The Channel Islands
Jersey
WW2 Occupation Sites
Life as a civilian during the five years of occupation of the Channel Islands by the German army, which started in June 1940 was difficult and as the war progressed, became much harder. The winter of 1944-45 was particularly harsh when food and fuel were in short supply and liberation seemed so close but yet so far away. News of major Allied successes filtered through and boosted morale, however, for the most part life continued as best as it could given the circumstances. The aim was to survive until liberation.
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Overall, and considering that at times there were two German soldiers and one Organisation Todt (OT) worker for every five civilians in the compact land masses of the islands, there was minimal contact and socialising between the three groups. Some Channel Islands residents adapted to German subjugation more readily than others and given long-seated local jealousies and increasingly limited resources, the bulk of the civilian population kept itself apart, for very good reasons.
A large number of photos were taken on the Channel Islands during WW2, almost all by the the German occupiers as the civilian population were banned from owning cameras. The supposedly welcoming or, at least tolerant islanders, going about their day-to-day business, featured in numerous German propaganda newsreels and magazines as did the expanding fortifications forming part of Hitler`s Atlantic Wall. Many of these images survive today and form part of the National Archives of Germany (German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv). Others are held in the Imperial War Museum`s collection, but many are of very low quality. Even so, they provide a valuable record and hint at what might have occurred if the Nazis had managed to gain a permanent foothold on the British mainland. Many of the historic photos and information on the occupation for this page have been sourced from Jerripedia and Military-History.fandom.com, both of which are excellent resources with a wealth of material. |
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St Helier
The above photo of Liberation Square, St Helier, is on an information panel within the adjacent Liberty Wharf shopping centre. Much of the centre is a former abattoir which was restored and converted for use, opening in November 2010. The building with blue doors and windows facing the square was previously the town`s railway station but now backs onto Liberty Bus Station. The Liberation Monument can be seen in the foreground.
It`s impossible to travel anywhere around the Channel Islands without seeing reminders of the German Occupation. I had very limited time to explore during my short break so decided to check-out the two main WW2-related sites, namely the Jersey War Tunnels and the Channel Islands Military Museum. The former probably competes with the zoo as Jersey`s most popular tourist attraction.
Base for my stay was the Radisson Blu Waterfront Hotel with a room looking directly onto Elizabeth Castle, built on a rocky islet in St Aubin’s Bay, You can take the amphibious Castle Ferry or walk out along the causeway at low tide. |
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At the very top of the fortress massive concrete structure has been added, contrasting with the rest of the complex. This was added by the occupiers during the Second World War. Various other bunkers and artillery points were created in and around the islet to command the sea approaches to Jersey during the German Occupation.
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It was in late 1941 that Hitler took the decision to fortify the islands. Tens of thousands of soldiers and 15,000 construction workers arrived, all requiring accommodation. Some huts were built on camps for the Organisation Todt (OT) workers, however, many ended up being billeted in private houses that had a spare room. German soldiers and OT workers were billeted in 17,000 private houses in 1942. If a resident had a soldier billeted on them, the island government paid them a few shillings a week, but they were required to do his laundry.
Changes caused by the occupation affected most workers, but especially shop and office workers. Many people had been evacuated leaving vacancies, however many businesses had a dramatic fall in trade, so required less employees. Certain jobs vanished overnight, such as bus and taxi drivers, people in the building trade found that the main employer became the German army. |
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Hoarding food and goods became a business as rationing became stricter and shortages grew worse. Goods could always be traded. Both hoarding and bartering certain goods were illegal. Dealers in the black market included German officers and men, as well as OT workers and many civilians. The worst off during the occupation were among the poor in the island towns who had no access to farms and could not afford the black market prices. The rich did not live well, but at least could buy adequate quantities of basic food. Prisoners could supplement their worse than normal rations by paying heavily for black market foods to be brought to them.
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During the period of the Germán occupation from 1 July 1940 to 9 May 1945, many inhabitants were incarcerated for various acts of protest and defiance. Jersey`s main prison stood in Gloucester Street, close to what is now Liberty Square. A plaque marks the location. The Germans fortified not only the coast, but many of the settlements throughout the Channel Islands. Many buildings in St Helier were strengthened and housed gun positions to be utilised in the event of an Allied invasion if street-to-street fighting ensued.
