Ypres
I went alone this time and for the first day I was heading towards Ypres, a city in Belgium. This time I was well prepared with maps frmo Google and a freshly programmed GPS unit including western europe as a complete map. Should make navigating much faster and easier. I also brought along much more equipment.(Tent, Selkbag, electric cooler box, a BBQ grill with air pump and everything). So the ride was promising to be ok and until Belgium I got through pretty well. But shortly after stopping for gas in belgium, a weird stench was inthe car suddenly. Something like burnt electronics? Smoke came out of the dashboard and then I had to stop on the roadside - the Y-Adapter to hook up the GPS unit and the coolerbox at the same time had melted and shorted out a bunch of fuses and had just caught on fire! I extinguished the mess and managed to drive to the next gas station and even got fitting fuses there. Got out the car manual, plugged the fuses in and I was good to go - but now I had to alternate between charging the GPS unit and cooling food/drinks and that really sucked. The GPS unit lasts only a few hours on battery, so this proved to be one of the problems regarding food and drinks this time...  

A few hours later (Belgium has this 120 spped limit...) I arrived at my first stop for the day, the Zonnebeke Museum in Pahschendaele, which accroding to some reviews on websites I read should be a good introduction to Ypres and its history. Beautifully located in a park, it was a bit hard to find since the roadsigns were sorely lacking. A short walk in the sun later I found it and around noon I could take the first pictures of my trip. Due to the little fire incident I was behind my schedule for about an hour, leaving a few minutes later as planned and the speed limit in Belgium plus all the radar checks there did certainly not help either. Anyways...

 
Größere Kartenansicht

Inside the museum you could see a rather large variety of dioramas and equipment of all armies. Right at the beginning the museum showed in a largfe display the history of gas warfare sround Ypres and how soldiers tried to protect themselves from it.Im Museum konnte man eine sehr große Zahl an Dioramen und Ausrüstungsgegenständen de

(Gasgrenades, gas cylinders and equipment.)

(Gasprotection by simple and then more elaborate gas masks.)


(Bizarre: Medieavl lokking body armor for trench warfare.)

The basement level of the surprisingly huge house contained a reconstructed tunnel system similar to the ones actually used during the war. Even today they still find occasionally during construction of houses etc. old tunnels which were dug from both sides during the war. In some places craters suddenly open up if a dugout or old bunker gives way, causing houses to collapse and even cars to disappear in the ground! The exhibition is really well done, using sound effects and ambient lighting. There wer not too many things on display in the tunnels, but it was done effetively and quite nice, a good idea on how it might have looked like. A bit too sterile and clean for my taste, since I saw the tunnels of Vauquois before but I guess this is ok.

(Reconstructed tunnels in the basement)

(reconstruction of a hospital)

(Waterpump illustrating the problems with flooding in the tunnels.)

It took a little more then an hour to see the musuem and I wished I could have spend a bit more tiome there since its setup as really nice, but this just didn't work out. I had a too tight schedule planned unfortunately...

My next stop was the Hooge Crater, including a small museum next to it. Arriving there I was unabel to see the crater itself, it looked as if it was turned into a cemetary - so I just checked out the museum. Later on back at home I found out that the crater is in fact way behind the museum and that it was just missing the signs pointing to it. Bummer. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

I checked out the museum briefly. It is located in a former church and is surprisingly small. However it is really packed from floor to ceiling with militaria. But this was the best showcase that quantitiy does not equal quality. Seriosuly: I don'thave to see 200 different kinds of handgrenades which might all be in perfect condition - I'd rather see a variety of things and a broader spectrum of showcases. So my visit here was recordbreaking short, less then half an hour and this is basically all the time you might want to spend here. The good thing was of course that I came back closer to my planned schedule, so that was a plus. 

(Grenades as far as you can see.)

(Dozens of pistols and revolvers.)

(Again lots of  grenades and fuses.)

(The dioramas were covered with highly reflective glass unfortunately.)

The afternoon was approaching fast and I needed a little snack. So I ate a little something - but preferred to eat stuff I brought along. Prices in the cafe were not really to my taste. A few minutes later I continued my tour and visited "Sanctuary Wood", where german and canadian troops were besieging each other for years at end. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

A rather large part of the trench system was kept in really good condition and unlike at Verdun wasn't covered in grass. No, at this site there was still just mud, wood, naked earth and rusty metal on the ground, looking much more recent and authentic then the trenches at Verdun etc. Unfortunately there were two english schoolclasses arriving with me as well and that was a bit sad to see, since they paid no respect to anything on site. On the other hand I wasn't that interested in history at that age myself, so who knows if I wouödn't have been bored as well? Regardless it took away quite a bit of the experience of visiting this site with it swarming full of kids. Pity.

(Ammunition rests, continually recovered when taking care of the site.)

(English schoolclass ahead in the trenches.)

(View of the trench.)

(A trench shield providing cover for observation purposes.)

(A tiny bunker from the inside.)

(Entrance to the bunker.)

At times it was very muddy in the trenches and I forgot my "mud shoes" in the car, so waering sneakers it was quite nasty to get through the whole system. I had to take some detours to be able to see everything.

(Muddy trench.)

