Hohlgangsanlage 1 - History 1941-present Day

History 1941-present Day

Tunnel construction began in 1941, shortly before Hitler's October 1941 decree that the islands be defended. The tunnels were constructed at strategic points around the island. Most of the tunnels were for shelter or storage, but some were used as part of and to link fortifications in strong points (such as at Corbière) and were part of casemates. The tunnels were constructed by the Festungsbaubattalione (fortress construction battalions), 4/Gesteinbohr Btl. 77 (specialist mining battalions), the RAD (state labour for 17-18 year olds) and the Organisation Todt. In 1941 Fritz Todt came to inspect the progress of the fortifications. The Germans used a variety of labour sources, most being forced. After Todt's death Albert Speer drastically reduced the resources available for the construction of tunnels on the island. During 1944 there was a shortage of raw materials, so effort was diverted to finish only the most complete tunnels. On May 9, 1945, construction stopped with the liberation of Jersey.

Immediately after the war, the British used the tunnels: soon after the Liberation of the Channel Islands, some military equipment was moved and stored in the tunnels. For example, Ho1 stored weapons, Ho2 stored small equipment such as helmets, gas masks, fuel, oxyacetylene and field kitchens. Ho13 stored Panzer Abteilung 213's Char B1 bis tanks.

During the 1950s scrap metal drive they were mostly cleared and sealed. Under Jersey law, a landowner owns everything beneath his land, down to the centre of the earth; so all the tunnels are privately owned. Hohlgangsanlage 8 is the only tunnel open to the public without special permission from the land owner; it was opened to the public in 1946 by the British army, then gifted to the States of Jersey by the War Department. After a lawsuit by the owners of the land above, it became privately owned but still operates as a museum today.

Post 1962 all the tunnels were thoroughly cleared of German equipment (apart from the museum, Ho1 due to roof collapse and Ho4 due to masses of barbed wire, roof collapses and unexploded ordnance) after a tragedy in which two souvenir hunters died of carbon monoxide poisoning in Ho2.

The tunnels are very unstable as, contrary to popular belief, most were bored not into solid granite, but loose shale. This is evident from the large number of roof collapses in the incomplete unlined tunnels. Most of the tunnels still survive today and are infrequently visited by organised parties (with permission).

There were plans to use some of the tunnels during the Swine flu pandemic; fortunately the pandemic never materialised.