This was Resistance Nest Richtfeuer which was built into the wall of the former JMT bus station in St Helier. The steel loophole, with its distinctive ball mounting originally housed a 4.7 Czech Pak K36(t) anti-tank weapon and an integral MG37(t) machine gun. A single room provided rudimentary shelter and a simple observation slit was located to the right of the loophole. When the site was redeveloped in 2005-2007, the fortification was demolished. However, due to the historical significance, the wall was reassembled using the original materials and the gun loophole and observation slit reinstated.
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Also in Gloucester Street is Jersey Opera House. In 1865 Henry Cornwall built the island a new theatre which he named Cornwall’s Royal Amphitheatre and Circus. It became the Theatre Royal in 1868 following a change of ownership. It didn`t open its doors as the Jersey Opera House until July 1900. The islanders loved their new theatre and the railways even put on two specials a week to run after the last performance. However only after a decade of live performances numbers began to diminish. The new ‘electric pictures’ as they were then known started to have an impact on theatre in general. Ownership changed yet again in 1911 and was run for a time by a company with links to the Gaumont cinema chain. Following a fire, the second in its history, the opera house re opened in august 1922 with a musical comedy but thereafter it continued to be used almost exclusively as a cinema showing the silent films of the day with traditional orchestral accompaniment.
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The arrival of the talkie screened in other Jersey cinemas accelerated the decline in Jersey Opera House as a place of entertainment. However, during the German Occupation an increase in live performances to one every fortnight and films on alternate weeks, plus Sunday Charity events, made Jersey Opera House once again the place to visit. This revival was only temporary and after liberation in 1945 the theatre became almost exclusively a cinema house with just two live summer shows each year. By the mid 1950s The Rank organisation who had taken over Gaumont British Theatres and also owned the Odeon Cinema in St Helier put Jersey Opera House up for sale for the grand sum of £70.000.00. The last movie ever to be shown at the venue was Strictly for Pleasure starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. In 1995, following further changes of ownership, the States of Jersey purchased the opera house at a cost of £1.3 million. A extensive program of rebuilding and renovation enabled the theatre to open its doors on the 9th July 2000, exactly 100 years to the day when the first Opera House welcomed the public of Jersey.
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Towering above St Helier and its port is Fort Regent, a 19th-century fortification built atop Mont de la Ville (Town Hill). The fort is in close proximity to the fortified South Hill, Engineers Barracks at La Collette, and overlooks the 16th-century Elizabeth Castle and harbour to the west. The fort's main features are substantial curtain walls, ditches, a glacis, redoubts, bastions, and redans (or demi-bastions). A parade ground was in the centre, which is now built upon. Fort Regent has been roofed and serves as a modern-day leisure centre.
The last British force to garrison Fort Regent was the Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey, who left the fort on 20 June 1940, and served in the UK as part of The Hampshire Regiment. The militia reformed as the Jersey Field Squadron in 1987, and are located in the Engineers Barracks at La Collette. The German forces made some additions to the fort, including concrete platforms for flak cannons, some of which remain today. After liberation, the fort was used as a storage facility for potatoes, wine, and coal. The nearby power station was coal-fired at the time. |
The Maritime Museum
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Jersey’s landscape and history have been shaped by the sea and this museum tells the story of the Island’s unique maritime environment and rich seafaring past. Set by the historic harbour of St Helier, the Maritime Museum is also home to the gallery containing the Occupation Tapestry which chronicles what the islanders endured under German rule during WW2.
Ship models in the museum include scale representations of HMS Jersey, Philippe de Carteret’s HMS Swallow, and the Red Cross Ship Vega. The historic boats Fiona, Howard D, Florence and Jessie form part of the museum`s collection and can be found floating in the adjacent marina. The building which houses the Maritime Museum was constructed as part of an ongoing process to make improvements to St Helier Harbour in the 1880s. Development of the Harbour by the States of Jersey (Jersey’s Government) commenced in 1872, but was abandoned four years later. However, trade continued to develop, as did the size of passenger and cargo vessels, which were in transition from sail to steam-power. To keep pace with those changes, the Harbours Committee attempted to dredge the harbour and widen the North Pier. This would provide more space to unload steamers and facilitate a quicker turnaround. Work on widening the North Pier commenced in May 1882 using the concrete blocks from an abandoned harbour scheme at La Collette. The plan had been to build a breakwater from there and another from Elizabeth Castle, to create a deep water harbour. By November 1888, all the concrete blocks had been used up and work came to a halt, although close to half the length of the Pier had been widened. |
Trade continued to flourish, with larger and faster steamers being built for the Island’s service – the Great Western Railway took over the service from Weymouth, urgently requiring a larger berth. A dredging program began with the intention of allowing more time for vessels to enter and leave the Harbour. Sheds for the storage of imported goods were built. In March 1893, the States agreed to fund the widening of the North Pier and to provide a landing stage at the end. The project wasn’t completed until October 1897, as large amounts of rock had to be removed.
