Image above by Fred Wynn
Originally totally buried, Festung Guernsey excavated the M19 bunker in 2010. A large amount of backfill was removed from the site, and the area graded down to form a gentle slope to the entrance of the bunker. Ongoing restoration work continued, and now what then followed was a major reconstruction of the damaged turret room and turret. Simultaneously, the recovered example of the weapon from Fort Sausmarez was being restored. With the weapon now reinstalled, it is the only place on the Atlantic Wall where you can see an original M19 refitted into a type 633 bunker.
The U.WaKoFest, or Channel Island Type 514 personnel bunker provided bomb proof shelter and accommodation for those troops housing weapons around the perimeter of the defences such as machines guns. Fully restored back to its original condition over a period of many years. The bunker contains some interesting murals that have been carefully preserved.
This Type 606 was designed to house a searchlight, generator and provide accommodation for its crew. The rear of the garage area contained a shaft running up to the roof which initial would appear to be an escape shaft. However, archive sources show a type of periscope mirror arrangement that allowed the searchlight to operate from within the safety of the bunker. Otherwise, it would need to be wheeled out to its operating position.
Read more about this bunker here.
A good example of the early, more rudimentary defences. The Pak 38 anti-tank gun was widely used in the early coastal defences, but became obsolete once the fortress standard 10.5 and 4.7 casemates had been built.
This structure was extremely basic. One small room for the crew, with adjacent ammunition room, accessed via steps down from the emplacement. It is believed that once the Pak 38 was no longer required a smaller twin machine gun may have been sited here and the emplacement reduced in size with sand bags or earth revetments. Part of the emplacement wall has subsequently been removed to improve the field of fire down onto the access road.
Adjacent to the Pak shelter and emplacement, this simple concrete garage with armoured steel roof was designed to protect the Pak when it wasn’t being operated. The 100mm thick roof was created using the Schartenplatte 7P7, originally designed to be fitted vertically in the front of a machine gun bunker. The ends could be closed with timber doors. At some point later in the occupation, an internal wall was built across the centre, and an embrasure created at the eastern end facing south.
The fortress standard Type 632 bunker with four loopholes was designed to house 2 x machine guns. Currently some rooms are accessible, and used to store armoured turret parts salvaged from other sites. As with the other fortress standard bunkers, there was crew accommodation, ammunition storage and ventilation equipment. The area surrounding the position of the steel turret has suffered extensive damage through the use of explosives to remove the turret during the post war scrap drive. Reconstruction of this bunker is part of our long-term plans for the headland.
This water storage bunker is one of three built on the headland. This one was built in 1943 with a capacity of 9.5 cubic metres and intended to be built to fortress standard. Its purpose was to provide a supply of freshwater for the personnel stationed at Fort Hommet in the event the headland was cut-off, and also to generate sufficient water pressure for the water pipe network being located at the highest point. After initial excavation in March 2025 it was established that there is no similar structure in the Channel Islands.