(Zigzagging trenches.)

I spent quite some time exploring the trench system, following that I checked out the museum that is attached to it. It resembled more a militaria store, a memorial and storage closet then a real museum so I cut my visit short. Also it wasn't that fascinating, and the schoolkids were swarming all over it as well. If they wouldn't have been around, Sanctuary Wood would have been quite great to see. Still: More impressive then Froideterre, and definitely better kept.It lacks a bit the piety of the Verdun sites though.

(Storage room like exhibition in the "museum".)

I left Sanctuary Wood then and dried my shoes in the car as much as possible. My next stop for the day would be Hill 60, which is not too far away from here.. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

Hill 60 is a man-made result of spoil from a nearby railway cutting in the nineteenth century  which is no longer present. One of the only sloghtly higher points in the flat landscape, it was the scene of bitter fighting to get above the muddy ground. Arriving there I first noticed that the museums cafe that was supposedly freshly renovated and open - had closed down. And the museum itself is now completely gone - if this is unfortunate or not is left to decide. I peeked through its windows but did not see anything interesting. So I went to explore the small hill. I parked the car and went up on the hill to see what was left there.

(Pillbox bunker at Hill 60)

(Small concrete dugout.)

(I squeezed myself in and tried to take pictures - way too small for that. Can hold 3 persons max I would say.)

On my way back to the car I saw a huge crater that was created by one of the british mines that were exploded here during the battle of Messines. It took a part of the german front trench with it as well as a significant amount of the hill. Simply gone! 

(Mine crater with a small metal cupola of unknown origin. Looks like an observation cloche.)

On the hill I saw a small british travel group that were investigating the hill. When I went back to my car, I dicovered thanks to the writing on their van that they were from Battlefieldtours.co.uk whose website I used as guidance for my trip planning. Nice coincidence! Two friendly dutch ladies wanted to know some details about this hill from e as well there, so we had a short chat about it and I could tell them a bit about it. They were  bit surprised at the end that I was not an american as they though, once they saw my german license plate on the car... Nice. :)

Following my experiences on the hill I went on a somewhat confused journey to find the "Bayernwald", which contains a small trench system and some bunkers. Some decades ago a school teacher bought the lot and discovered an old mineshaft on the property. He started to excavate the area and found several bunkers, remains of trenches and some mineshafts, turned the whole thing then in a small museum. Unfortunately when he died the thing fell in disrepair and was closed down - but recently it was all renovated and reopened. But to get there, you have to get an unlock code for the gate that you get at a tourist office in a small city some 15 minutes away. Not easy, but doable. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

The situation on site was not the best as I discovered - there were new tables showing what this place was about but a part of the site is fenced off due to it not being repaired yet. It is also quite obvious that the original owner had a slightly "down to earth"-attitude when it came to reconstructiong the site. In a lot of places it looked as if there was notm uch original stuff left besides the bunkers, but.. it is better then nothing. The local tourism office is thought trying to get the small site back to a rather decent standard. 

(trenchsystem at Byernwald - the area left of  "1916-1917" is currently inaccessible.)

(View of the first half of the trenches. Not that big.)

(To show the size of the trenches: Picture with me in it. Trenchwalls were covered with wooden panels and fascines.)

(Teh other half of the trenches.)

(Decaying trench.)

(Entrance to the small german Bunker.)

(Inside the bunker, extremely simplistic setup, two rooms with connecting door. Full of water and trash. Sad sight.)

The bunkers were built so small intentionally to make them less likely to be used permanently. The inhumane logic was that this would otherwise cause soldiers to get too comfortable and decrease their morale to fight. Completely insane....

(Picture with (presumalby) Hitler in it at Bayernwald.)

One of the reasons Bayernwald is a bit known: Hitler served part of his service in the first world war here as a messenger. I would have appreciated it, if he had stayed here "permanently", but no... :/

(Better view of the bunker form the outside - notice how small they are!)

Since there wasn't so much else to see here and the mosquitos were bugging me quite a lot now, I left for my next target for the day, a museum in Ypern, "Cloth Hall". Upon arriving there I noticed though that you have to be there at 4:30PM latest to gain entrance. Obviously they cut down opening hours recently and did not update their website. Pity. So due to my problem on the drive through Belgium I was too late to see it - well, not everything works out always. So instead I went on to get to the camping ground and set up my tent. That in itself was another adventure. Back when I did the trip, Google Maps had a horrible resolution of Ypres, so you couldn't see exactly where the camping ground was. And the adress given is technically correct - but to get to the cmaoing ground, you need to come from the other side of the whole block and that is not really obvious if you come from the city center. But a short visit at the local swimming pool and some french/dutch/english later I knew where to go. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

At around 6PM I managed to arrive at the camping lot and checked in. The young couple in the booth was a bit surprised to find a german with some dutch skills asking them about his reservation and were rather pleased about it. Nice. So I went in with the car, parked, got the tent out and set it up in short time, set up everything else - and then decided to skip the optional visits for today. I had thought about going to a small trenchsystem nearby that had been taped for a british TV-Show and also a small bunker at Zandvoorde, but figured this should be enough for today. Only the evening ceremnoy at the Mening Gat in the city centre would be my last thing for today. The local firebrigade is blowing their horns there every evening in memory of the allied soldiers that defended this city in the first world war, making it the only major city in Belgium not occupied by the german army. The walkway there led me through some fields with grazing cows and across the mediaval moat around the city. A very nice and pittoresque view. 