In 1897, the Harbours Committee had a passenger waiting room built on the North Pier – another was built on the Victoria Pier the following year for the London & South Western Railway. In 1899, it was agreed that a shelter would be constructed on the Albert Pier to service the Plymouth, Bristol and St Brieuc boats. New offices and stores for the North Pier were also agreed in 1899, and five large sheds were built accordingly and offered for let.
After the Liberation of the Channel Islands from German Occupation in 1945, the sheds were being used for Harbours maintenance works and Customs. By the 1970s and the introduction of shipping containers, the sheds were no longer required. In 1980, it was decided to turn the area into a marina – the pedestrian area was enlarged, seating fitted and the former St Catherine’s Breakwater lighthouse was installed as a focal point. It would later become a memorial to the Jersey men and women who were deported for acts of defiance during the Occupation, and never returned. The Friends of the Maritime Museum began using one of the North Pier sheds in 1992, and the drive to find a home for the Occupation Tapestry in advance of its launch by the Prince of Wales in 1995 led to the creation of the Maritime Museum.
In 1897, the Harbours Committee had a passenger waiting room built on the North Pier – another was built on the Victoria Pier the following year for the London & South Western Railway. In 1899, it was agreed that a shelter would be constructed on the Albert Pier to service the Plymouth, Bristol and St Brieuc boats. New offices and stores for the North Pier were also agreed in 1899, and five large sheds were built accordingly and offered for let.
After the Liberation of the Channel Islands from German Occupation in 1945, the sheds were being used for Harbours maintenance works and Customs. By the 1970s and the introduction of shipping containers, the sheds were no longer required. In 1980, it was decided to turn the area into a marina – the pedestrian area was enlarged, seating fitted and the former St Catherine’s Breakwater lighthouse was installed as a focal point. It would later become a memorial to the Jersey men and women who were deported for acts of defiance during the Occupation, and never returned. The Friends of the Maritime Museum began using one of the North Pier sheds in 1992, and the drive to find a home for the Occupation Tapestry in advance of its launch by the Prince of Wales in 1995 led to the creation of the Maritime Museum.
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On 25 March 1937, the British Admiralty placed orders for the eight destroyers of the J class, including one ship, Jersey to be built by J. Samuel White and Company at Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Jersey was laid down on 20 September 1937, launched on 26 September 1938 and commissioned on 28 April 1939. Following commissioning, HMS Jersey worked up at Portland through to July 1939. On 12 August 1939, she joined the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla of the Home Fleet, based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. On 7 December 1939, Jersey was torpedoed close to a sandbank off the Norfolk coast by the German destroyer Z12 Erich Giese, which was returning unseen from laying a minefield. Ten of the Royal Navy ship's company were killed and extensive damage caused.
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Jersey was towed to the Humber for repairs and did not return to her flotilla until 28 October 1940. She was then engaged in escorting Mediterranean convoys. On 2 May 1941, Jersey struck an Italian aircraft-dropped mine off Malta's Grand Harbour and sank next to the harbour breakwater, totally blocking the entrance for several days. Thirty-five crew members were killed. The destroyers Kelly, Kelvin and Jackal were left marooned in the harbour until the wreck was cleared. Some of the ships that rescued the surviving crew had to take passage to Gibraltar. On 5 May the wreck of Jersey broke into two sections. It was only after 1946 that the after section was cleared from the entrance, in a series of controlled demolitions carried out between 1946 and 1949. Further salvage and clearance work was done in 1968 to make the harbour safe for large vessels.
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Another of the ship models is HMS Beagle (H30) (above right) a Clyde-built B-class destroyer built for the Royal Navy (RN) around 1930. Initially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet, she was transferred to the Home Fleet in 1936. She spent most of World War II on escort duty, taking part in the Norwegian Campaign and later helped to evacuate British soldiers and civilians in the Battle of France in 1940. She also took part in the Battle of the Atlantic, Operation Torch, the Russian Convoys, and in the Normandy landings before accepting the surrender of the German garrison of the Channel Islands the day after the formal German surrender on 9 May 1945, together with another ship. During her career, Beagle assisted in sinking one German submarine and claimed to have shot down two German aircraft. Redundant after the war, she was broken up for scrap in 1946.
