Protecting Batterie Strassburg will allow for restoration work

Historically, when Guernsey’s Occupation structures have been listed, it has been as protected monuments.

The spokesman said it was considered that Batterie Strassburg did potentially have sufficient ‘special interest’ to be added to the protected monument list.

‘However, because Batterie Strassburg is made up of buildings, some of which have an established use and are intermingled with houses, and given that protection as a monument would limit any future use of, and works to, the whole site and any potential for restoration, the batterie is listed as a protected building grade A,’ he said.

Grade A buildings are the top tier of Guernsey’s listing system. There are currently only six properties with that grade, although the planners link this with the relatively recent creation of the classification in 2016.

During the listing process, the officers made efforts to contact private land owners and gain access to sites.

Official notifications, along with information packs, were sent to property owners this week. So far only one has contacted the department for clarification on a matter.

The listing covers 64 Second World War structures and it is unusual to see so many listed at once.

‘During the initial review of one of the bunkers it became clear partly through site inspections and research, but also because of the work of Festung Guernsey, that the buildings and features are part of an interconnected naval battery, which has been previously described as an anchored battleship, the features of which should be viewed together as a single defensive weapon comprising of 64 separate buildings/structures all of which are interrelated,’ the spokesman said.

Development & Planning Authority president Victoria Oliver said that the listing came about following extensive work on the area by Festung and a team of conservationists.

‘To have 64 separate parts of the site in close proximity to each other makes it a really interesting area for the general public, especially those with an interest in the Second World War and Occupation,’ she said.

Deputy Oliver added that the newly-attributed status of the site would help preserve the condition of each of the 64 features.

‘The status is like a blanket cover on the entire site. It means that there is a higher bar for people to reach in terms of looking to develop or change the features on the site in any way,’ she said, adding that any future projects must now adhere to the criteria laid out as part of the listing status.

Deputy Oliver also encouraged islanders to get in touch with the DPA should they wish to know more about how to look after the site.

In terms of future plans for designating similar Occupation sites on the island with a protected status, Deputy Oliver said that the DPA would once again work closely with Festung.

‘We would let them lead on such a matter,’ she added.

Jerbourg battery has unique structures in Atlantic Wall

AS THE Occupying forces dug into the Channel Islands in early 1941, reinforced field order fortifications started to appear around the coast.

Initially work was done by army and navy construction crews, with Organisation Todt, a civil and military engineering organisation, taking over after three to six months.

Work on the early reinforced field order defences continued while surveys were carried out.

As the first naval battery in Guernsey, it pre-dates Batterie Mirus by some 12 months, with the guns arriving in the early part of 1941.

By mid-June there was extensive activity at the battery, with construction of an observation tower, ammunition bunkers as well as personnel bunkers.

A report dated June 1941 stated the battery was combat-ready.

By November, many of the positions were completed and camouflaged.

The battery’s principal weapons were four 22cm field guns, which were mounted on concrete emplacements.

There were also flak guns, mortars and machine guns, and cliffs around the battery were protected by mine fields and roll bombs.

Electricity was provided by generators in a reinforced field order bunker. This bunker, like many others, were given false timber roofs and painted to look like domestic structures.

After the war, the light weapons and ordnance were removed by the British Army, but the four 22cm fields guns were left and rendered inoperable.

A 1947 scrap drive by the Ministry of Supply saw the guns cut up for scrap and many bunkers stripped of fixtures and fittings.

Many of the structures in the battery are unique among the Atlantic Wall defences.

The site was often recorded in photographs and diaries from during the war, with records held in France, Germany and Guernsey archives.

Festung Guernsey said that taken together, these documentary sources and physical remains provide a rich seam of material for a site of Occupation significance.

Information supplied by Festung Guernsey