Éperlecques

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Éperlecques (Sperleke) is a small village and commune of the Pas-de-Calais département, in northern France, north of Saint-Omer.

Blockhouse

Le Blockhaus, in the nearby woods, is a vast concrete structure built by the German army during the Second World War for the V-2 rocket. The site was given the code name Kraftwerk Nord West (KNW).

It is the largest blockhouse in northern France and was originally intended as a factory and launch facility for the V2. This function was transferred to the nearby site of La Coupole before KNW was completed and the blockhouse was instead used in producing the liquid oxygen necessary for the rockets' fuel.

Planning

In December 1942, Albert Speer ordered Peenemünde officers and engineers (including Dr Ernst Steinhoff and Dornberger's Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-Colonel Thom) to tour the Artois region in Northeast France and locate a Channel coast site for a V-2 launch facility West of Watten, in the forest of Eperlecques, near St Omer and Calais. The construction used 120,000 cubic metres of concrete and slave labour working for the Organisation Todt. A complex system of railway lines brought the workers and concrete on site from Calais and St Omer. The blockhouse was designed to be able to launch 36 rockets per day and also make sufficient liquid oxygen to fuel them, a daily requirement of 65 tonnes of it. By combining the fuelling and launching at the same heavily fortified site, the Nazis were able to avoid the evaporation losses of transporting the liquid oxygen.

Five 4-storey high Heyland compressors were intended to be installed to make the liquid oxygen and the rockets were to be assembled in the northern part of the site and moved on trollies to be launched in the southern part.

On July 8, 1943, Hitler viewed a colour V-2 rocket film and scale models of the Watten 'bunker' and mobile launching-troop vehicles. Instead of the "shoot-and-run" mobile launching Walter Dornberger advocated, Hitler ordered that there should be more than one fixed bunker.

Bombing damage of the north of the structure on August 27, 1943 resulted in a change in construction technique. The south section of the blockhaus was constructed by initially constructing a 5 meter (~16 feet) thick concrete plane weighing 37,000 tons, which was to serve as the roof. After the plane was constructed, hydraulic jacks were used to lift the roof several meters, at which point concrete was poured to create a surrounding wall and 4 interior supporting walls. After this pour had sufficiently hardened, the roof was further raised several meters and another pour was performed; this was repeated until completion. The final structure built using this method was 28 m (~92 feet) high. This technique permitted construction to continue in spite of repeated allied bombings using munitions of up to 6 tonne, including the famous tallboy bombs.

By September 1943, construction at Watten (as well as at Wizernes, and the 'special' V-2 site at Sottevast) was on schedule, despite Allied bombings.

Mission change and capture

Eventually the Nazi command considered the site too vulnerable and instructed the engineers at the blockhouse to concentrate using three Heyland compressors for producing liquid oxygen to support the new underground launch site at La Coupole. The Kraftwerk Nord West (KNW) code name was changed to KNW ALT (KNW Old) to reflect this.

On July 3, 1944, the Oberkommando West gave permission to stop construction at the heavily damaged Watten and Wizernes sites. Finally, on July 18, 1944, Hitler ruled that the V-2 'bunker' launch plans need no longer be pursued. Nevertheless, a few days after July 18, 1944, Walter Dornberger's staff decided to continue minor construction at Watten (wryly code named Concrete Lump) for deception purposes, and the valuable liquid-oxygen generators and machinery were transferred to the Mittelwerk.

On September 4, 1944, Canadian forces captured the Watten site, the most easterly of the fixed V-2 rocket launch sites. Le Blockhaus is protected under French law as a historic building and is open to the public.

Date	Result
Bombing of Éperlecques (Watten) during World War II
August 27, 1943	VIII Bomber Command Mission 87: 224 B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched to the German site construction at Watten, France; 187 hit the target at 1846-1941 hours; they claim 7-0-6 Luftwaffe aircraft; 4 B-17's are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 98 damaged; casualties are 1 KIA, 18 WIA and 32 MIA. The mission escort consists of 173 P-47 Thunderbolts; they claim 8-1-2 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-47 is lost and the pilot is listed as MIA. This is the first of the Eighth Air Force's missions against V-weapon sites (later designated NOBALL targets). Thought to be for the V-1 flying bombs, and unknown to the Allies at the time of the attack to be designed for V-2 rockets, crews were briefed on an 'aeronautical facilities' mission and low-level bomb the freshly-poured concrete beginning to harden at the 'special target'/'large site' at Watten. Bombing caused the still-wet cement to solidify into a mess that was beyond description.
August 30, 1943	VIII Air Support Command Mission 38: 36 B-26 Marauders are dispatched to an ammunition dump at Foret d'Eperlecques near Saint-Omer, France; 33 hit the target at 1859 hours; 14 aircraft are damaged; casualties are 3 WIA.
September 7, 1943	VIII Bomber Command Mission 92: 147 B-17's are dispatched V-weapon site at Watton, France; weather is a problem and 3 groups abort the mission; 58 hit the target at 0820-0854; 39 B-17's are damaged; casualties are 7 WIA.
February 2, 1944	Mission 205: 95 of 110 B-24s hit V-weapon construction sites at St Pol/[Siracourt] and Watten, France; 2 B-24s are lost, 1 is damaged beyond repair and 2 damaged; casualties are 10 KIA and 19 MIA. 183 P-47s escort the B-24s without loss.
February 8, 1944	Mission 214: 53 of 54 B-24s hit the V-weapon site at [Siracourt], France while 57 of 73 B-24s hit the V-weapon site at Watten, France; 41 B-24s are damaged and 10 airmen are WIA; escort is 89 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s
March 19, 1944	Mission 266: 1. 117 of 129 B-17s hit sites at Wizernes and Watten; 1 B-17 is lost and 74 damaged; casualties are 1 WIA and 10 MIA. 2. 56 of 64 B-17s hit Marquise/Mimoyecques; 14 B-17s are damaged; 1 crewman is WIA. Escort is provided by 82 P-47s; 1 is damaged and the pilot is WIA.
June 19 & July 27, 1944	The nearest Tallboy bomb dropped by No. 617 Squadron RAF on June 19 landed 50 yards (46 m) from the target, while one Tallboy hit the target on July 27 (but did not penetrate the structure.) The Tallboy bombs dug up the nearby ground and tilted the machinery foundations, making the bunker useless.
August 4, 1944	Mission 515: The first Operation Aphrodite mission is flown using 4 radio-controlled war weary B-17s as flying bombs; targets are Mimoyecques, Siracourt, Watten, and Wizernes V-weapon sites but none are hit; 1 drone B-17 crashes killing 1 crew. Escort is provided by 16 P-47s and 16 P-51s.
August 6, 1944	Operation Aphrodite crews were able to abandon the BQ7 drones without complications, a few minutes later one lost control and fell into the sea. The other also lost control, but turned inland and began to circle the important industrial town Ipswich. After several minutes, it crashed harmlessly at sea. Aircraft: B-17 30342 Taint A Bird: impacted at Gravelines, probably due to flak damage. B-17 31394: experienced control problems and crashed into sea. B-17 30212 Quarterback: experienced control problems and crashed into sea

References & Footnotes

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