(City wall and moat.)

Arriving at the gate I "saw" this ceremony, surrounded by hundreds of british tourists. I thought it was a bit weird, but everony else loved it. Oh well. 

(The Mening Gate where the ceremony is held.)

(My view on the ceremony, hornblowers in the back right.)

Followng this I went back to the camping ground, opened up a beer, set up my BBQ and then griled some food. Opposite of me was a quite british family of five, who were a tad bit weirded out by my preparations: electric pumnp for my air mattress and to fire up the grill faster, a nice chair to hang out in, a big tent for just one person, the BBQ, a cold beer from the electric cooler, my big camping blanket as a nice place to hang out and eat - and a really great dinner. I brought some good quality steaks with me, had tomatoes, radishes, a fresh garlic baguette and some hardboiled egg: What else did I want? When I was finished with eating, I flew my X-Twin for a while on the parking lot, which was also fun. Called Tia afterwards to report back and tell her that I was doing well and that everythign is alright. Then finished the day in front of the grill, having another beer, finally put out the flames and went to sleep. The next day would be long and packed with stuff to see. The camping lot was definitely decent and quite nice, not too big, completely underrated in my opinion: Thumbs up!

(Camping in Ypres.)

Somme

Next morning, and I was a bit sleepy, but rather well rested from the night. Thanks to the new sleeping bag that Tioa got me, fitting clothing and the insulated blanket under the mattress, I spent the night inthe night under rather good circumstances. Went to do my mrongin routine at the bathrooms, which were not the most mordern ones, but clean and functional. Then I put my valuables back in the car, put away most stuff on the camping ground and left for the day. Picked up some gas, got some coffee, programmed the GPS unit and off I was to the Somme on the highways. And just like the day before, the speed limits were annoying, it took quite a while to get to France, and with 120 in Belgium and 130 in France it just takes so much longer to get to places... Speeding is not recommended, I saw a bunch of cameras and radar traps on the way. The ride was ok, but the exact street I needed to go t was not in the GPS unit, so the last few miles were an adventure. The french aren't that great on setting up road signs either, so this was a bit annoying. Thus it took me a bit longer then planned to arrive. By this time I was also quite fed up with plugging in and out the GPS unit as well as the freezer box, either my food might spoil due to the higher temps that day, or my GPS would run out of juice and I would get lost. Tragic.

First stop of the day was the "New Foundland Park" between Hamel and Auchonvillers. A regiment from Newfoundland tried to make its way back then on the first day of the Somme and was practically eradicated by them. A traumatic experience for the small population of Newfoundland back then, almost every family there lost a member that day here. Insanely enough the Newflundland troops were sent out ill-advised against very well dug in german positions. Weeks of fighting later, they only managed to conquer a few hundred meters. Insane. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

The terrain and its state resembles Douaumont at Verdun, just like there gras has been growing over the pockmarked trenches and makes the barren land look much nicer. Also turning it into some modern, bizarre and morbid kind of botanical garden.

(Gardeners at work, standing in the second line at the Newfoundland side. Behind the street was the third, reserve trench and a field hospital .)

At the entrance a french family passed by the freindly canadian student, who was onduty today to show tourists around. I started using french with him, but we quickly changed to english as this was easier for both of us. Like me back then he was studying political science, so taking the tour with him was extremely exciting. Since I arrived early, I was givnen the tour all by myself, great thing. It was even cost-free, but I donated a 10 in their box, this was by far the best tour I ever got anywhere. Awesome, qualified and dedicated. He was also quite interested in my other tours and what my motivation was to check out this place. They don't get many german tourists there apparently. 

We began the tour around the area and my guide explained to me, that we would see both sides of the trenches, since the whole battlefield was left like this after the war. It was very easy to see where the trenches had been, the connections to the back and also where bigger dougouts were. They even marked things like this on the parking lot, great idea!) A little while later we climed a small artifical hill on which a monument for the Newfoundlands has been built. Complete with a roaring moose on top, but things could be worse of course.

(The monument with the mosse on top. Trenches in the foreground.)

(All walk ways were fenced into keep the landscape as is.Not as nice as in Verdun, but since the whole site is considered a memorial, kind of agreeable.)

(Overgrown trenches.)

When we were atop of the hill, we had an incredible view over the battlefield. It was easy to see where the german and newfoundland trenches were and why this battle was so insane. The canadians had to run down a hill into the german lines, being a perfect target against the horizon - and the german lines were slightly elevated again, giving them plenty of opportunity to kill the soldiers. Whoever had to rise up here, was sure to be shot down. It was completely fruitless to start an attack in such a place under such conditions - but it was done anyways. The detonation of a huge mine under the german lines in close vicinity was planned to make the attack easier, but it went off too far away from here and alerted the germans of the imminent attack.

(Neufoundland front trench, seen from the hill. In front of it a shallow trench that was dug days into the battle.)

