Nord / Pas de Calais Guide
Before you lies a giant chess game with squares of green maize and golden wheat, ornate belltower playing pieces pierce the skyline.Your move!
Today entry is through the collapsed side of the hill. The long railway tunnel was the entry for equipment used to build the V3 base as well as the exit for excavated chalk spoil. The spoil was painted with camouflage paint to hide the tunneling activity by thousands of slave workers conscripted by the Germans. Although Mimoyecques was damaged by bombing using the Barnes Wallis "Tallboy" bombs as well as being demolished by Army Engineers following Germany's surrender, the tunnels that remain are still impressive.
Mimoyecques has audio presentations throughout the tour. The downside on my visit was the poor visual displays. Many had been typed up and hand drawn and covered with polythene. Unfortunately the moisture in the tunnels had caused deterioration. Displays printed on plastic or even laser printed and laminated would be welcome. That said I visited in 2000, so they may well have addressed that. (If they have please drop me an E mail and I will amend this page!).
The fort comprised a 600m. long railway tunnel that went straight through the mountain. Off this a number of crosscuts and inclined shafts were sunk to accommodate the 130m long gun barrels. There were 5 inclined shafts in all. Each shaft had 5 cannon aimed at London. The shafts emerged through a reinforced concrete slab at the top of the hill.
Each cannon had charges placed along the length of the barrel which fired just as the shell passed imparting more energy and speed to the shell.
The tunnel complex at Mimoyecques is one of two that were to be constructed. The second complex was stopped and efforts concentrated on the furthest advanced battery following bombing. Each battery of 25 guns was designed to send 300 shells per hour at London. It is thought that the system was not fully developed and that the shells became unstable at the muzzle velocities of 1100m/s. It was decided to continue with the project despite these reservations in order to draw Allied bombers away from other strategic targets while the technology was refined.
Mimoyecques was discovered and bombed in late 1943 as well as in July 1944. In an air raid the slave workers were sent to the bottom levels. On the second major air raid one bomb managed to penetrate one of the shafts and set up excessive ground movements causing an aquifer to be breached and flood the lower levels. The workers were drowned and remain there to this day. There is a memorial to them on the tour.
Mimoyecques never succeeded in firing shells at London. The Allies finally overran the base late 1944. Then the base was blown up by Army Engineers soon after the German surrender in May 1945.
The tour includes an example of the Barnes Wallis "Tallboy" bomb as well as one the shells from the guns.
There is also a memorial to Joseph Kennedy brother to the US President, who was killed in an air raid on the complex.
CONTACT ADDRESSES
Base V3 de MimoyecquesMarquise
62250
Tel 00 33 3 21 87 10 34
Fax 00 33 3 21 83 33 10
Nord / Pas de Calais Location
Click on towns on map to visit other locations.Calais ¦Dunkerque¦ Cassel¦ St Omer¦ Le Touquet¦ Lille¦ Arras¦ Boulogne¦ Abbeville ¦ Douai ¦ Montreuil ¦ Ieper¦ Lens¦ Cambrai
