Calais Attractions

The V3 - a very, very, very big gun

Advantages: A little known WW2 weapon
Disadvantages: Not a great deal to see

...panels containing descriptions of the V3 and how this installation would have functioned. There are also memorials: to Joe Kennedy and his co-pilots, and to those killed in the tallboy blast. Side tunnels lead off this main tunnel, many ending in heaps of rubble or barriers preventing access. Happily for the visitor, part of one of the gun shafts survives, and barrels have been laid to show how it would have looked and where it was aimed - south ...
...too little too late, the V3 was more a case of never really got going at all. Nothing was ever fired from Mimoyecques and a similar gun was only used to a small extent in the Battle of the Bulge. Hitler's ballistic experts were against the development of the V3 and thought they should be concentrating their efforts on the development of an atomic capability. Just dwell on that for a moment. Although I am fascinated by the V weapons, I have only ...

Chouchinciao 01.06.2006 · Read full review
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Review of V3 Base Mimoyecques

It is rocket science!

Advantages: Interesting, original site and museum
Disadvantages: None

...Battle of Britain airfields. La Coupole is distinctive in that it is both a site and a very informative and forward-looking museum. It is dedicated specifically to the V2 rockets which were aimed at London in the latter stages of the war. A bit of history revision, so pay attention at the back. In 1944, Germany was in trouble. The Eastern Front was collapsing, the Normandy landings had taken place and British and US bombers were bombing Germany ...
...near the Channel coast. La Coupole was one of these launch sites. From here and others like it the Germans intended to rain rockets on London, terrifying the civilian population who would demand an end to the war. In the event, about 1,200 were launched between September 1944 and March 1945, killing more than 2,500 civilians and injuring more than 6,000. Not a single one was fired from La Coupole. It was all too little, too late. By this time, Allied ...

Chouchinciao 27.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of La Coupole, Calais