V-2 REPLICA, BLOCKHAUS D'ÉPERLECQUES (WATTEN) Special thanks: Bernard Cocriamont    In June of 2023, Hubert de Mégille, the longtime owner of the Blockhaus d'Éperlecques, installed a new attraction—a full-size V-2 replica on a telescoping rail. It now stands outdoors near the site where rockets would have been launched had Allied bombing raids not disrupted the project's completion in 1943-44.    The replica was manufactured by the Lebriez Construction Companies and its fabrication was based on the Wizernes/La Coupole V-2, with approval from La Coupole officials. 2023 marked the Eperlecques bunker museum's 50th anniversary and the new addition of the V-2 enhances the overall experience for visitors to the impressive bunker.    The Bunker of Eperlecques, also known as the Watten bunker, is a WWII rocket site now housing a museum near Saint-Omer in northern Pas-de-Calais, just 9 miles north-northwest of another V-2 bunker museum, La Coupole, near Wizernes. Eperlecques was constructed by Nazi Germany under the codename Kraftwerk Nord West from March 1943 to July 1944 and was meant as a launch facility for the V-2 (A-4) ballistic missile. It was designed to store over 100 missiles and launch up to 36 daily. The bunker is now preserved as part of a privately owned museum that presents the history of the site and the German V-weapons program. It has been protected by the French state as a historic monument since 1986. -