German fortifications given protected status

[Peter Gillson]

Hi

Guernsey's planning authority has taken the unusual snd positive step of protecting a large number of individual, and some quite small, German Ww2 structures which together form what was a naval battery.

here is a link to the Press article:

https://guernseypress.com/news/2023/02/10/dpa-gives-protected-building-status-to-64-second-world-war-structures/

Peter

[spanner570]

Very interesting Peter, and thanks for posting the link.

When I was over in Guernsey, I had great fun wandering around the Island 'Bunker Spotting' I even spotted a small concrete M.G. bunker in the corner someone's very small and unassuming garden!

I see the preservation as a positive move because apart from the obvious beauty of the place, I would suggest a good number of visitors go to the Island to see these structures.

You are one lucky chap to live over there......

Ron

[Airborne01]

Totally agree with this; nowadays it's becoming increasingly common to try and whitewash history as if it never happened :anguished: Wait until the snowflakes start falling ...
Steve

[Guest]

Great news, these structures need protection ,from development. I t's a pity that many have damned graffiti sprayed on them .
Hope that's not the case in Guernsey

[langy71]

They are part of a 'history', but they are part of mankind's history and as such should be preserved in order to allow people to reflect back on something that was without doubt a very dark part of our history....

[Guest]

This is similar to what’s been happening here on Walcheren. Most of the remaining bunkers have some kind of protected status, including the whole of the Landfront Vlissingen, which I pass any time I go into town.

[adt70hk]

Good to hear Peter. Been to Jersey a couple of times but not made it to Guernsey yet.

ATB.

Andrew

[Airborne01]

They are part of a 'history', but they are part of mankind's history and as such should be preserved in order to allow people to reflect back on something that was without doubt a very dark part of our history....

:anguished:

[Peter Gillson]

Hi Guys

glad you found the link interesting.

Ron - I think a lot of people to visit for the history, unfortunately we have no bunkers in my garden.
steve - we are fortunate to have a group called Festung Guernsey who are really dedicated to preserving and resting a lot of fortifications, they do a huge amount of work.
John - not too much graffitti, many bunkers are still use in one way or another. One is used by the business which organises firework displays to store their fireworks, quite apt really!
Chris - agreed.
Jakko - it is nice to know other areas are also restoring their recent history. Although they was virtually no battle damage a lot of damage was done in the great scrap metal collection of 1947 when the (by then decommissioned) guns and most metal fittings were removed.
Andrew - Guernsey is the nicer of the 2 Islands!! I may be a little biased.

here is another link - this time to a follow-up article in today's Press:

https://guernseypress.com/news/2023/02/11/protecting-batterie-strassburg-will-allow-for-restoration-work/

A few years ago a group of local historians published a set of German records which the comandant produced during the occupation detailing all of the German forces. Here are some photos of a few pages which relate to this battery:

1 - the operational objective of Battery Srassburg:



2- map showing the location of the battery (bottom right). although in the SE corner it had full 360 degree firing capability.


3 - insert from the map showing the location of the various installations



4 - summary of the equipment and personnel strength of 229.



We should remember that this is just one of thr many batteries on the Island, and not the biggest. It is very fortunate that Hitler was obsessed with fortifying the Islands, just think how D-Day could have been affected if all of the fortifications and arms had been in Normandy. As an idea of scale, it is estimated that about 10% of all the concrete used on the whole Atlantic Wall was used in the Channel Islands.

peter

[Guest]

it is nice to know other areas are also restoring their recent history.

We have a Stichting Bunkerbehoud (“Society [for] Bunker Preservation”) that’s been doing a lot of good work in that respect over the last few decades. It has outfitted a number of bunkers as museums, open to visitors from spring to autumn.

a lot of damage was done in the great scrap metal collection of 1947 when the (by then decommissioned) guns and most metal fittings were removed.

Same here. Most of the remaining bunkers, at least the easily accessible ones, had most of their “loose” metal items, like doors and things, removed. In at least one I’ve been in (years ago, now it’s made inaccessible by means of a gate because of a cycling path having been built along a line of these bunkers), even the steel doorframes were taken out of the walls … Only the parts properly embedded in the walls, like vent pipes and armour plates, remain in all of them.