(Relis of the trench walls on the way to the german side.)

(The dead tree inthe middle of the battle side, also known as "Danger Tree".)

The attack came until this tree and then stopped here. It is obvious what short distance this was - every yard of ground that has been taken was paid with many lives. Complete and utter idiocy. 

Arriving at the german side, it was easy to tell that the german trenches were dug much deeper and with big dugouts, sheltering the german troops during the artiellery attack. The student guide kept mentioning, that the germans set up extremely elaborate and well defended positions here, even giving up the hilltop to have a better field of fire. Might have been, gruesome nevertheless.

(German trench with concrete reinforcements.)

(Free field of fire against the top of the hill - anything that rises up there is seen excellently against the horizon.)

(Where the trees are now, one of the biggest mines ever was blown up.)

(As a comparison: This was the mine and what it looks like after.)

We went a bit further to a small vallwey that the germans held as a place to retreat to and to keep reserves. During the battle the canadians went through at some point, circumventing this valley where some germans held out for a few days longer in hiding. They gave up after a while though. Bizarre detail. 

(The small valley.)

We ended the tour at this point. Honestly: Besides the trenches there is not much to see, but getting this awesome tour made it worth a lot to me. I was excited, went to the visitors centre to use their (clean and nice) bathrooms and then talked to the students a bit more. So far the best example that a great presentation makes up for a lack of items to display. 

My next stop was the "Lochnagar"-crater, the biggest manmade crater in europe. On the first day of the battel of Messines, two mines were blown up here to create a crater und collapse the german front trenches. Also to create a small ridge to give the allied tropps some shelter onthe battlefield. Unfortunately this is all that it did - further then this the troops were unable to advance. Just like in the park: A lot of dead people for very little gained land. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

The crater is privately owned, but the visit is free. One needs to see this crater for himself, pictures do not do it justice. It is very big. Even on video it looks pretty small, but it is not. 

(Panorama view of the crater.)

(Detail of the bottom or the crater.)

A short while later I continued my trip, since there was not too much to see here. But that was nothing new to me and I knew about this from the beginning. Next stop whould have been the Thiepval Monument , which I skipped and rather headed for the Cafe "Le Thommy", that was reported as having decent food and a small musueum in its garden. However it was closed that day. So instead I went to Delville to see the southafrican monument there and have a snack in the car again. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

This one was not so great to see - setup by the late Apartheid regime, this was more a militaristic memorial then anything museumliek or so. And the battlefield was not kept at all, just all green grass and flat. Not interesting, I could have skipped this visit easily. 

(Southafrican monument at Delville.)

(Teh inner monument with its "museum", erected in the shape of a fort.)

Inside of the building was a small exhibition of mostly art - of the patriotic kind. Thats why I skipped taking pictures, did not like it at all. I went through it quickly and left again. Only the long walk to and back from the museum made my visit rather long. 

I was a bit hungry now and had the rest of my cold snack for lunch. Next stop was the city of Albert, a little further away from the rest of my targets for the day. Here I wanted to see the "Musee des Abris", which is fittingly located in a former airshelter from the second world war.  

 
Größere Kartenansicht

A rather interesting idea to locate the museum ther, but it works very well. Locationswise one of the best I have seen, also a nice presentation: I liked it. A good movie was shown in a small theatre in the tunnel, which I could only see for a buit, since I had few time at hand. But I saw a lot of other pieces on exhibition, which were mostly used indioramas. A pretty good presentation!

(Entrance to the museum in the shelter.)

(Looking down the stairs - I felt very protected here...)

(Pedaldriven airfilters.)

(An example for the vitrines that displayed a lot of interesting artifacts. Also a lot of old pictures onthe walls, which are difficult to reproduce on my pictures due to reflective glass and their size)

(Diorama with gas grenade launcher.)

(Scene in the museum tunnel.)

(A rather detailed diorama showing winter.)

All in all one of the best museums I have ever seen, doen with lots of attention to detail, set beautifully in place and using its unique setting to its advantage: Nice. Also a bit of a downing atmosphere, being in a bunker and all - the museum shop was well stocked and I was close to buying some souvenirs, but ultimately didn't. I usually keep to me taking pipctures only. 

On my way I stopped unplanned at the "Butte de Warlencourt" - but besides some rocks and a plate there was really nothing to see there. 

A relatively long ride away from Albert I arrived at "Vimy Ridge", about half way back to Ypres. Canada is keepinga small part of the old trenchline in restored condition here, complete with concrete filled sandbags and a relatively well kept subterranean part of tunnels. All in all a mix between Vauquois and Bayerwald, and thats pretty much what it looks like as well. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

Unfortunately the trenches are "over-restored" so to say. They look clinically clean. Though their outline follow the original ones, I have doubtas about them ever looking like this during the war. I took a few pictures regardless, since the area was well preserved and easy to access. Unfortuntely the grass was fenced of with electrical wires, by now I was wondering if this was a canadian thing...

(Mortar at Vimy Ridge.)

(Typical state of the trenches.)

(Trechnarmor at the end of a trench.)

(View through the armored plate.)

