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The Channel Islands 1941-45: Hitler's Impregnable Fortress

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In Osprey's Fortress #41, Charles Stephen describes the German occupation and fortification of the British Channel Islands in the Second World War. Despite the fact that these fortifications were never used in combat, this topic remains noteworthy as the only slice of British territory ever occupied by Germany in the world wars as well as one of the most heavily fortified parts of the Atlantic Wall. Stephenson's descriptions of the fortifications on the islands are quite good and there is plenty of detail here for bunker enthusiasts. Color plates detail items ranging from individual machinegun positions, up to the massive naval direction finding towers and 12-inch gun batteries on Guernsey. However, the author digresses a bit on such topics as the use of forced labor and the round-up of Jewish residents, and thereby slights a more detailed look at the actual fortress garrison.

The author's introduction outlines the history of fortification efforts on the islands dating back to 1066 and then up to the German occupation in July 1940. I was a bit disappointed that that author did not mention the large-scale use of Fiesler Storch light airplanes to ferry a German infantry battalion over to the islands - probably one of the more unique `airmobile operations' in history. The author details Hitler's decision in October 1941 to turn the islands into an `impregnable fortress' and estimates that 10-12% of all effort on the Atlantic Wall went into this one project. One particularly useful section is "Anatomy of an Impregnable Fortress," which has three maps that show all the major gun positions and bunkers on the islands. The core of the book is the 24-page section entitled "the principles of defense," which describes the coastal and air defenses, tunnel systems and armored forces available on the islands. Overall, the author provides a good, succinct technical description of the major fortifications on the islands.

In the 13-page section, "the living site," the author discusses the fortress builders, the occupiers and the occupiers. The author gets a bit off track here, devoting a bit too much attention to German abuse of forced laborers and the handful of Jewish residents on the island. Unfortunately, the author has much less to say about Organization Todt that planned the construction or the 319th Infantry Division that manned the fortifications. Basic facts, like the commander of the division (von Schmettow), the division's organization and dispositions on the islands, and the strength of Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine units on the islands just don't get the attention needed here. Simply listing the garrison strength in a lump total of 23-26,000 in 1944 just doesn't tell the reader very much. In failing to discuss the 319th dispositions on the islands or any specific plans for defense, it renders the maps of fortifications rather sterile. Although the author frequently compares these fortifications with similar ones in Normandy, it is clear that the circumstances were very different; in Normandy the defenders merely had to delay the Allies for 24-48 hours until the panzer reserves could deploy, but in the Channel islands there was little hope for reinforcements. Once the crust defense was broken, these defenses on the islands could not have held out for long.

This volume also suffers from overly limited discussion of logistic issues, indeed, the maps do not even depict airfields on the islands. There is virtually no discussion of German air-sea (or U-Boat) communication with the islands, or with efforts to stockpile supplies (he does discuss tunnel construction, but it sounds like few were completed or stocked). A fortress has to be built to withstand a protracted siege and it does not appear that the Germans made adequate provision in this regard. While the author discusses cannibalism among forced labor prisoners, he does not mention the serious food shortages after D-Day which seriously degraded the garrison. Indeed, the German garrison became so desperate for supplies that they mounted a bold raid on Granville in March 1945, which did achieve some success. Why does the author mention several small British commando raids on outlying islands, but not the Granville raid. The author also fails to mention offensive uses for the island, including German anti-shipping raids against channel coastal convoys.