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Originally a ship’s lifeboat, Diana, a 22-foot motorboat was brought to Jersey in 1919 by shipping agent Harold Benest, who also acted as the local Lloyd’s Agent. She went on to take part in the search for the lost flying boat Cloud of Iona (which disappeared on a flight between Jersey and Guernsey in July 1936) then, most famously, in June 1940, she was one of a number of small boats from Jersey involved in the evacuation of British and Allied troops from St Malo. She subsequently took part in the anniversary flotillas to commemorate both the 60th and 70th anniversary of this action, known as Operation Aerial.
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The Occupation Tapestry
Within the Maritime Museum is a tapestry depicting life during the German Occupation was unveiled in Jersey on 9th May 1995, the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the Island from 5 years of Nazi rule. The tapestry was the biggest community art project ever undertaken in Jersey, and made by Islanders for Islanders. It was conceived in order to tell the story of what life was like during the five years of German occupation. The original idea about creating a tapestry came about when, in the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of the Liberation, suitable projects were sought which would have a enduring life after the date had passed. The tapestry originally comprised of twelve panels, each of which depicts a scene of local life during the war. They were designed by Wayne Audrain, a local artist, who gave guidelines on colours to be used on the key elements of the panels to ensure consistency.
The Occupation Tapestry was unveiled by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, on 9th May 1995, fifty years after the first British troops came ashore to liberate Jersey after the surrender of the German garrison that day. After being displayed in the Jersey Museum for a year, the work was moved to a purpose built gallery in one of the old quayside warehouses which now houses the Maritime Museum on the New North Quay, just a stones` throw from Liberation Square. A thirteenth panel was added on the seventieth anniversary of Liberation in 1995. It commemorates how Jersey people continue to remember acts of heroism and the victims of Nazism.
Below: Having endured five long years under the German jackboot, Jersey was finally liberated by British troops of Task Force 135 on 9 May 1945.
Jersey Airport
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Jersey Airport was officially opened on 10 March 1937 at a total cost of £127,000. As well as a 980-yard grass runway, the airport boasted two hangars and a terminal building for arrivals and departures, with a restaurant and terraces on the second floor. Within a year of becoming operational, an estimated 20,000 visitors had flown to Jersey, many of them holidaying from mainland UK. As well as travel opportunities, Islanders also enjoyed daily deliveries of mail and national newspapers, speedy access to markets for growers and an improved air-sea rescue service, coordinated by Air Traffic Control.
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March 1940 saw an Easter rush of visitors from the UK, but in June of that year commercial operations into the Channel Islands were suspended. During the BEF`s evacuation from France, the airport became a staging post for many of the planes returning to the UK ahead of the German advance. Then, in July 1940, the first Germans landed on the island to begin five long years of German occupation during World War Two.
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Note the Nazi Swastika flying above the control tower.
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Above: A Luftwaffe crew prepare to board their Junkers JU-88 at Jersey Airport sometime in 1940. A Messerschmitt Bf110 is pictured below left.
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Mont Orgueil Castle
Mont Orgueil Castle, also known as Gorey Castle, overlooks the harbour of Gorey which is located approximately halfway up Jersey`s east coast. The site has been fortified since prehistoric times, but the construction of the castle was first mentioned in 1212. The first record of the stronghold being referred to as 'Mont Orgeuil' was during the occupation by the French during the War of the Roses, in 1462. The development of gunpowder rendered the castle ultimately indefensible from Mont Saint Nicholas, the adjacent hill which overlooks the location. Mont Orgueil was updated with platforms for artillery constructed in 1548 and 1549 under the direction of Henry Cornish, Lieutenant of the Earl of Hertford in Jersey. Mont Orgueil was to be superseded by Elizabeth Castle off Saint Helier, the construction of which commenced at the end of the 16th century. Walter Raleigh, Governor of Jersey in 1600, rejected a plan to demolish the old castle to recycle the stone for the new fortifications with the words: 'twere pity to cast it down`.
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Mont Orgueil continued to be used as the island's only prison until the construction of a similar facility in St. Helier at the end of the 17th century. During the English Civil War, from March 1643 the then Lieutenant Governor and Bailiff of the island, Sir Philippe de Carteret held out for the Royalists in Elizabeth Castle, leaving his wife Anne de Carteret, and their son Philippe de Carteret to occupy Mont Orgueil. It was from Mont Orgueil that the Royalists under Sir George Carteret retook the island from Parliament in November 1643. In December 1651 the island was invaded by Parliament; however, faced with the prospect of modern artillery being deployed on Mont St. Nicholas, the fortress was surrendered with generous terms allowing those inside to relocate to Elizabeth Castle.