I checked out the area for a while and the bought a ticket at the entrance hall to access the tunnelsystem below Vimy Ridge. I managed to get on the last tour for the day, a fe more minutes and I would have not made it - good planning! We were shown a supply tunnel, called "Subway", that went from the third line all the way to the front line to get ammunition and personnel to the front without being exposed to enemy fire. In addition the tunnels held hospitals, storage rooms, sleeping rooms and other facilites. Looked a lot like the french installations at Vauquois butm ore massivley built and of bigger nature. 

(Climbing down to the tunnels.)

(Caved in main tunnel segment)

(Well preserved tunnel segment, the concrete pillars were added after the war to make it more stable.)

(Sleeping room.)

(Plan of the tunnel system)

(Various equipment found in the tunnels.)

(Side tunnel.)

Unfortunately my batteries inthe camera died down there, so I could take few pictures and without flash only, so many pf them did not turn out well. Pity. But it was quite interesting to see this tunnel system and to compare it to the ones at Vauquois. 

Since I took part in the last touor of the day, we were brought back up after a rather short visit down there and the area was then sealed off. So I got back on the road to Ypres. Since I was running late, I left out my optional visit to the german cemetary at St. Vaast. But at east I managed to do a short stop at the Yorkshire Trench in Ypres, that I had to skip the day before. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

I intended to see this one on my first day, but did not get aroudn anymore. The area was rather small and there was not much to see. The recovered "Dugouts", the rooms that are under the surface, are all full of water and so I was unable to see them. All there was to see is a small reconstructed trenchsystem, much like Bayerwald or Vimy Ridge. My camera was able to take very few pictures, but needed a lot of time to recover between them due to the battery being so low. 

(Plan of the trench system.)

(Picture of the surface, in the middle reconstructed trench walkboards.)

(The trenches from the side.)

(Waterfilled entrance to the dugouts.)

It was about time now to return to the camping ground since I started to get hungry and I had seen most of what I planned for the day. So I drove the short distance to the camping place and repeated my BBQ from the day before with cold beer and everything. The british family apparently got inspired by my BBQ and got themselves a grill as well - and lots of meat. Unfortunately they were trying to prepare about 2kg of meat on the same tiny disposable grill that I was usiong and of which I know is only to good to prepare 2-3 pieces of meat and maybe some baguette. But thats really all it can do - and they were just piling up meat on it... When I was done with my steak, I went over and offered them to use my grill as well (would have been good for one or two more pieces) but they declined. Their fault. Some other british couple was more interested in it and happily used it to heat their food up then. A little contribution to " Völkerverständigung"... 

Pas-de-Calais and the V-Weapon Bunkers

Next day, again a really densely packed program. The night was short, but acceptable. Went to hit the bathrooms and took a longish shower, which was much needed to warm up after the night. Following that I had a small breakfast and cleaned out the tent, packed the car and put the tent in last. Was still a bit moist, which was not so great (yay moldy spots...), but there was no chance to get it much drier with the grass still being wet from the night. So off I went, picked up gas for the car and some coffee for me and programmed my next target into the GPS unit: Direction Pas-de-Calais. And shortly after 10Am I arrived at my first planned stay for the day, La Coupole, the dome. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

this is one of the giant bunkers dating from the second world war, that was supposed to be used against London by firing V2 rockets from it. The bunker was used as storage shelter for the rockets, start platform and technology center, provided with a double train line. It was never finished due to an attack with Tallboy bombs by british bombers, that collapsed part of the building and made its intended usage impossible. From the parking lot, it was impressive to see the massive concrete cupola. Looks strange, very alien actually.

(The dome from the parking lot.)

I passed through the visitos centre and bought my ticket. Heard before, that there is an audio tour through the museum, which is kind of wonky. Wenn I saw that the system uses infrared to communicate, it was clear to me that this would not be perfect. Radio would be impossible since there is too much reinforced concrete in the bunker, but infrared does not sound great as well. Anyways, I hooked up the system and donned the headphonews and entered the bunker.  

(Entrance to the bunker.)

First I went into the area that was supposed to be used as storage and for the machines necessary to run the bunker. Also the train tracks would end here. There were some rocket parts and machinery parts on display, which were quite impressive due to their size. Actually the size of the whole bunker was baffling, a really massive and large construction. Giant tunnels, broad walkways, everything underground. It was unfortunatley all build under terrible conditions by forced labor. 

(Rocket engone opf the V2 rocket, half melted due to the enormous heat following a fire in the bunker)

(Generator in the engine room.)

(Broad tunnels featuring the original reinforcements.)

I went on to the museum area inside the bunker. My audio guide was now working spotty at best. Unnerving. Inside the museum was a really large exhibiton dealing with the bunker and its history - but also a rather large exhibition about the Holocaust and Jews in France. I noticed that the issue of collaboration of france police and army was not mentioned at all, except for a footnote on one small table. Kind of telling...

You could see a complete V1 rocket on display at the bunker, hanging down on steel ropes from the ceiling. A surprisingly small machine in comarison actually. Therei s also a V2 and a V2 rocket engine on display, which were even harder to photograph due to their size. The confined space in the bunker made it kind of hard to take pictures anyways. But to see those two together is not an everyday sight, so I took a bunch of pictures. The exhibition also focused a bit on the history of spaceflight, which more or less was founded on the V2 and its successors. It was not easy to get all those different things in one exhibition, but it kind of worked. But this way none of the focuses were really dealt with in depth. In the end: An OK museum but not great.  

