More than a museum: A visit to the UK's Jersey War Tunnels

A group of vehicle owners from the UK paid a visit to the Jersey War Tunnels. They had earlier taken part in the road run to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Liberation. Courtesy of John Norris

Lying in the Bay of St Malo, just 15 miles off the west coast of the Cotentin Peninsula in north France, the British island of Jersey is today a tranquil holiday destination for tourists from around the world. However, during WWII, together with the other islands which make up the archipelago of the Channel Islands, it was transformed into a formidable fortress on the orders of Hitler. The island measuring 45 square miles became ringed by coastal defenses and anti-tank walls guarding vital points. The interior of the island was also transformed with tunnels dug into hillsides and strongpoints, all designed to keep the island secure from attack.

In late 1941, work commenced on one particular tunnel with excavations into a hillside in the Parish of St Lawrence and known to the Germans as Hohlgangsanlage 8 (Ho8), which translates to mean “underground facility”. Construction of the tunnel was undertaken by the Festungsbaubataillone (Fortress Construction Battalions) 4/Gesteinsbohr-Kompanie Btl. 77, a specialist mining battalion of the Organisation Todt, using a work force of up to 5,000 including forced laborers from Poland, Russia and Republican Spain. The purpose of the project was at first as an underground storage base for supplies and repair facility. It was self-contained with a water supply, central heating, boiler room, generator for power and its own sewerage system.

The rear section of the tunnels on the other side of the hill is not normally open to the public. I was granted access to take the photograph. Courtesy of John Norris

In October 1943, German intelligence realized that the Allied invasion of France was likely to happen sometime in 1944, and the tunnel was converted into a hospital facility. Operating theaters were installed and wards laid out for 500 beds. When the Allies landed in Normandy the Germans evacuated some 600 wounded to Jersey for treatment. As the fighting in France moved inland, the Channel Islands became cut off and were bypassed by the Allies. When liberation finally came and British troops landed on Jersey, they discovered the Ho 8 complex, which included some 3,300 feet of completed tunnels with an overhead covering of 150 feet of rock. It was calculated that around 272,000 cubic feet of rock was removed in its construction,with 4,000 tons of concrete lining the tunnels, making it the largest construction site on Jersey.

As a young boy growing up on Jersey in the 1950s I remember visiting the tunnels, which were all but abandoned and had very little in the way of displays, except for some collapsed and uncompleted tunnels and a few rusty beds. Gradually the site was improved with the introduction of displays and exhibits, but it was always known as the “Underground Hospital”, a title it kept until the 1990s. Over 60 years later, the tunnels today are privately owned and operated as a highly successful commercial enterprise, including a change of name to the “Jersey War Tunnels”. All the hard work has turned it into one of the premier sites on the island, telling the story of the Occupation Years all in one location. The website with full details can be found at www.jerseywartunnels.com

Earlier this year, during my time on the island to join the celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of the Liberation I was invited to visit the War Tunnels to see how the site has developed. I found it to still be amazingly intact with many of the original features restored and still in place, including electrical wiring (but not in use) pipework for heating and water, drainage and anti-gas doors. These were things I had not appreciated in my younger days.

These visitors owners shared the amazement which the first British troops to see the tunnels must have had when seeing the site for the first time in 1945. Courtesy of John Norris

The original rooms within the complex have been laid out to present visitors with 12 permanent displays, each covering a different facet of the Occupation years beginning with the dilemma facing the islanders over whether to remain in Jersey or evacuate to the UK. As visitors continue through the exhibition they learn about the arrival of the first troops and the civilians’ reaction to finding themselves under a foreign enemy military authority. Other displays include daily life, food shortages and, finally, Liberation.

When purchasing their entry tickets, visitors are given replica identity cards as issued to civilians by the Germans. These are used to find details of the holder, who is listed on the display panels gets to discover their fate, making it a very inclusive experience, especially when the ticket holder finds they were one of those deported from the island.

Display cabinets containing examples of the lighter weapons used on the islands line the walls in one of the rooms, while in another area civilian life is presented as a walk-through display. An operating theater has also been recreated along with a small side ward for patients, as a reminder of the purpose of the tunnels.

A duration time of two hours is suggested for a visit to the tunnels, but visitors frequently become engrossed by the uniqueness of the site, and the fact all this happened to British subjects, means they often stay much longer.

One of the displays shows the military side of life. Bicycles were an easy option for transport on the small island. Courtesy of John Norris

Several of the incomplete tunnels are open to view, but cannot be entered. However, one section has been specially prepared to be part of the main tour. The roof of this section has been partially concreted and gives visitors an idea of the conditions underground. A full sensory experience has also been created here, which includes a collapse in the tunnel, complete with flickering lights, the sound of falling rock, and the rush of air filled with the smell and taste of dampness from the tunnels.

The defenses built on the Channel Islands formed part of Hitler’s much-vaunted “Atlantic Wall” and the garrison deployed, the 319 Infantry Division, was part of the XXXXIV Corps, commanded by General Eric Marcks, of the German 7th Army in Normandy under Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt. However, they were of no real strategic importance.

Historians interested in the military engineering of WWII visit locations on Jersey to see their construction with tour of Ho 8 being near the top of any list of places to visit on the island. Construction work stopped on the site in 1945, now replaced by the constant task of maintenance.

A recreated side ward used for patients. The overhead pipe is for air supply this deep into the tunnels. The wiring on the far wall is original, but not functioning. Courtesy of John Norris

It had been more than a few years since I had last visited the War Tunnels and the changes I saw all enhance the visitor experience. It should be remembered that the site was not complete when the war ended. What visitors see today when walking along the perfectly aligned tunnels with their level floors and inter-connecting doorways is hugely impressive. Had they been completed we can only guess at what they would have looked like.

The cost in human suffering in the building of just this one complex was terrible, and had work continued we can only image how much worse it would have been for those men. Today, the War Tunnels are much more than just a museum for tourists to visit, they are a lasting and continuing memorial to those forced to toil in their construction.

One of the incomplete tunnels showing the conditions which claimed the lives of at least 22 workers killed in a rock fall. Courtesy of John Norris

This is the long central tunnel, which has rooms branching off. The overhead pipework is original and the boards on the floor cover the original drainage system. Courtesy of John Norris

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