Mimoyecques WWll rocket base

Mimoyecques

The V3 secret base is in the village of Mimoyecques in the district of Landrethun-Le-Nord.
It is about 20 miles from the French coast in the middle of the countryside.The base is still well hidden from the road and is easy to miss.
The base is in the side of a large hill you can not see the tunnel entrance form the road. We found the easiest way to get there was from the town of Marquise you could then follow the signs to the base.
There is a car park at the front of the site other wise you would drive passed.

Just in side the entrance you can see the size of the tunnel 600m long plus 150m damaged

When we visited in October 2006 it was a very warm day for the time of year. The tunnels go so far into the mountain it is like being in a mine.

So I would advise you to bring a warm coat it was about 20 degrees cooler inside the mountain.

When we visited it cost € 5.50 for an adult which was good value. You go round the site by yourself there are several points where you can listen to a sound track in several languages.

We were the only ones in the base which goes for miles but it is well signposted but a little spooky.

So many people died there, the tunnels are big enough to drive a truck down.

You can see the marks where the cannon was

The base was built in 1943 by the Todt organisation with a mixed workforce of miners, engineers and prisoners and slave labour.

The base was dug out of the chalk hill and covered with a 5m thick concrete slab to resist the heaviest bombs.

The base was on 3 levels one was an under ground railway station 30m below ground level. The railway linked direct to Calais and Boulogne.

The base was built to house the new super weapeon the V3 long range super cannon that could fire directly on London. It fired a rocket up a 127m long tube a first charge launched the missile then a charge every 3m was ignited to maintain acceleration.

The picture shows the memorial to Lieutenant Joe Patrick Kennedy who died on a mission to bomb the V3 base

This photo show the end of the tunnel you can walk 600m into the mountain base there was another 150m destroyed.

You can see the start of the destruction

A short video shows images in the WWll base the site is openApril to November and well worth a visit

if you liked Mimoyecques WWll rocket base try the Battery Todt museum

Ambleteuse WWll museum France Battery Todt WWll bunker France

Blockhaus at Eperlecques V2 rocket base

La Coupole V2 rocket base in France

Check out the weather in France

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