(V2 viewed from the front.)

(V2 - complete, from behind.)

(A V1 from behind.)

(A nice model of the bunker and the dome how it was supposed to look line in the end.)

(Concrete dome cupola - notice the thick cracks in the concrete as a result of he bombing with Tallboy bombs.)

(engine of a V2 rocket - goos as new.)

By this time my audio guide was completely dead, so i just shouldered it and read the info tables instead in cases I had not too much of an idea of what I was looking at. The infrared system has a problem in the museum anyways: If you move slilghtly out of the way in front of an object, the system interprets this as a move to the next exhibition item and so the audo comment changes abruptly. And it likes to change back to the old one then as well - of course at the beginning....

(Motor and V2 from the lower level and behind.)

(A V1 dangling down from the ceiling, best shot possible due to the confined space.)

(A model of Eperlecques, the other V2 Bunker I was about to visit that day. Helpful to get an idea of what I was about to see!)

After the exhibition the tour went into the never completed launch preparation chamber for the V2. The plans wanted to create a giant room in which the rockets would be transferred from horizontal to the vertocal position, then get fueled up and driven on a start ramp out of the building to be launched. A platform outside the bunker and the hill would be the place, where the rocket would have been launched from. Two start platforms were planned, resulting in the bunker being able to fire rockets towards London within minutes of each other.

(Tunnel to the main room under the dome.)

(View towards the ceiling. The limestone block is visible, which was about to be blasted to pieces, resulting in the doem room to be complete. Wouldn'thave taken much longer to finish the site...)

(Explaining table for this room.)

The size of the room is less impressive due to the limestone still in its place. However looking towards the ceiling reveals an incredible height and one realizes, just how massive this installation was going to be.

(Towards the exit from the bunker.)

(A last view to the dome.)

After my visit I stopped for a while on the parking lot to have a little snack and then went my way to the next stop for the day, the V2 Bunker in Eperlecques. This Bunker, also known as the "Blockhaus", was planned just as massively as La Coupole. Like here V2 Rockets were supposed to be launched from platforms, a huge interior space was built for storing and directing the rockets and also plenty of space was planned to store and maintain warheads, propellant and service technicians. Contrary to La Coupole this was not going to be built in a large hill, it was planned as a classic "Hochbunker" right in the middle of a small forest. An incredible effort was done here to build such a huge construction and to fortify it against aerial attacks. However the massive Tallboybombs managed to destroy sufficiently large parts of the bunke so the original plan as a V2 launch site were scrapped and instead a liquid oxygen plant was installed that provided mobile V2 ramps with fuel. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

About 45 minutes later I arrived at the Blockhaus. Had another little snack since it was around lunchtime and the sun had climbed substantially. Besides it doesn't hurt to have something substantial in your stomach...

(Plan of the bunker)

Passing the entrance buuilding, there was nice pathway to the bunker, that suddenly peaked through the forest. The way to it was dotted with military equipment of which some was actually relevant to the bunker. But aso the not-so-relevant ones were rather interesting to see. 

(Mini-U-Boat for 2 Torpedoes.)

I managed to get to the bunker within a few minutes, passing a tiny one-man bunker and more war meterial. Turning around at a curve, I suddenly saw the massive bunker right ahead of me. A rather overwhelming, massive construction with its straight lines and monumental size. Just massive! I felt pretty dwarfed next to this huge box-like concrete structure. 

(First impression of the bunker.)

Originally the launch pads were supposed to be located at the sides of the bunker, however due to the aerial attacks this was never finished and a slanted concrete slab was instead poured to seal of this entrance.

(Closed launchpad.)

During this attack it proved necessary to abandon the plans of using this Bunker as a V2 launch site, and rather use it as aliquid oxygen facility. Reason is that due to the technology back then, the liquid oxygen evaporated quickly,, so it had to be produced not too far away from the mobile launchers used. The daily production of oxygen was only sufficient to launch 20 rockets at most - still a scary thought. 

(Using a tourist for measurement you can see the massive size of the bunker.)

(View through the bunker from the side, at the end you can see how tiny people are.)

The Bunker sank a few meters into the ground since the war due to its weight and is partially under 2.5m of water, To be able to visit it though, part of the bunker got its ground level raised by 3m. Makes the rooms look a lot smaller unfortunately.

I continued my walk to the northern part of the bunker. This part was completely devastated by the aerial attack and was not rebuilt. The southern part did not break due to its massive 5m (!) thich roof that was just before the attack finished. To construct this slab and to work in some safety, the eroof had been poured, dried and then riased using hydraulic jacks, then a meter or so of the sides was poured, dried and the same pattern repeated until the bunker reached its final height. An incredible amount of work was done this way!

(Northern part of the bunker and its destruction.)

(Complete mess of steel, concrete and cement.)

(Looking along the outer wall of the bunker.)

