Places Features

Festung Guernsey, the group dedicated to restoring structures built during the German Occupation in the Second World War have asked the Environment Department for permission to restore a bunker.

The bunker is located next to the Fort Hommet car park on the Northern side, opposite the restored gun emplacement.

The organisation's project coodinator Paul Bourgaize and group member Grant Steer explained why they wanted to undertake the work.

It is a rather rare kind of bunker according to Paul: "Of all the different bunker types this was the one built the least on the island."

The Germans called this type of bunker an M19 Automatic Mortar. It was designed to protect areas of dead land (ground you cannot see into) in case of an enemy landing.

Only four such bunkers were built on Guernsey and all of these are currently inaccessible and buried.

Steer and Bourgaize at the site of the bunker

The group hopes to reshape the car park with a raised bank that will enable them to unearth part of the bunker and gain access to its back entrance.

"We're not expecting a great deal, but hopefully there will be some bits and pieces left of the gun in the bunker," said Grant. "If we're really lucky, some other bits and pieces left from the soldiers who were managing the bunker itself."

Once its unearthed, Festung Guernsey plan to tidy up the bunker, restore what they can and make it presentable to the public, especially those people coming from the UK and Europe.

The group believe the bunker will attract numerous visitors. "There's still a great deal of interest in what we do," explained Grant. "Hopefully we can keep that going especially with the younger generation."