Mont Orgueil Castle eventually fell into disrepair but parts of the castle were adapted to garrison troops. In a generally ruinous state at the time of its handover to the people of Jersey by the Crown on 28 June 1907, Mont Orgueil has been managed as a museum site since 1929, although during the Second World War German occupation (1940–1945), the occupying forces garrisoned the castle and added modern fortifications camouflaged to blend in with existing structures.
Jersey War Tunnels
One of the island`s most popular attractions is the Jersey War Tunnels, a partially completed underground complex in St. Lawrence, built by German occupying forces during World War II. The German designation was Hohlgangsanlage 8 (often abbreviated to Ho8, also known as the German Underground Hospital). In 1941, work began on a string of fortifications all around Jersey and over 1 km (1,100 yd) of tunnels at Ho8 were completed before the end of the war. The intention was that the complex would enable German troops to withstand Allied air raids and bombardment in preparation for the invasion of the island which never came.
Forced labourers from the Organisation Todt (as well as paid labourers and skilled workers) were shipped to the island and put to work building the complex. Many of the workers were Polish, French, Russian or Republican Spaniards. Conditions were terrible, although Russian and Ukrainian POWs were treated the worst, with cases of malnutrition, death by exhaustion and disease among them becoming commonplace. On the other hand, the voluntary workers often had much better conditions, being offered over four times the wages that they would have earned working in similar jobs for the States of Jersey, and often receiving extra food rations.
In late 1943, with the threat of an Allied invasion of Europe (Operation Overlord) becoming clear, Ho8 was to be converted into a casualty clearing station and emergency hospital. The hospital had 500 beds for patients, with a full heating and air conditioning system (although the rest of the tunnel complex usually maintained a constant temperature of about 17 °C (63 °F), due to its being built deep into the hillside). A system of gas-proof doors was installed to maintain a clean airflow in the tunnels, and a fully equipped operating theatre was installed. Unfinished tunnels were sealed off. An escape shaft is pictured below left.
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Despite the huge preparations and fortifications constructed on the Channel Islands, none were ever utilised. The occupying forces surrendered on 9 May 1945 (one day after the rest of the German forces surrendered). Ho8 fell into disuse, with British soldiers and souvenir hunters stripping the tunnels of equipment. In July 1946, the States of Jersey opened the tunnels to the public. In 1961, the Royal Court ruled that the subterranean complex belonged to the private owners of the land above it, and Ho8 fell under private ownership. The complex was restored, with a collection of Occupation memorabilia and a museum and memorial to the occupation being set up. In 2001, a permanent exhibit called "Captive Island" was unveiled in the tunnel complex, detailing everyday life for civilians in Jersey before, during and after the occupation of Jersey. The Jersey War Tunnels has also housed military vehicles, including a Char B1 bis tank, which served in Jersey with the Panzer-Abteilung 213 during the occupation. This had been on loan from The Tank Museum, Bovington.
As of March 2012, this highly convincing replica Stug III tank destroyer guards the entrance.
The Type 82 Kübelwagen, translated as 'bucket-seat car', performed the same role as the Allied Jeep during the Second World War. It was designed by Ferdinand Porsche and built by Volkswagen during World War II for use by the Nazi German military (both Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS). Based heavily on the Volkswagen Beetle, it was prototyped and first deployed in Poland as the Type 62, but following improvements entered full-scale production as the Type 82. A large number of variants were subsequently produced including the amphibious Schwimmwagen models. Just like the U.S. jeep, the Kübelwagen could be manhandled by its crew, when they got stuck. Approximately 53,000 were produced, the bulk for the German military during the war but following the surrender in 1945, the factory was put back into production and almost 2,500 of this total were churned out for British Army service.
(Above Photo Jersey Bus & Coach Tours)
The Organisation Todt camp on People's Park, St Helier, is pictured below.
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On 30 October 1944, a US Army Air Force C-47 Skytrain returning from Normandy to England went off course due to a navigational error and routed over the island. The aircraft was experiencing technical issues and the pilot, Lt Robert Blackler, switched on the navigation lights and flew round in circles, a recognised sign to indicate that it was in distress. Despite this, it was fired upon by German anti-aircraft guns and brought down, crash landing into the sea at Bouley Bay in Jersey`s northeast corner. Although Blackler, kept the plane level on ditching it quickly sank in the rough seas and everyone else onboard drowned. Blackler, having sustained cuts and bruises, was washed onto rocks and subsequently rescued by an alerted German patrol. The bodies of his crew were recovered and buried with full military honours in the Allied war cemetery at Howard Davis Park, St Helier (where the Stars & Stripes still fly daily).