I walked a bit further and sat donw on some of the benches there to see where the trains would have arrived with the rockets and to see the depots for them. In the backgournd there was an audio guide being played via loudspears in severaly languages, so you  could listen about the history of the bunker. Quite nicely done and fitting to the bunker.  

(Arrival train station for the rockets.)

A small train was used to get the material to the bunker site. During the bombing attack, a lot of the forced laborers were killed, the material that got thrown off the train during the attack was left lying around. The bags of cement soaked up water and solidified everywhere. A strange sight to see. 

(Cement bags in the foreground, train in the back.)

Contrary to most other forced labor worksites, this construction zone was using a lot of modern equipment including cranes in order to be able to finish the bunker in record time. That did not work out, but considering the circumstances the completed 30% are pretty imperssive. It was also then used as the LOX manufacturing site, so it got used indeed in the end.

(A crane used during the bunkers construction.)

(Access to the train station for the rocket delivery.)

Entering the area where the trains were supposed to arrive, the massive devastation was quite apparent. The bunker had to be left as it was, fixing it would have been to complicated and costly, removing the debris was also way too timeconsuming. 

(Destruction in the depot of the bunker.)

(Bunker deep under water and hole in the ceiling where a bomb went through.)

(Complete destruction on the left side.)

After I saw the destroyd northern section of the bunker, I went along to the southern part that is still mostly intact. Besides being used as the LOX site, there were plans to try to get one of the ramps to be used as a launch platform again prvided they would have been able to clear the area of most of the debris. Due to the continued attacks on the bunker, this was never done though and work stopped on the bunker.

(Gigantic steel door to the bunker.)

Inside you could see what a massive size this bunker has. The digicam had problems to get the ceiling on the pictures because it was so dark and the flash was not reaching far enough. Keep in mind that the ground here is 3m above the original ground, so it was even bigger before! Next to the door a launch pad was shown to illustrate how the corridor to the launch pad would have been used. The biig corridor in the middle was supposed to be used to get the rockets from horizontal to vertical firing position. And the massive room in the middle was used then for the liquid oxygen production.

(Remodeled corridor with a concrete floor in the middle. At the ceiling traces of an exploded Tallboy bomb that did not manage to fully penetrate the bunker. Still managed to cause massive destruction inside.)

(Modell of a vV2 in the start corridor leading to the intended launch pad. The little caves in the walls were supposed to help against shock waves..)

(Model of a Tallboy bomb.)

the main room was rather empty, only parts of the machinery are left here. YOu could see a presentation about the bunker, but the movie took pretty long and I arrived at the wrong time for a language I speak. So I only took some pictures and left again.

(machinery for liquid oxygen production)

(Lower level of the bunker, ful of water.)

(Plan of the finished bunker at the exit.)

I left then the big bunker and looked at the rest of the facility. One of the last V1 mobile ramps is on display here! So I went there and looked also at the big pretty lake they had there - turns out it is the crater of a tallboy bomb, measuring 25m across...

(Bunker from the front, in the middle the inteneded launch control tower.)

(Catapult device for launching the V1 rocket. It was propelled with steam toget the rocket to a speed where its engine would start.)

(Closeup of the ramp.)

(V1 on its ramp.)

I really took a lot of pictures here and stayed for quite a while to let the impression last on me. Then went on to the exit of the site since two more things were on my list for the day, the V3 at Mimoyecques and the Battery Todt directly at the channel coast. On the way to the "fleißige Lieschen" I stopped at a french store to pick up some local specialities for Tia, french Quiche Lorraine and one, two local things. Unfortunately this region is known for its soft cheeses which Tia is not a huge fan of... And due to the problem with the powerbox in my car I couldnt store so many things anyways and keep them cold. I could buy a bag of ice, that made things a bit easier though for a few hours. 

A bit more driving alter I arrived at the V3 tunnel. Thanks to the shopping in between, it took me more then an hour to get here, not so great for my plans... After the really impressive V2 bunker, the V3 bunker was a bit of a letdown, since it is way more simple and much less is left of it. This site was never finished, alos bombed with Tallboy bombs the site was partially destroyed and blwon up after the war by pioneers. Besides: The V3 canon was never finsihed anyways, two smaller versions of it were used on mobile ramps against Luxembourg and Belgium at the end of the war with very little effect. 

 
Größere Kartenansicht

I arrived at the V3 site, bought my ticket - and was addresses in german, which the owner spoke. Nice, but I was really trying to improve my french during the tour, but alas... I went into the hill using the main tunnel. 

(Entrance to the tunnel.)

(Without a tripd taking pictures without flash is difficult - the camera is not that great for this use.)

(With flash the tunnel disappears into darkness...)

I started the roundtrip through the tunnels using the sparsely documentation provided there. The inside is almost completely devoid of tables or signs and even if there are some, they are illegible by water and mold. Pity. The light inside the tunnels though was nicely done, a mix of cold hard light, darkness and colored ligths at the memorial sites. Atmospheric.

(Caved in tunnel to the side.)

(Generator for electrictiy in the tunnels.)

