Looking at the planned launch ramp area of the V1 storage & launching facility at Siracourt, northern France. 2009
"Four huge bunkers were supposed to have been built to launch the V-1 bombs and the most complete of these is situated about 20 minutes drive away from the house, towards St Pol in the village of Siracourt. Whilst it may have been intended to use them, their size made them all too identifiable and the end of their days was probably used as a decoy for other developments. In June 1943 the Allies were hampering German construction efforts and Siracourt was commenced a month later using a new method of construction. Rather than trying to build the chambers and then strengthening the roof the new idea was to create the walls by digging the necessary trenches and pouring in the concrete. Once that had been done the roof (which was about 5 metres thick) was poured directly onto the walls and the field in between. Once the outer casing had been finished teams were then sent in to hollow out the interior. A panel at Siracourt tells us that Soviet prisoners of war were used at the site. The interior would be about 5 metres high, 14 metres wide and almost 200 metres long. Whilst the exterior measurements show the thickness of the walls - 10 metres high, 36 metres wide and 212 metres long. The construction was noted by the RAF in October 1943 and the first bombing raids were made against it on the 24th February 1944. Even if these Wasserwerk buildings had been completed they were flawed from the design board. The company that had been directed to draw up the plans for the bunkers had never been told what they were going to be used for. They therefore used the standard material of reinforced concrete. It is quite evident looking at Siracourt that it is riddled with iron rods and it would therefore have been impossible to set the guidance system on the rocket." See for more info on this site.
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Photo credit: © Maurice Savage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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