This Luftwaffe facility on the outskirts of the village of Vaudricourt was one of the largest radar positions built in the Baie de Somme area.
Known as station Skorpion, it featured a wide range of radar systems including Freya, Wurzburg, and Wassermann ‘S’ types, plus supporting bunkers and shelters for personnel, and defensive anti-aircraft emplacements. There’s also a rare R646 water storage bunker and a hospital shelter within the inner circle of this large complex which would have been manned by over 200 Luftwaffe personnel.
Now located on farmland and in a fenced-off woodland used for shooting, it’s difficult to access the remaining bunkers without permission and care.
The two Freya radars at the site had a range of detection of 200km/120miles so were able to spot allied aircraft a long range. Coupled with these was a Wurzburg Reise, or Giant Wurzburg, a huge dish-shaped radar to which the Freyas would hand over the aircraft for tracking by this shorter range device. Wurzburg Reise radars had a range of 43 miles/70km.
The largest buildings at station Skorpion are the L480 and L479 bunkers which supported the largest radar antenna. The L480 is a multi-room, single storey building which supported a 200ft early-warning Wassermann ‘S’ type radar - a cylindrical chimney-like radar which consisted of up to eight Freyas stacked around a central column.
This design extended the range of detection from around 120 miles for a Freya to 190 miles/300km.
The column could also be rotated through 360 degrees for full coverage of the skies and were able to give detect the distance and height of enemy aircraft.
Skorpion’s L479 bunker supported a large antenna and was the crew and data centre for the 'Anton' night fighter system - a guidance system which directed German aircraft to be able to intercept incoming Allied bombers entering the Baie de Somme area.