It was very wet inside the tunnel system, the lens of my camera got moist a lot and I was happy to be wearing a rain jacket and warm clothing. Other tourists were less well clothed and visibly cold. The bunker site consists of a lot of smaller tunnels that interconnect at bigger tunnels. A few chambers were created to accomodate enigne rooms and such and there were shafts going to the surface to be used for the cannons. Everything else was stored in the tunnels themselves.

(Tunnel.)

(Memorial for the forced laborers killed during the aerial attack.)

After a relatively short time I arrived at the main part of the tunnel, the V3 launch site. Five of these shafts were to be dug in the gournd, each contaiing several launch tubes, pointing towards London. The idea was to use them to constantly bombard London with it. One of the few reimaining V3 parts has been installed here to show how it would havel looked like if the V3 was ever finished.

(Taken without flash at the well-lit part.)

(Another one, long time exposure. At the top you can see the collapsed shaft.)

(The V3 using flash.)

(And a bit further away - the fnece made taking pictures pretty terrible.)

Back towards the entrance, to see more of the rooms where the eninges used to be. Unfortunately they are rather empty. The whole site was blown up after the war and most of its installation was removed beforehand. Since it was never finished to begin with, it certainly was the lessest impressive and well.kept V-Weapon site I visited that day. 

(Part of the tunnel with concrete walls.)

(The tunnel with the V3 in the background.)

(Monument)

(Caved in tunnel.)

(Machine room.)

The machine room featured a tiny exhibition and among the items was a Röchling projectile. Those were supposed to be used in the V3, but never worked that well. Some other more or less interesting things were on display as well. Alos pretty cool were the machinery marks on the wals from the jackhammers et. But since there was not so much to see, I packed up my camera and made my way to the exit then. 

(Röchling arrow projectile for the V3.)

(End of the main tunel, the rest of the 150m or so are caved in by an explosion. The green light nicely accentuates the tunnel, liked this very much!)

A short march later; i got back to the exit, packed my stuff in the car and changed the camers batteries. It would have been nice to see the surface of the site, but at that time I had no idea that tthis was allwoed so I didn't do that. Pity!

My last target for the tour was now the Battery Todt, one of the biggest artiellery installations of the atlantic wall at the channel coast that duelled occasionnally with the british guns at 40km distance. More or less the only ground attack germany did on England during the war, excluding the channel islands. Lucikly the invasion of England never happened and the outcome of the areial battel of Britain was also not in favor of the Nazis...

 
Größere Kartenansicht

My ride to the Battery was met with the usual problems: Every second street is named "Rue de", what makes using the GPS unit a nightmare - also road siogns are not that clearly labelled and less then helpful occasionally. Plus: During my preparations I wrote down the wrong adress for the battery, causing me to go to  Kap Gris Nez instead of the Battery at first. The cape offered a nice view on the foggy channel (Dover was hidden in the fog) and a few bunkers which were recently bricked up and covered with earth (bummer!). But looking around I quickly dicovered the towers of the Battery and went there using eyesight only :) 

In general the site has been turned into a "museum", howver its one of the worst kinds. Though some spectacular things are on display, the sheer mass of militaria on display without a concept behind it, let it appear as more of a military surplus store and less of a historic site. Something I did and will always encounter on those trips I'm afraid. Some of the stuff in display inside the bunker was alos of quite iffy origin - and traing to sell Nazi memorabilia never sits well with me. Alas. 

(Batterie Todt to the left a not so well kept Panzer.)

(Inside the museum, lots ofmilitary equipment but among the mass if stuff are some rare gems.)

(Like this: A german butterfly mine.)

(Bazookas, Panzerschreck and Panzerfäuste. Also a british PIAT. But no explanations, context or anything.)

Inside the tower was even more war material - but any information about what was on display besides the most basic stuff is sorely lacking. Also: Why is on display, but... whatever. That there was a huge gun in here before and what it did: Complete mystery.

(Exhibition in the tower.)

(Gun turret foundations.)

(Questionable Militaria at the "Museum".)

I walked on and saw the lower levels of the tower where the storage and living quarters used to be. The rooms were for the most part crammed with military stuff and surplus.

(Exhibition.)

(On the other hand: Fun stuff like this STD poster were also on display...)


(Militaria everywhere...)

I went through all the rooms, but was not impressed by the museum. Fr a gun nut this is probably heaven, for the bunker nut this is more a bit weird. Uniform fetishists would have a field day, but for me it was just too much stuff that had nothing to do with the bunker. Too bad.

(Nice model of the bunker at war time.)

I left the bunker soon and watched one of the huge and last remaining K5 cannons outside that is still in good condition. 

(The Bunker from the seaside.)

(K5 train gun.)

(K5 on top, pointing towards England.)

(K5 with artiellery shell and other tourist for scale)

Since it got pretty late nw and the museum was about to close, I decided to not look for the other towers nearby and instead head home. I had seen enough for the day and the days before. A few more pictures and then I left to return home. Which for once worked pretty wekll, only the constant changing of freezer box and GPS unit was unnerving.

(Bunker last time from the outside.)

Shortly after midnight I was home follwing a good six hours on the road. The drive went smooth and without incidnets, light traffic - all in all an intersting, long and intense bunker tour ended again. Could have been longer, since there was so much more to see...

Last update 05/21/2010