Festung Guernsey

Festung Guernsey is a series of 10 books, which provide a unique perspective on the history of the  Channel Islands Occupation. It is a study of the fortifications built by the Germans, written by the occupiers themselves.

In 1944 Lieutenant Colonel Hubner was charged with making a record of the immense fortifications. His team was drawn from the Divisionskartenstelle, the Divisional Cartographic Section, with some fourteen non-commissioned officers working across: drawing, photography, cartography, calligraphy and printing. The result is a stunning and comprehensive picture of the fortifications and a complete guide to their workings.

Festung Guernsey consists of 22 chapters and was originally published as a limited edition of 135, two-volume sets, bound in leather. The original work, being made by hand was only printed on the right hand pages, this means that the publishers have been able to provide a full translation on the left hand page, while retaining the original layout.

This paperback version consists of 10 separate volumes, each consisting of 1,2 or 3 chapters and replicates the page numbering of the original edition. 

The titles published so far are:

• Part 1 chapters 3.1 & 3.2 
  St Martins Point to St Sampsons
  
• Part 2 chapters 3.3, 3.4 & 3.5
  Bordeaux Harbour -  Fort Doyle - Le Houmet
  
• Part 3 chapters 3.6, 4.1 & 4.2
  Grandes Rocques - Fort Richmond - Fort Sausmarez
  
• Part 4 - chapters 4.3, 4.4 & 4.5
  Rocquaine - Torteval - Corbiere
  
• Part 5 - chapters 4.6, 4.7 & 4.8
  Pointe de la Moye - Icart - Fort George

Available from:
Casemate

Alderney At War

On 23 June 1940, one week before the German invaders arrived and with just a few hours notice, the island of Alderney was evacuated of all but a handful of its 1,450 inhabitants. During its occupation Alderney became an island fortress and slave labour camp. Alderney at War offers the fullest account ever published of events on the island during the war, as well as an examination of the circumstances leading up to the evacuation and the subsequent fate of the refugees. Brian Bonnard draws on both German and British official records and on the fascinating eye-witness accounts of former Russian, French and islander prisoners, as well as personal diaries and photographs taken by members of the occupying forces. "Alderney at War" is a factual record of this remarkable episode in British history, which is sure to enthrall residents and visitors to the Channel Islands, but its comprehensive coverage of those grim years guarantees it a place alongside any Second World War History.

Table of contents (note - this is from a previous edition published by Sutton)

Prologue: Alderney at Peace, spring 1939

Alderney Evacuated

• War Begins
• The Evacuation
• Exile Begins
• The Alderney 'Domesday Book'
• Commerical Alderney

Interlude

• Before the Enemy Comes

Alderney Occupied

• Swastika over Alderney
• Silence Descends
• Slave Island
• Prisoner in Alderney
• The Slave Workers
• The Captors
• The Defences
• The Enemy under Attack
• Capitulation

Alderney Relieved

• The Devastation
• The Graves
• The Legacy
• The Islanders Return
• The Return Legislation
• The Settlers

Epilogue: Fifty Years On

Available from:
The History Press
Amazon.co.uk