The Fort Hommet 10.5 cm coastal defence gun casemate bunker is a fully restored gun

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...

that was part of ''Fortress Guernsey'' constructed by the forces of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

between 1940 and 1945.

Location

The bunker is in Castel on the northern side of Vazon Bay and is part of a complex of reinforced concrete fortifications built by the

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

on the site of

Fort Hommet Fort Hommet (or Fort Houmet) is a fortification on Vazon Bay headland (or '' houmet'' in Guernésiais) in Castel, Guernsey. It is built on the site of fortifications that date back to 1680, and consists of a Martello tower from 1804, later additio ...

. Fort Hommet is on a headland that lies north west of

St Peter Port St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. P ...

on the other side of the Island.

History

Fort Hommet was constructed on the Vazon Bay Headland in the late

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

era as part of the anti-French defences although there had been fortifications recorded here as far back as 1680. A

Martello tower Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up ...

was built on the site in 1804 with further batteries and a barracks being added later. On 20 October 1941, after the occupation of the Channel Islands, a directive ordered by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

proclaimed that the Islands would be turned into an impregnable reinforced concrete fortress as part of the

Atlantic Wall The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

, and the

Organisation Todt Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering projec ...

constructed fortifications round the coast. As part of these plans this restored casemate was one of 21 similar standard constructions of a design type ''Jäger'', built to house 10.5cm K331(f) guns. Four such casemates were installed at Fort Hommet and make up part of Stützpunkt (Strongpoint) Rotenstein. The ''Jäger'' casemate being a ''Series 600''

Regelbau The ''Regelbau'' (German for "standard design") were a series of standardised bunker designs built in large numbers by the Germans in the Siegfried Line (german: Westwall) and the Atlantic Wall as part of their defensive fortifications prior to ...

construction, named after the

officer who designed it.

1943 construction

The construction work began in April 1943 after the completion of a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

link between Vazon and St Peter Port which was the essential link needed for the transportation of the vast quantity of materials required to build the fortifications. The schedule of work consisted of initial site excavations followed by a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

base poured. Wooden shuttering would then be built and steel

reinforcing In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher freq ...

would be installed in the form of cradles. The concrete would then be poured in a continuous fashion giving each structure its immense strength. Once cured, the shuttering was removed and the bunker was fitted out. The process was carried out in a matter of weeks.

Design

Looking at the plan and starting at 12 o'clock you have the gun room, at 1 o'clock the spent shell room, 3 - crew room with escape shaft, 5- anti-gas lock with entrance defence, 6- entrance, 7 and 9 - two ammunition rooms, 10 o'clock the ventilation plant.

Liberation

After the

liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

of Guernsey in 1945, the fortifications were stripped of all their fixtures and fittings by both the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

and the islanders. By the late 1940s all the metal fittings including guns and blast doors were removed for their scrap value. Many of the bunkers including this

at Fort Hommet, were buried in an attempt to return the coastal landscape to its pre-war condition.

Restoration

Fortifications of World War II in Guernsey 1

As part of Guernsey's fiftieth

celebrations, and part of the project Fortress Guernsey, the States of Guernsey had all the 10.5 cm casemates on the island surveyed with a view to restoring the best example.Island Life, Guernsey Forts and Museums, Fortress Guernsey
/ref> This casemate was found to be dry and structurally sound although it was just a bare shell. The entrance to the casemate was excavated in April 1993 and restoration work began. The restoration was completed in 1995 and is open to the public on two afternoons from April to October.

References

External links

Guernsey Forts & Museums
- Visiting information on Hommet Casemate Bunker
Tourist information
{{coord, 49.47437, N, 2.61182, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Bunkers in Europe H Coastal artillery Museums in Guernsey Military and war museums in France World War II museums Military history of the Channel Islands during World War II 20th century in Guernsey