Tamerville V-1 site

The Tamerville V-1 site was a planned German V-1 flying bomb storage, preparation and launch site near Tamerville, close to Valognes, on the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy, France. Its German cover name was ().

The project formed part of the Luftwaffe's early programme to build heavily fortified V-1 flying bomb launch installations for attacks against Britain. It was one of the original large sites, alongside at Lottinghen, at Siracourt and at Couville. These installations were designed to centralise the storage, assembly, fuelling and launch of V-1 flying bombs within large reinforced-concrete bunkers protected against air attack.

Unlike Siracourt and Couville, the Tamerville project did not progress beyond preliminary works. The Organisation Todt requested the requisition of land at Tamerville on 19 November 1943 but the site was never completed and no V‑1 was launched from it. Little now remains of the project, apart from features associated to railway infrastructure built to supply the planned construction site.

Background

In 1943, Germany began developing a network of launch sites and support facilities for the V-1 flying bomb, a pilotless missile intended for attacks against London and southern England. The first generation of V-1 infrastructure included a small number of large, heavily protected sites known as ("waterworks"). Early German plans envisaged up to ten such launch complexes. Four main projects were initially undertaken: at Lottinghen, at Siracourt, at Couville and at Tamerville. The Cotentin Peninsula was also used for other V-weapon projects, including the V-2 storage and maintenance bunker at Sottevast and the later V-1 installation at Brécourt.

Large fixed V-weapon sites were vulnerable to Allied aerial reconnaissance and bombing. Following attacks on exposed construction works at Watten, Couville and other sites, the German V-weapon programme increasingly shifted away from conspicuous bunker projects towards smaller, dispersed and better-camouflaged launch sites.

Location and naming

The name referred to the nearby, larger and better-known town of Valognes, while the actual worksite was at Tamerville. Some secondary sources use the name , while other sources identify the same project as or .

The exact location of the planned main bunker is uncertain. The project was located near Tamerville, about from Valognes, in the Manche department of Normandy. The most precise surviving locational evidence is the construction of a branch line from the Valognes–Barfleur railway, that circumvented Tamerville and an unfinished turning arrangement at La Biaiserie.

The site should be distinguished from the V-1 reception and distribution centres in the Valognes area built to serve Cherbourg launches. The installations V1 Versorgungsstelle 1008 at Valognes–La Tuilerie Map and V1 Versorgungsstelle 1009 at Bricquebec–La Lucerine-du-Bas were intended to receive, assemble and distribute V-1 flying bombs to supply smaller launch sites. The site known as "La Tuilerie", located near the Valognes rail yard, site reportedly consisted of ten assembly workshops, in addition to eleven other buildings of various types, all of which were connected by concrete paths. Design and construction

Wasserwerk Valognes was planned as a reinforced-concrete V-1 flying bomb storage, preparation and launch complex. The exact final design of Wasserwerk Valognes is uncertain. It appears to have been intended as a sister site to Wasserwerk Couville. Like the other early projects, it would have centralised several operational functions within one protected structure: receiving V-1 flying bombs, storing them, completing preparation and fuelling, and launching them from protected infrastructure.

The Organisation Todt, which was responsible for many large German military engineering projects in occupied France, requested the requisition of land at Tamerville on 19 November 1943 and began preparatory work. The planned construction method appears to have followed the roof-first technique used at other German heavy bunker projects. This method, often described as or . For similar heavily fortified V-1 flying bomb launch installations, it involved casting a massive reinforced-concrete roof before excavating beneath it and an estimated total of of concrete. Railway access was planned but only partly executed. A station and part of the branch line were built to connect the site with the Valognes–Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue railway. The existing railway was reinforced over a distance of approximately from 29 July 1943.

Allied discovery and abandonment

Allied aerial reconnaissance and photographic interpretation played a central role in identifying and destroying German V-weapon sites in northern France. Large fixed sites were particularly exposed because their construction work, railway access and logistical preparations were difficult to conceal.

The Tamerville site was discovered by Allied reconnaissance on 30 October 1943. The discovery placed it within the wider Allied intelligence picture of "heavy" Crossbow installations, alongside other heavy V-weapon sites.

Tamerville is not documented as having undergone a bombing campaign like Couville, Siracourt or Lottinghen. After the severe damage inflicted on Couville in November 1943, the usefulness of continuing the project at Tamerville appears to have been reconsidered. After Erwin Rommel inspected the Atlantic Wall in the Cotentin in December 1943, work at Tamerville was stopped. The planned Wasserwerk Valognes was very close to the command post of the 709th Infantry Division defending this sector. Army commanders pressed Organisation Todt to divert resources to the coastal defences and to Siracourt and Couville, with the intention that the less advanced sites could be resumed later. The site was consequently treated as a reserve launch position and was not further developed as a heavy bunker. No V-1 flying bombs were launched from Tamerville.

By the time the V-1 flying bomb offensive against Britain began in June 1944, German launch operations relied chiefly on smaller and more dispersed launch sites rather than the early complexes.

Nothing substantial remains of the site today, apart from a water reservoir associated with the wartime construction works.

Tamerville V-1 site

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