Brécourt

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This article is about the German World War II bunker. For the French actor, see fr:Brécourt.
Not to be confused with Brécourt Manor Assault.
Brécourt
(alias: Équeurdreville)[1]
Part of Nazi Germany
France

Dwight Eisenhower visiting the Brécourt[2] V-1 flying bomb facility near Cherbourg
Type bunker
Coordinates dd°mm′N dd°mm′E / <span class="geo-dec geo" title="Maps, aerial photos, and other data for Expression error: Unrecognised word "dd" Expression error: Unrecognised word "dd"">Expression error: Unrecognised word "dd", Expression error: Unrecognised word "dd"
Built 1932-1944
Construction
materials		 concrete
In use

Brécourt was a German World War II bunker near the French town of Équeurdreville-Hainneville. Originally started in 1932 as an underground Naval oil storage facility, on July 7, 1943, the site was ordered to be completed as a V-2 rocket launch facility.[3] Early in 1944,[4] the facility was converted to a V-1 flying bomb launch facility.[5] and subsequently completed[6] Unlike most of the other mammoth Vergeltungswaffen construction projects detected by the Allied Central Intelligence Unit (CIU) (Watten,[7] Wizernes, Mimoyecques, Siracourt, Söttevast, Martinvast),[8] and bombed during Operation Crossbow, Brécourt was virtually undetectable by aerial observation.[9][10] The Allies captured the site a few days before July 4, 1944, and both Dwight Eisenhower and Winston Churchill subsequently visited the facility – the latter reportedly dropping an apple he was eating in astonishment of the massive facility.[3]

[edit] References and Notes

  1. ^ Fortifications Built by Prussia or Germany (html). Fortifications of the World (25/05/2003). Retrieved on 2008-02-27.
  2. ^ NOTE: The location for the photo of Eisenhower on the stairs has also been identified as Söttevast.
  3. ^ a b Maridor, Jean. Le site V1 de Cherbourg Brécourt (html – French language). Les bombes volantes V1. Retrieved on 2008-02-27.
  4. ^ Brecourt (html). The Atlantik Wall In Normandy. Retrieved on 2008-02-27.
  5. ^ Collier, Basil [1964] (1976). The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944-1945. Yorkshire: The Emfield Press, p35. ISBN 0 7057 0070 4. 
  6. ^ Henshall, Philip (1985). Hitler’s Rocket Sites. New York: St Martin's Press, p147. 
    NOTE: A similar V-1 flying bomb site at Löttinghen never progressed beyond site clearance.
  7. ^ Irving, David (1964). The Mare's Nest. London: William Kimber and Co, p168. 
  8. ^ Gruen, Adam L (1998). Preemptive Defense, Allied Air Power Versus Hitler’s V-Weapons, 1943–1945, p12. 
  9. ^ Cherbourg-Brécourt (html – French language). Bases launch V1 Cotentin and Seine-Maritime. Retrieved on 2008-02-27.
  10. ^ La fusée A4 V2 (html – French language). Les Sites V1 du Nord de la France. Retrieved on 2008-02-27.