The Germans dredge sand for a Submarine Base

Mr Donald Board interviewed by Margaret le Cras.
Edited transcript of tape recording of the interview

I………. Did you see anything of these propaganda leaflets that used to get dropped?
Mr Board. Oh yes. I had some of those. [ ] I have passed a lot of things on to Peter Balshaw, for his museum, and he’d come out every now and again, “have you found anything else” in the way of antiques, antique tools, and he’s had a lot of stuff to the effect that I had free admission into there when my brother-in-law, one year when they came over from Canada, I took them down, and I used to tell the girl at the desk when we’d go in, and it isn’t a case of what you know it’s who, and I took them all around, because one of the rooms is one of the fuel tanks, now I remember, there was a big pipeline, that big, from by what was the Albert Café, along the Albert Pier, along towards the slaughter house, and over that slip, along to the side, and there was a dredger that used to go to the South coast beaches to bring back sand, and they pumped that through into the beach to cover the rocks, because they intended making that a submarine base for serviceing and refuelling and that’s why the military museum has got that tunnel. But I’ve never thought out and I’ve never cycled really down there to see, and I’ve never figured out how they gained access to Castle Cornet, with the pipe line, whether it was one they could hinge back, I don’t know, but they had to do that, to keep that open, to get down to Castle Cornet. I never took notice, it didn’t occur to me. But anyhow, of course, that sand stayed there for a while after the war, but within two years nature took its course and the rocks came back.

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