Exact location of V1 rocket launch site – Coubronne

Thanks BobKat and charliehunt for your addition information, it’s greatly appreciated. Being such a small village when I visited Coubronne the combination of a stranger with a camera and my obvious lack of descent French didn’t help.
I’ll look at getting a copy of the book that’s been mentioned and hopefully that will shed some light on the location.
My father’s aircraft bombed Coubronne in late June (23/24).
Cheers
Type683

The book seems to be available from http://www.urban-resources.net/pages/sites_v1.html

I do have that book or I should say I own but it is out on loan!! I must get it back!!

Charliehunt – you are right – there was another site Cauchie d’Ecques (X1/A/185 – Z 3217) a short distance away.

Type683, you may find the following link of some help: it refers to Les Sites V1 en Flandres et en Artois and there is mention of Ecques, hameau de Coubronne no.63 (page 132). There are some pictures, but I am not sure whether these are of this ramp. If you can find a copy of the book it would tell you.

http://www.sitesv1du-nord-de-la-france.com/miseajour.htm

In Hughes Chevalier’s excellent book Bombes et V1 sur Pas-de-Calais 1944 he describes the site as Cauchie d’Ecques which lies south east of Ecques on the D190.

Apologies that’s confusing. There is also a site at Coubronne, which was targeted by 8 B-24s on 19/06/44 which dropped 372 100lbs bombs causing major damage.

The was a second raid the same day by 11 B-24s which dropped 582 100 pounders and subsequent photorecce indicated the site completely neutralised. This suggests that it was probably raised after the war and grown and/or built over subsequently. Have you asked around locally. Although fewer living now of course I usually found villagers who could take you to a given village site even if little or nothing remained.

Having now returned to the book it would appear that repairs were effected and several more raids tok place during June. Large amounts of damage to the ramp and blockhaus resulting. It appears to have been evacuated early July leaving a false ramp, but the Cauchy site remained operational.

Thanks very much to those who have replied so far.
Bobkat, your post # 7 hits it on the head. I have been to the village of Coubronne and there is no sign whatsoever of the Germans having been there which makes me think that Ecques may well have been the ramp location. Having said that the co-ordinates shown on TommyUSA’s list matched with Google Earth’s view again shows no sign of any ramp/occupation in that area hence my dilemma! I realise that all trace may have gone but it would be nice to know the exact spot of the launch site.
I guess the search will continue! Thanks again Gents.
Type683

Is this site of any help http://www.echodelta.net/mbs/eng-welcome.php
The Allied Forces involved on the Western European front during the World War II fluently used a system of coordinates intended to help them to localize their targets on the theatre of operations : the “Modified British System”.

This system, used then in conjunction with cartographic data produced by the British, French and later American army geographical services, led from its principle to the definition of coordinates having a specific format, reproduced through the following example:

(LZ1) vT609931

Allan

I am afraid not, Moggy. This was the reference used on the operational orders issued to squadrons identifying the target. If I can find anything else, I will post details. Your co-ordinates look enough to find it.

………………..

The co-ordinates place it at Ecques, south of Coubronne, but in the course of my own research I have found that these are often a little out from those shown on Google Earth.

Can you translate that into Google Earth coordinates?

Moggy

For the record, my Noball Target list also shows the operational target reference as Z 3206.

Or better still

XI/A/174
COUBRONNE
50°40’00” N, 02°17’00” E

Less than 2km south

Credit to TommyUSA here: http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/community/archive/index.php/t-4353.html

As best I can see there never was a Crossbow site at Coubronne. But in the way of WW2 it is possible that the names of various local villages became attached to sites in their vicinity, just as with UK airfields (Parham / Framlingham)

The nearest crossbow site I can identify would be the V1 Feuerstellung 622 – FA Depot – Heuringhem

Location available here: http://en.tracesofwar.com/map/52268/V1-Feuerstellung-622—FA-Depot.htm which is less than 2.5km from Coubronne

An image exists of the area from late 1943

Image details
Date: 05 December 1943
Location: Château de Batavia, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
Coordinates (lat, lon): 50.705261, 2.301853
Description: Heuringhem V1 Launch Site

This aerial photograph was digitised for the BBC documentary Operation Crossbow.
UNI: NCAP-000-000-010-410
Sortie: E/0697
Frame: 3107
Corporate bodies 542 Squadron (RAF).
Image type: Vertical
Scale: 12000

I hope this takes you a little further forward

Moggy

There is a Google Earth overlay available of all the VI sites.

Once I’m at my desktop I’ll take a look, but you can probably beat me to it.. It’s Sunday after all 😉

Moggy