Kraftwerk Nordwest KNW - Watten V-2 Base

In April 1943 the Germans seized an area in Manche, there used to bee an underground oil depot for the French Navy. The Germans use the spot to build a base for the V-2 rockets and construction was soon started. The code name for the base was Kraftwerk North West, the Allies knew that, but security around the area were so severely that they also knew that this, was an important goal. Already in late August of that year the area was bombed the first time. The bombing was part of operation crossbow, which was intended to hit the Germans high-tech weapons.

At the time of the first attack, 35 thousand French slave laborers worked in two 12 hours shifts, casting the large bunker. After the massive bombing the Germans decided to move the plant to the La Coupole base nearby. The bunker in Eperlecques, should instead produce liquid oxygen, which was the fuel V-2 rockets used.

One month after the Normandy landings in the summer of 1944, the area was conquered by the Allies and both Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the site later.

There is today a museum in the large bunker.