Lt Blackler became a prisoner of war and was released when the island was liberated, along with other American personnel captured during a German raid on Granville on the Normandy coast in March 1945. The German officer in charge of the batteries was disciplined for having given the order to open fire on an aircraft so obviously in distress. The propellors of the C-47`s Pratt & Whitney radial engines were discovered 75 feet down on the sea bed by local diver Doug Crawford and were raised in November 1983.
La Corbière
La Corbière is the extreme south-western point of Jersey in St. Brélade. The name means `a place where crows gather`, deriving from the word corbîn meaning crow, however, seagulls have long since displaced the crows from their coastal nesting sites. The rocks and extreme tidal variation around this stretch of coastline can often be treacherous for navigation and La Corbière has been the scene of many shipwrecks, including that of the mail packet Express on 20 September 1859.
The lighthouse at La Corbière is one of the most photographed landmarks on the island and is a popular tourist site for its panoramic views. In the evenings the surrounding area provides an ideal viewing point for sunsets. The lighthouse was lit for the first time on 24 April 1874, and was the first such structure in the British Isles to be built of concrete. It`s situated on a rock that is a tidal island. A causeway links the lighthouse to shore at low tide. There is an alarm to warn visitors to clear the causeway as the tide rises; still, there have been casualties among the unwary or unlucky. A plaque adjacent to the causeway commemorates Peter Edwin Larbalestier, assistant keeper of the lighthouse, who was drowned on 28 May 1946, while trying to rescue a visitor cut off by the incoming tide. (Above Photo courtesy of Wikipedia).
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La Corbière was formerly the western terminus of the Jersey Railway line from Saint Helier. The first through train ran from Saint Helier to La Corbière on 5 August 1885. The service was unable to compete against motor buses and the railway closed in 1935. During the German military occupation 1940-45, the Germans re-established light railways for the purpose of supplying coastal fortifications. A one-metre gauge line was laid down following the route of the former Jersey Railway from Saint Helier to La Corbière, with a branch line connecting the stone quarry at Ronez in Saint John. The German railway infrastructure was dismantled after the Liberation in 1945, but other German fortifications remain, besides the communications tower, and can be seen around the headland. (Following radio tower photo courtesy of Wikipedia).
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Nowadays the WW2 radio tower at La Corbière operates as self catering accommodation. Original features include observation slots on the seaward side and steel doors on the ground floor. From 1976, the Tower was adapted for use by States of Jersey Harbours and Airport Committee who added the panoramic, glass-panelled control room so duty officers could monitor radio communication for vessels using the English Channel. (Interior shots © Jersey Heritage).
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Channel Islands Military Museum
The Channel Islands Military Museum is housed in a German bunker that once formed part of Hitler's Atlantic Wall defences. Sitting right on the sea wall on Jersey`s west coast, the strongpoint dominates the surrounding area. Within the bunker itself are many rooms full of artefacts both military and civilian which help tell the story of the five long years of German Occupation. There are hundreds of interesting pieces to look at as well as lots to read, there is also a 40 minute commentary of locals recounting experiences of the time.
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The museum contains many personal items which have been acquired from or donated by original owners. These include personal letters and documents which give an real insight as to how the Islanders were affected by the Occupation and the massive fortification program. See copies of the original ultimatum demanding surrender which the German Luftwaffe dropped onto the Island on 1st July 1940. You can also see the first orders of the occupiers posted the following day. Whilst strict, those orders nonetheless reflected the German orders to respect the local population, and which were to be a model for the future planned occupation of Britain. The mood soon changed however as the hardship of occupation began to bite. There are also stories from old soldiers who have returned to Jersey – both Germans who occupied the very bunkers built 75 years ago as well as Allied airmen who had the unfortunate experience of finding themselves prisoners here. (to edit)*
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Above: Pz Kpfw F35(f) tanks, somewhere between Beaumont and Bel Royal, Jersey, date not recorded. These are more accurately described as self-propelled guns and comprise a Czech 4.7cm anti-tank gun mounted on a captured Renault R.35 tank chassis. The adjacent photo shows just one of the numerous artillery pieces present on the island during the occupation.
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These wartime shots were taken close to where the Military Museum is now. The fearsome looking gun above right is actually a wooden dummy.
