| Sottevast Reservelager West | |
|---|---|
| Sottevast,Normandy, France | |
 Aeral view of the V2 rocket site at Sottevast in 1944 | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Bunker V-2 rocket storage facility |
| Code | Reservelager West |
| Owner | Private property |
| Controlled by | Nazi Germany |
| Open to the public | No |
| Condition | ruins |
| Location | |
  Sottevast Reservelager West | |
| Coordinates | 49°32′14.98″N1°34′54.7″W / 49.5374944°N 1.581861°W /49.5374944; -1.581861 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1943-1944 |
| Built by | Organization Todt |
| In use | never operational |
| Materials | reinforced concrete |
| Battles/wars | Operation Crossbow |
Sottevast was aSecond World War bunker complex for launchingV2-weapons inSottevast nearCherbourg, inNormandy, France. It was built, under thecodenameReservelager West (Reserve Store West), by the forces ofNazi Germany between 1943 and 1944 to serve as a launch base forV-2 rockets directed against southern England.
The bunker was never completed as a result of the bombings by theBritish andUnited States air forces as part ofOperation Crossbow against the German V-weapons program and the Normandy landings in June 1944.
The V-2 rocket (German:Vergeltungswaffe 2, "Retribution Weapon 2") was one of several innovative long-range weapons developed by the Germans after the failure of theLuftwaffe to strike a decisive blow against Britain. The missile, powered by aliquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during theSecond World War inGermany as a "vengeance weapon", assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for theAllied bombings against German cities.
The German leadership hoped that a barrage of rockets unleashed against London would force Britain out of the war. AlthoughAdolf Hitler was at first ambivalent, he eventually became an enthusiastic supporter of the V-2 program as Allied air forces carried out increasingly devastating attacks on German cities.
Nazi Germany decided to build four giant bombproof bunkers to assemble, service and launch V2 rockets in the North of France.Watten andWizernes were set up inPas-de-Calais, Sottevast andBrécourt on the Cherbourg peninsula inNormandy.[1]
At the end of May 1943, the BritishChiefs of Staff ordered that aerial attacks be carried out against the so-called "heavy sites" being built for the V-weapons.[2] On 27 August 1943, the US Air force attacked Watten with devastating effect. It was no longer possible to use it as a V-2 launch site, but the Germans still needed liquid oxygen production facilities to supply V-2 sites elsewhere. The Germans' main focus of attention switched instead toSchotterwerk Nordwest, the former quarry at nearby Wizernes, where work had been ongoing to build a bombproof V-2 storage facility. This project was expanded to turn the quarry into a fixed launch facility. TheReservelager West in Sottevast and theOlkeller Cherbourg near Brécourt were designed to be launcher bunkers like Watten with the main building measuring about 30 by 200 metres (100 ft × 655 ft)[3]
FollowingOperation Crossbow bombing, initial plans for launching from the massive undergroundWatten andWizernes bunkers or fixed pads such asnear the Château du Molay[4] were dropped and forcedWalter Dornberger to develop mobile launching systems. In November 1943, Dornberger ordered that the oxygen machines planned for installation at Sottevast be placed in facilities in the rear.[5]: 107
Hitler decided the construction of the Sottevast site in July 1943 to target southeast England.[6] The bunker was to be an exact copy of the V-2 launch bunker atWatten, including a liquid oxygen factory with five machines and monthly production capacity of 1500 tons,[5]: 102 to fireV-2ballistic missiles.[7][8] It was conceived to accommodate a missile regiment and a store for 300 missiles.[9][10][11]
The bunker was located on an isolated piece of land to the north of the road toValognes and to the east of the road toBrix, close to the lattermunicipality. The site should have been serviced by a narrow gauge, considering that the main railway line was less than 200 metres (655 ft).[12][11]
The L-shaped main building enclosed a large concrete pad, forming a 180 m long by 57 m wide rectangle with 4.50 m-thick walls.[13] Two other smaller bunkers were built on the site but no installations to produce liquid oxygen.
Sottevast was built using the technique known as"Verbunkerung". Organisation Todt engineer Werner Flos devised a plan under which the 5-m thick roof would be built first, flat upon the ground, and the soil underneath it would be excavated so that the construction works below would be protected against aerial attacks.
While Watten and Wizernes were designed to be capable of frequently launching V-2 rockets and, by their size, future developments like theA9/A10,[14][15] Sottevast was not designed to be capable of launching V2 rockets frequently. The V2 rocket would have been transported by train to Sottevast, transferred to the narrow gauge train, serviced along the L-shaped building and launched from the same entrance. This configuration would have made it difficult to launch more than a dozen of rockets per week, with a payload per rocket equivalent to that of a classical bomber. According to Henshall, Sottevast and the other launch silos in the Cherbourg peninsula were not designed to launch V-2 rockets with conventional warheads but chemical warheads, with nerve gas likeTabun andSarin, orradioactive warheads.[14][16][17]
The site was partially completed when it was captured by the 314th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Infantry Division during theNormandy campaign. GeneralsEisenhower andBradley visited Sottevast days afterD-Day. The site was filled in by the US Army at the end of the war, under twenty metres of soil.[18]
In May 1943 Allied surveillance observed the construction of the first of eleven large sites in northern France for secret German weapons, including six for theV-2 rocket. The construction works at the Sottevast site was first reported on 31 October 1943.[19] It was repeatedly bombed in April and May 1944.
| Date | Result |
|---|---|
| 29 February 1944 1 March 1944 | OneMosquito to a "flying-bomb site" at "Sottevast"[20] |
| 28 April 1944 | Mission 325: 14 of 116 B-17s bomb the Sottevast, France V-weapon site and targets of opportunity;[21] clouds prevent most B-17s from bombing; 2 B-17s are lost (1 has 6 KIA and 5 POW)[22] and 47 damaged; 3 airmen are WIA and 21 MIA. Escort is provided by 46 P-47s without loss.[23] |
| 5 May 1944 | 33 B-24s bomb V-weapon installation at Sottevast.[24] |
| 8 May 1944 | Mission 345:384th Bombardment Group.[25] 52 B-17s bomb the V-weapon site at Sottevast.[26] |
Media related toV-2-site Sottevast at Wikimedia Commons
