World War II: British Channel Islands--Island Fortifications


Figure 1.--The Germans built mamouth fortifications on the Channel islands with heavy artillery to defend against eborn attack. There were also smaller instalation, suh as these steel girders set in concrete to serve as tank traps during street fighting. Here Jersey children, we think in St. Helier, play among the defensive emplacemets erected by the Germans during their World War II occupation. The press caption read, "Peacetime use for trank traps: Chilren use tank traps errected by Germans during their occupation of the island of Jersey, 50 miles off the French coat,to play French cricket. Jersey, largestof the Channel Islands is self governing and has been under the English Crown since 1066.

The Channel Islands became among the most heavily fortified islands of World War II. Perhaps the only exception is Iwo Jima in the Pacific. There was, however, every reason in the world to defend Iwo. There was no reason to defend the Channel Islands. As the British had recognized when they abandined them, they had no military significance. The fortfications were enormous. Hitler turned the Channel Islands were the most heavily defended portion of the Atlantic Wall, but was not part of it and thus did not add to the defensive strength of the Wall. The most heavily fortified island was Alderney, presumably because it was the closest to the French mainland. The fortifications built were massive. Many were unfinished. Yet what was accomplished in the 2 ½ years of frentic work (early-1942 through May-1944) was phenomenal. Only the D-Day landings in Normandy brought the construcion to a halt. Before that the occupying German forces and the Organisation Todt constructed massive fortifications all around the coasts of the Channel Islands. Hitler ordered that 10 percent of the steel and concrete used in the Atlantic Wall go to the Channel Islands. Tunnels and bunkers were built everywhere. The Germans escavated 244,000 m3 of rock from Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney (more than half from Jersey). That was more rock than all the rest of the Atlantic Wall. If this effort had made on the Normandy beaches, the D-Day outcome might had been very different.

Alderney

Alderney was the Channel Island the Germans decided tomost strongly fortify. It is still covered in the German fortifications built by concentration camp slave labor made to work under terrible conditions with many fatalities. The Germans built the emplacements with steel reinforced concrete, making them to costly to remove. They mar the beautiful landscap and are a chilling reminder of the World War II experience. Alderney is the third largest of the Channel Islands and because of its mortherly location probably would have been the first island the Bitish invaded--if they decided to retake the islands during the War. It is only 8 miles from mainland France--9 miles due West of Cap de la Hague in Normandy. And it is close to Guernsey (23 miles), Jersey (30 miles) and the Isle of Wight across the Channel (60 miles). The Germans chose it as the site of the heaviest fortifiction, presumably because it was the closest to the French mainland and Britain. Due to its northerly location in the English Channel and its proximity to the important French port of Cherbourg, naval strategists tended to see Alderney as strategically important, despite treacherous waters. Alderney has high cliffs along its southern coastline, creating a kind of natural defense. The island's population was evacuated before the Germans occupoed the island. The Germans with a SS contingent converted Alderney into an island concentration camp. The 6,000 man labor force was used to turn Alderney into perhaps the most strongly defended position of the Atlantic Wall. The Luftwaffe built a bunker and tower in St. Anne. Their tower became known as a 'water tower'. It was a multi-storey structure where all three services located their Headquarters. The Heer, Kreigsmarine, and Luftwaffe deployed units on the island protected by bunkers and reinforced structures, served by independent telecommunication network facilities. The defence system of each of the major islands had a network of tunnels. On Alderney there were nine tunnels connected all the important fortifications. The tunnels had a clear rock cover of 35 metres (115 ft). This made them impregnable to aerial bombing even id the aircraft knew where they were located.

Guernsey

Guernsey is located in the central area of the Channel Islnds, between Alderny and Jersey. Guernsey also had extensive gun emplacements, capped by the Mirus Battery with a calibre of 30.5 cm and a range of 26 miles making this the largest single gun in the Channel Islands. There was even an underground military hospital started. A reader writes, "The underground hospital is a great tourist attraction now. I went there a few years ago, and was amazed at the underground works. The nearest thing I have seen is the underground hospital built in tunnels in the Dover cliffs under Dover castle. This is also a tourist attraction including 'old' blood stains!"

Jersey

Jersey is the most southerly of the important Channel Islands. The Germans built seven medium coastal artillery batteries with 10.5cm - to 22cm caliber guns on Jersey. In addition to these massive implacements, there were six light (10cm) field howitzer batteries; six medium and twenty five light anti-aircraft batteries, mounting between them over 100 weapons of 2cm, 3.7cm, and 8.8cm calibre. The infantry had more than 80 field guns and anti-tank guns in concrete bunkers, plus 51 tank turrets mounted on the so-called Tobruk emplacements. These weapons were housed in more than 250 concrete bunkers, this figure including subterranean command posts, coastal observation towers and communications centres. And added to this was 7,400 metres of anti-tank walls on the beaches, 67,000 land mines, and 23,500 square metres of floor storage space created in the many tunnels that were excavated.

Sark

Sark is locates east of Guernsey between the larger island and the minland. the fourth lrgest Channel Island. Both Alderney and Sark ar much smaller than Geuernsey and Jersey. The Dame of Sark, Sibyl Mary Hathaway, without consulting with British authiorities encouraged everyone to stay. Most of the Islanders did so. The Germans built very few fortifications on Sark. We do not yet have much information on the fortifications built on Sark. Given its location, a Brirish assult was virtually impossibe with invading Guernsey and Alderney first. There ww some defenses set up in the harbor. There were also some tunnels built. A Britsh Commando raid (Operation Basa) landed on Sark (October 1942).







HBC








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Created: 4:42 PM 5/4/2013
Last updated: 4:42 PM 5/4/2013