While concrete megastructures like La Coupole and Blockhaus d’Eperlecques are well known as sites for Hitler’s V2 rocket program in northern France, there are also many other supporting sites in locations all over the Pas de Calais region.
There were nine main storage depots planned to support the ‘new’ mobile V2 launch program in the area – the forced evolution of launching the rockets following the heavy bombing of fixed sites - although only four of the constructions had been completed by July 1944.
The little village of Bergueneuse – between Saint Omer and Arras and near to the Azincourt battle site of 1415 - was once such location where a partially competed depot can still be found.
On the eastern outskirts of the village at a quarry site, occupying German forces cut a series of tunnels into the wooded chalk hillside, lining the extensive underground system with concrete supports to protect it from Allied bombs. This depot complex was designed for storage of materials including rockets, warheads, and fuel, but would and also featured internal workshop chambers where testing of components could take place.
Like most of the construction sites in the Pas de Calais, Bergueneuse was subjected to Allied bombing raids, this area receiving attention from RAF Bomber Command at the end of August 1944.
You can still see two main entrances to the underground facility on the Rue du Mont to the south east of the village and what is striking is the narrow nature of the doorways, measuring just under 10ft wide but opening up to 15ft wide by 18ft high inside the main tunnel storage area.
The outer doorways – once sealed by steel doors – would have been a close fit for moving a fully constructed V2 rocket and transport trolley from inside to out with just inches to spare.
Today the site is closed to the public for safety reasons.