Military Wiki
Brécourt
aliases: Équeurdreville,[1] Martinvast[2]
Part of Nazi Germany
Équeurdreville-Hainneville, in Manche, France
File:Brecourt.jpg
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 1.67°W / 49.65194; -1.67
Type bunker
Site history
Built 1932-1944
In use never used[3]
Materials concrete
Battles/wars Operation Crossbow
Events started 1932
bombed November 11, 1943
captured July, 1944

Brécourt was a Nazi Germany bunker started inside an 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,[5] the facility was converted to a V-1 flying bomb launch facility[6] and subsequently completed.[7]

The military installation was virtually undetectable by aerial observation,[3][8] although the 387th Bombardment Group records indicate Operation Crossbow bombing of the "Martinvast V-1 site" on November 11, 1943.[9] 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.[4]

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. http://alainlecomte.free.fr/07E8.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  2. King, Benjamin. Impact: The History of Germany's V-Weapons in World War II. pp. p112. http://books.google.com/books?id=9WZ_z55WC1MC&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=martinvast+%22v+1%22&source=web&ots=eHC07dSLdb&sig=Hx777xEKWRcLrwO5tqRGbWSQg_0. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Cherbourg-Brécourt". Bases launch V1 Cotentin and Seine-Maritime. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/aetius/mur/v1Brecourt.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Maridor, Jean. "Le site V1 de Cherbourg Brécourt". Les bombes volantes V1. http://www.jean-maridor.org/francais/brecourt.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  5. "Brecourt". The Atlantik Wall In Normandy. http://www.atlantikwall.org.uk/new_page_61.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  6. Collier, Basil (1976) [1964]. The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944-1945. Yorkshire: The Emfield Press. pp. p35. ISBN 0-7057-0070-4. 
  7. Henshall, Philip (1985). Hitler’s Rocket Sites. New York: St Martin's Press. pp. p147. 
  8. "La fusée A4 V2". Les Sites V1 du Nord de la France. http://www.sitesv1du-nord-de-la-france.com/A4V2.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  9. "Combat Missions". 387th Bombardment Group (Medium). http://387bg.com/. Retrieved 2008-11-12. 


External links[]

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The original article can be found at Brécourt and the edit history here.