1986 – Hospital Lariboisière
His vision is that of his personal world projected on a board.

Guyomard Exhibition
Villa Way Side
Angle avenue du golf / avenue du château
Le Touquet

Prices Adults : € 3.50 – Reduced price : € 2
Combined Museum / Lighthouse ticket : € 7

Marylin Monroe

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