​​La Coupole History and Memory Centre

​​​La Coupole, whose name refers to its shape (coupole meaning dome), is one of the so-called 'special buildings', code-named 'Bauvorhaben 21' or 'Schotterwerk Nordwest'. Located in a chalk quarry, 180 kilometres from London and close to a railway line, its location is strategic.

The construction of this site was carried out between October 1943 and July 1944. The site was intended to store 500 rockets to supply the launch base in the forest of Eperlecques. However, following the massive bombing of the Eperlecques bunker, the Todt Organisation wanted to use this storage site as a launch base. The work first concentrated on the roof, with the construction of a dome with a 70 metre-diameter on the plateau. It was 5 metres thick and served as a shield for the preparation room, which was located below it. After the construction of the dome, 2 kilometres of underground galleries were dug. Initially, 7 kilometres of tunnels were planned. These tunnels were intended to provide storage space for the rockets, but also to make the site self-sufficient with generators, offices, a hospital, etc.

Once the site was operational, which never happened, the rockets were to arrive by train from the Mittelbau Dora concentration camp. Then, after being stored, the fuses would be transported horizontally to the octagonal room, on trolleys running on rails. In this room, the rockets would then be prepared for firing and sent outside via two launch tracks, called Gustav and Gretchen.

The site was soon spotted by the resistance and photographed from the air. The first bombings took place in March 1944. Between March and July 1944, sixteen raids were carried out.

​On 28 July 1944, Hitler gave the order to stop the work. The site was abandoned on 28 August and fell into the hands of the Allies on 5 September 1944.​