Footsteps of WWII · Dunkirk & the Channel coast
La Coupole V-2 site, Helfaut
Bunker · Oct 1943–Sep 1944
The story
From October 1943 the Organisation Todt, using forced labour, built a vast bunker in a chalk quarry near Saint-Omer to assemble, fuel and launch V-2 rockets against London and southern England. Its heart was a chamber under a concrete dome. Allied bombing under Operation Crossbow followed; in June and July 1944 RAF Tallboy bombs wrecked the outer works and blocked the launch tunnels. On 4 August an Operation Aphrodite drone aimed at the site overshot. The complex never entered service: work stopped, the Germans abandoned it and the Allies captured it in September 1944.
What to look for
The huge concrete dome sits on the edge of the quarry. Inside, tunnels and galleries lead to the history centre on the V-weapons, the occupation of northern France and the forced labour that built the site, plus a 3D planetarium on the space race.
Plan your visit
Open daily 9:00–18:00 (10:00–19:00 from 5 July to 31 August). History Centre adult €13, child €9.50; combined ticket with planetarium €20.50. Tickets can be bought online. Check the website before you go.
Things change, so check opening times before you travel.
Nearby sites
- Blockhaus d'Éperlecques · 14 km
- La Plaine au Bois massacre memorial, Esquelbecq (Wormhout) · 24 km
- Dunkirk Memorial and Town Cemetery (CWGC) · 38 km
- Dunkirk 1940 Museum (Bastion 32) · 39 km
- Malo-les-Bains evacuation beach, Dunkirk · 39 km
- East Mole (Jetée de l'Est), Dunkirk · 39 km
All 160 sites in Footsteps of WWII →
Footsteps of WWII: Europe 1939–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The whole Second World War in Europe, from the first shots at Westerplatte on 1 September 1939 to the German surrender in May 1945: Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne, Stalingrad, Berlin and the camps, in 15 areas from Britain to Russia.
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