Brécourt

Brécourt
aliases: Équeurdreville,[1] Martinvast[2]
Part of Nazi Germany
Équeurdreville-Hainneville,
Manche,
Normandy,
France
Dwight Eisenhower visiting the Brécourt1 V-1 flying bomb facility near Cherbourg
Coordinates Coordinates: 49°39′7″N 1°40′12″W / 49.65194°N 1.67000°W / 49.65194; -1.67000
Type Bunker,
V-1 flying bomb launch facility
Site information
Condition ruins
Site history
Built 1932 French oil storage cistern,
1943 Nazi Germany bunker & launch facility
In use never used [3]
Materials concrete
Battles/wars Operation Crossbow
Events V-1 launch facility begun 1943,
bombed 11 November 1943,
captured July 1944

Brécourt was a Nazi Germany bunker in Équeurdreville-Hainneville near Cherbourg, in Manche of Normandy, northern France.

History

It was started in 1943 inside an existing underground French Naval oil storage facility. On July 7, 1943, the site was ordered to be completed as a V-2 rocket launch facility.[4] Early in 1944, the facility was converted to a V-1 flying bomb launch facility.[5] and subsequently completed.[6][7]

The Brécourt military installation was virtually undetectable by aerial observation.[3][8] However, the 387th Bombardment Group records indicate Operation Crossbow bombing in Manche of a "Martinvast V-1 site" on 11 November 1943, which may have been Brécourt.[9]

The Allies captured Brécourt a few days before July 4, 1944, and both Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill subsequently visited the facility.[4]

See also

Notes

^1 The location for the photo of Eisenhower on the stairs has also been identified as Söttevast.

References

  1. ↑ "Fortifications Built by Prussia or Germany". Fortifications of the World. 2003-05-25. Archived from the original on 2005-02-09. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
  2. ↑ King, Benjamin. Impact: The History of Germany's V-Weapons in World War II. p. 112.
  3. 1 2 "Cherbourg-Brécourt". Bases launch V1 Cotentin and Seine-Maritime. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
  4. 1 2 Maridor, Jean. "Le site V1 de Cherbourg Brécourt". Les bombes volantes V1. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
  5. ↑ Collier, Basil (1976) [1964]. The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944-1945. Yorkshire: The Emfield Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-7057-0070-4.
  6. ↑ Henshall, Philip (1985). Hitler’s Rocket Sites. New York: St Martin's Press. p. 147.
  7. ↑ "Brecourt". The Atlantik Wall In Normandy. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
  8. ↑ "La fusée A4 V2". Les Sites V1 du Nord de la France. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
  9. ↑ "Combat Missions". 387th Bombardment Group (Medium). Retrieved 2008-11-12.


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