CIOS Jersey is about to install a fiberglass reproduction of the armoured mortar turret removed in 1953.
It’s another step towards perfection in the restauration project at Corbiere Point on Jersey, one of the Channel Islands. A repro version of the M19 mortar is already in the make too.
The restored bunker for automatic mortar M19. (Photo: Arthur van Beveren)
Old news and new news from the beautiful island of Alderney. Finds by Trevor Davenport.
Last year a super interesting find was made inside the harbour quay. Two personnel bunkers, probably type 656, are hidden under the concrete. During construction works on the German extension to the quay two bunkers were discovered, each with a covered passage with attached Tobruk in front of the entrances. Another small unknown bunker lies between them. More info to follow!
Plan of the quay with 2 x 656. (Trevor Davenport)
Last week I got a message from Trevor Davenport regarding a really heavy small shelter at Hoffmanns Höhe, the site of the island’s commander. Near some mortar pits is this one room bunker. It could be a personnel shelter but the inside dimensions are very small. Ammunition store is a second guess, there are recesses for gun racks in the small corridor.
Plan of the shelter. (Trevor Davenport)
Festung Guernsey got permission to dig up the M19 mortar bunker at Stp Rotenstein. Another one in the row of successes by the group of volunteers.
The bunker type 633 was hidden under the parking place at Fort Hommet. It has been opened some 25 years ago but now Festung Guernsey will keep it open en ultimately open it to the public in the future. The armoured turret for the weapon was scrapped in the early fifties and the removal left a huge hole in the bunker. The room for the mortar is heavily damaged, however the damage to the rest of the bunker is light, just a few cracks in the concrete.
Ammo transporting device in the dug up 633. (Photo: Grant Steer)
A personnel bunker at battery Lothringen on Noirmont, Jersey, was opened up this sunday after being buried for over 60 years.
The Jersey branch of the Channel Islands Occupation Society already dug up the bunker in early September but had to wait for permission to break it open. Although the bunker was almost empty it’s still in good condition. It has painted wall decorations and even een slogan on the wall. More pictures in this topic on Axis History Forum.
A patriotic slogan on the wall. (Photo: Malcolm Amy)
Festung Guernsey have dug open a 676 on Guernsey. The bunker was buried since the fifties.
The gun was already recovered in the 1970s but other than that the bunker is in perfect condition. It will be preserved as it is.
More photos on Axis History Forum.
The interior still looking good! (Photo: Dan Ogier)
The guys of Festung Guernsey keep restoring bunkers on the Channel Island of Guernsey. After the Batterie Dollmann, Batterie Scharnhorst and Wn Königsmühlen they now have “conditional approval from the Planning Department” to open up the 633 of Stützpunkt Rotenstein (at Fort Hommet). Plans are to start digging in the new year, clean it up and open it to the public in restored condition.
Like all other bunkers on the island it has lost its armoured turret for the M19 automatic mortar but there should be some remaining objects inside. Damage to the turret shaft is severe “but I’m sure we will overcome this with a bit of thought and hard work”, according to Grant Steer of Festung Guernsey.
Good luck with this interesting bunker!
The 633 at Stp Rotenstein, still hidden under the parking place near Fort Hommet, will be opened to the public in the future. (Photo: Arthur van Beveren)
The volunteers of Festung Guernsey are doing a great job restoring one of the 15cm K18 emplacements of Batterie Scharnhorst. Work has begun on a second emplacement and interconnecting trenches and shelters.
See the Axis forum for more information.
Restored emplacement 'Schwabenland' of Batterie Scharnhorst on Guernsey. (Photo: Paul Bourgaize)