CALAIS — It was in September 1944, following the D-Day landings and fierce fighting eastwards along the coast of northern France, that Allied troops including Canadians recaptured the area around La Coupole, a gigantic underground rocket complex that Hitler had hoped would be the key to winning the war for the Nazis. Given another two or three weeks, the Germans would have been launching V2 rockets on London from 1a Coupole. The British capi- tal, just 200 kilometres away and a huge target with a pop- ulation of seven million, would have been devastated by 50 rockets every day from La Coupole’s launching pad. The V2 rockets, each ear- rying a one-ton warhead, flew at an unstoppable speed of 5,760 km-h. Germany fired 3,200 V2s at London and Antwerp in the closing stages of the war, killing 8,938 peo- ple in Britain and 6,500 in Belgium, mostly from mobile launch sites. The aim of La Coupole, a bomb-proof underground dome with a web of manels, was to rain death on London and force the British govern- ment to pull out of the war. But after D-Day, and before it could fire one V2 rocket, Hitler ordered it abandoned, and in late 1944 La Coupole was dynamited by British forces. For more than 50 vears La Coupole lay undisturbed near the Pas-de-Calais towns of Helfaut and Wizernes, also close to St. Omer and battle- fields and cemeteries of both world wars which draw thou- saris of visitors every year. Recently, a decision was made to restore La Coupole as a place of remembrance and education. Known as the history cen- tre of war and rockets, La Coupole explains two topics — the development of stratospheric rockets, first as instruments of death before launching the peacetime con- quest of space, and the cect pation of northern France by Germany between 1940 and 1945. La Coupole survived the British dynamite just as it had withstood British bombs, including the five-ton Tallboys. The RAF, tipped off by French resistance, raided La Coupole 16 times but it remained intact. It had been built by the Todt Organization using 1,300 workers, mostly forced labourers including Russian prisoners and conscripted Frenchmen. The worksite was opened by boring a railway tunnel into a chalk cliff which Was to receive trains loaded with rockets from factories in Germany. Todt engineers then went to the top of the chalk hill and cut into it until they had a mould for a deme. Concrete, heavily reinforced with steel, was laid on top, and when it had solidified the chalk and earth below was quarried out to create a huge OAST: GETAWAY, % SWARM. WeLcoME Surf's Up and | Rates are Down - Way Down!!! Our expansion is underway and low rates are in effect this winter. Revitalize with a stroll on the beach or explore the galleries and ancient history of the Pacific Rim — Tofino and Ucluelet. Rest, relax and enjoy a warm, friendly getaway to the “wild” Westcoast of Vancouver Island. Two night stay includes complimentary raingear! Construction Expansion Rates: 1/2 Price® 1-800-661-9995 except Dee. 23/98 + Jan 3/99 dome 42 metres high and 71 metres in diameter. The dome, five metres thick, weighed 55,000 tons. To increase the bomb resistance of the complex, the area below the dome was left empty, the assembly and stor- age areas being in a lower level. Here was the chamber of horror, a hexagonal room with walls 2] metres high, which housed an assembly line to fuel and arm V2 rock- ets. A moving track carried the vertical rockets outside for firing. The restoration of La Coupole allows visitors to walk the tunnels thar cost the lives of hundreds of slave workers and to marvel at the ingenuity of the dome, today showing displays of rocket Photos David Wishart LA Coupole’s massive concrete dome (above) hides a network of tunneis (left) and chambers from which Hitler’s army intended to fire rockets on London. technology from pre-war times, One photograph from Berlin in 1930 shows a young Wehrner von Braun at a meet- ing of a rocket sociery. In the closing stages of the war von Braun gave himself up to the Americans and became the man behind the US. space program, where his 42-metre V2 (25 tons at lift-off} grew into a Saturn rocket of 111 metres and 2,900 tons at lift- off. Indeed, all the military and spacecraft launchers, whether American, Russian, British or whatever, are all descendants of the V2, and this fact makes La Coupole’s intelligent dis- play as appealing to voung people as it is to veterans. V2 and V1 rockets are on display and movies are shown continuously covering rocket development, prison camps and the conquest of space. 9909 Check the Internet at wwwlacoupole.com I got there by car from Brussels, which in turn is Sayour the Flavours of Vancouver. A festive serving. Grab a bite Novernber 15. Cruise the BLack Sea ANO The GREEK IsLes ° Book now to receive A Complimentary Two-Night Hotel stay in Istanbul! Visit Istanbul - Bulgaria - Ukraine Rhodes - Athens - Sicily - Rome and much more! {2 Bays trom only CAD $2895 per person Ship is Registered in the Bahamas served by Lufthansa from its Frankfurt hub. Lufthansa flies daily nonstop trom Vancouver ta Frankturt. 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