Anyway, I did visit La Coupole and enjoyed every minute. It was basically a huge concrete bunker built into the hillside of a forest in 1943, designed to manufacture and launch V2 rockets on London. Thousands of German, French and slave workers built the complex including a vast concrete dome and miles of underground tunnels. This was like something out of a science fiction film but frighteningly real.
The allies knew it was there but didn't know what it was for. However, because of its size and location, they knew it must be destroyed. It was therefore bombed and finally destroyed by the Tall Boy bomb that undermined its foundations.
The dome is fully accessible with fascinating exhibits and the visitor centre includes a 3-D film; all very interesting, especially the post war stories of how the Americans 'encouraged' the top German rocket scientists to go over to the US to help build their space rockets in advance of the Russians. Again, it was all a bit 'James Bond' but true. This is a 'must see' place.
For the background see http://www.lacoupole-france.co.uk/
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