Moyecques ) is a small hamlet within the commune of Landrethun-le-Nord in the

Pas-de-Calais The Pas-de-Calais (, ' strait of Calais'; ; ) is a department in northern France named after the French designation of the Strait of Dover, which it borders. It has the most communes of all the departments of France, with 890, and is the ...

department in the

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (; ; West Flemish: ''Nôord-Nauw van Kales'') was a former regions of France, administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new Regions of France, region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the ...

region of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It took its name from a local landowner, Guffridus eoffreyde Moykes, at the start of the 13th century. There were originally three settlements named after Guffidus, all with

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

names: ''Oist Moieques'' (East Moieques, today's village of Moyecques), ''Midel Moieques'' (now the tiny hamlet of Mimoyecques just to the west of Moyecques) and ''West Moieques''. By the 17th century the lordship of Moyecques had been unified with that of Landrethun, moving from

Fiennes Fiennes or Ffiennes may refer to: Places * Fiennes, a commune of the Pas-de-Calais ''département'' in northern France. People A toponymic surname pronounced and borne by a prominent English family, descendant from Eustace I Fiennes, a nobleman ...

. Today Moyecques is best known as the site of the Fortress of Mimoyecques, the modern name for an underground base built by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to house the

V-3 cannon The V-3 () was a German World War II large-caliber gun working on the multi-charge principle whereby secondary propellant charges are fired to add velocity to a projectile. Two full-size guns were built in the underground Fortress of Mimoye ...

that was intended to bombard

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

References

Villages in Hauts-de-France {{PasdeCalais-geo-stub