The volume ends with the German surrender and does include a nice bibliography, but a noticeable lack of analysis about the value of these fortifications. Stephenson does suggest early on that the expenditure of so much effort on islands that had little or no military value was a mistake that benefited the Allies, but there wasn't much analysis behind that assertion. Actually, a case can be made that the islands did have military value because they were within 30-40 miles of Cherbourg and could have provided excellent forward fighter bases if seized prior to D-Day. This was in fact a fairly common method used to support big amphibious operations in the Pacific. While an island like Guernsey was heavily fortified, it was also very isolated and could have been reduced in a 3-5 day operation. The lives lost in the operation could be weighed against the lives saved on D-day through better air support and by providing radar beacons for paratroop transports going to the nearby Cotentin peninsula. The German decision to fortify these islands was not some crazy whim of Hitler's but a military appreciation that offshore staging bases like these offered a potential threat if left unguarded. Perhaps the effort on these islands was extravagant, but in light of actual figures it is hard to evaluate. What can be evaluated is Hitler did want the Allies to land on these islands and by fortifying them to the extent he did, he deterred invasion, meaning that they did accomplish their intended mission.

The best aspect of this book is its description of the actual physical fortifications on the Channel Islands. At this it does a superb job. It also provides a brief history of the occupation. From a strategic perspective, the author claims that the islands were not beneficial to the German because as they tied down valuable troops and resources. However, he ignores the fact that by keeping the islands out of allied hands, the Germans greatly decreased the allies capacity to threaten France south of Le Havre. This enabled the Germans to concentrate more of their resources along other, more likely allied points of invasion, along the Atlantic Wall. This alone seems to justify the troops and resources used by the Germans at the Channel Islands. Some may disagree with this but it is definitely a point that needs to be analyzed (pro or con) in any overview of the defenses there. This is the one main weakness of the book.

This book is one of the Fortress series, and it is classic Osprey; 64 pages packed with information, photos, and illustrations. There are a few other publications on this subject, but the less expensive ones are limited in coverage and the more detailed ones are very expensive. This book is not only inexpensive, but provides the reader with excellent coverage of the fortress islands.
Hitler was not satisfied with mere occupation and decreed that the Islands must be heavy fortified to stop any attempt at invading France using them as a springboard. Not that this would have been likely, for, as the author points out, they were a strategic dead-end and the pouring in of German resources was a significant diversion of assets that would have been better employed elsewhere.
The writing style of the book is very easy to understand, and the defences are covered in sufficient detail to satisfy anyone whose interest is general; without having every bunker and position depicted in detail, all the major installations on each island are described and illustrated. The graphic material includes photographs, plans, and cutaway plates as well as three maps showing Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney. These are of the usual Osprey standard, including some interesting colour plates that include the Mirus Battery and a cutaway of a Luftwaffe command bunker.
The author also briefly describes the history of the German occupation, which was a bleak period in the island's history despite the fact that the full force of Nazi barbarism was not unleashed.
From an historical perspective this book was great, with a plethora of information in the bibliography, including several excellent websites, concerning where to find further information.

This book looks at the Channel Islands, a small number of silands just off the north coast of France but historically belonging to the English. In 1940 the tiny islands became indefensible due to the evacuation of the British Army from the continent and the fall of France. The Channel Islands were partially evacuated by the British and then rapidly occupied by the Germans. Hitler for some reason became fascinated with the islands, declared that they would "belong to Germany from this time forward" and ordered that the Channel Islands be turned into an "impregnable fortress." This had to be one of Hitler's strangest military decisions as the strategic value of the islands was almost negligible. Yet, the tiny islands would be given perhaps 20% or so of the overall resources committed to the construction of the Atlantic Wall, even though their value to the defenses would have been minimal.

Employing concrete and steel and armed mostly with captured weapons from the 1940 campaigns the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney were turned into defensive outposts which could only have been captured at great cost to the Allies. The defense zone included German Navy, Air Force and Army elements, including some of the small numbers of Army soldiers trained in the art of coast artillery, normally a navy responsibility. An easy read and well-illustrated with photos, maps and artwork.

There has been a limited amount of information available about the only part of England to be invaded and occupied. Osprey Publishing has once again managed to put together a brief, but through overview of the German occupation of the Channel Islands. The photographs and colored drawings give you a good idea of the effort put into fortification of the Channel Islands, including a number of fortifications only found on the Channel Islands.