German Military Geology and Fortification of the British Channel Islands During World War II Advances in Military Geosciences
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Advances in Military Geosciences Edward P. F. Rose Editor German Military Geology and Fortification of the British Channel Islands During World War II Advances in Military Geosciences Series Editors Peter Doyle London South Bank University, London, United Kingdom Judy Ehlen Haytor, Devon, United Kingdom Francis Galgano G67 Mendel Science Center, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA Russell Harmon North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA Edward P. F. Rose Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, United Kingdom Advances in Military Geosciences is a book series which explores the interaction between current and historic military operations and earth science, including geography, geology, geophysics, soil science, ecology, hydrology, glaciology and atmospheric sciences. Military activities are almost always strongly integrated within a wide spectrum of geoscience. The decisive outcomes of land battles throughout history have been dictated in large part by the terrain and environmental setting. Modern military operations rely on a wide range of land-, air-, sea-, and space-borne intelligence and knowledge of dynamic terrain processes and conditions. In addition, the study of geo-based environmental science is critical to both the sustainable management of military reservations and installations, as well as the evaluation of how terrain and environmental conditions may impact military equipment and operations. Advances in Military Geosciences contains single and multi-authored books as well as edited volumes. Series Editors are currently accepting proposals, forms for which can be obtained from the publisher, Zachary Romano (Zachary.Romano@ springer.com). More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15030 Edward P. F. Rose Editor German Military Geology and Fortification of the British Channel Islands During World War II Editor Edward P. F. Rose Department of Earth Sciences Royal Holloway, University of London Egham, Surrey, UK ISSN 2522-8315 ISSN 2522-8323 (electronic) Advances in Military Geosciences ISBN 978-3-319-22767-2 ISBN 978-3-319-22768-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22768-9 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Preface Major advances in military geosciences were stimulated by the two world wars. That is especially true for German armed forces during World War II, who made military use of some 400 geologists: by far the largest number by any nation in wartime, ever. However, the lessons learnt are largely concealed in unpublished reports now dispersed in archives within the UK and the USA as well as Germany, and these reports are easily readable only by people with some understanding of the German language as well as geology. This book brings together information from the disparate sources to provide a case history in English. It illustrates the kind of geoscientists that German forces used as ‘military geologists’, and what could be expected of them in wartime. In doing so, it focuses on a unique region: the Channel Islands—the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by German forces during World War II. After the war and until the end of the twentieth century, it was generally believed that only two German geologists had served on the Islands, and that all their reports had been destroyed prior to the final surrender. However, this book demonstrates that this was a misconception: at least 14 men in total are now known to have been used on the Channel Islands to provide professional expertise as geologists within the German armed forces, and over 50 of their reports have survived within Germany, the USA, and the UK. For the UK and France, the war had begun on 3 September 1939. Germany had invaded Poland on 1 September, and when its Führer Adolf Hitler rejected an ulti- matum by the British and French governments demanding that the invading troops be withdrawn, they declared war. A British Expeditionary Force began moving to France on 4 September, to take up positions in the NE: a defensive line to guard against German attack through neutral Belgium. During the months of the ‘Phoney War’ that followed, the opposing sides built up their military might. The attack finally came on 10 May 1940. Despite spirited resistance, the British Expeditionary Force was driven back to the Channel coast and, between 27 May and 4 June, mostly evacuated from the vicinity of the port of Dunkirk. French and remaining British troops fought on until German victory in the Battle of France was conceded, and the French government was compelled to sign an armistice with that of Germany on 22 v vi Preface June. Deemed indefensible in the face of overwhelming German might, the Channel Islands, close to the Normandy coast of France, were demilitarized and partly evac- uated. German troops took possession of undefended Guernsey on 30th June, Jersey on 1st July, and Alderney on 2nd July 1940. As explained in Chap. 1 of this book, German forces had thereby seized an area of great scenic beauty, whose long history had led to the development of a unique island culture. Although English was the local language, the Islands were not legally part of England or indeed the UK. Originally part of the ancient Duchy of Normandy, then as now they had their own distinctive systems of government, issued their own Sterling banknotes, and issued their own postage stamps—governance, currency, and postage differing even between the major islands. German forces had to control both people and terrain of a distinctive character—and had access to a considerable legacy of fortifications constructed by the British in earlier centuries, intended to provide protection from potential invasion by the French. The rocks that are an obvious feature along most of the island coasts are similar to those that may be seen in nearby France, in Normandy and Brittany. They are mostly of great age, some formed at least 2000 million years Before Present, and many associated with a period of mountain building (the ‘Cadomian Orogeny’) that took place some 600 million years Before Present, for which evidence is found nowhere else in the British Isles. The British Geological Survey has therefore described the Channel Islands amongst its ‘classical areas of British geology’. Chapter 2 describes the long history of geological studies on the Islands that culmi- nated in a considerable pool of knowledge available to German forces when they began their period of occupation. Although the early months of occupation were relatively uneventful, the situa- tion changed from March 1941 onwards, as German aggressive might became focused against the Soviet Union. In June 1941, Hitler decreed that the Channel Island garrison was to be increased to a full division, to counter any potential attempt by the British to recapture the Islands whilst his main forces attacked eastwards. Moreover, he issued two programmes for the Islands’ fortification, one to last 14 months, the other 7 years. Later that year, on 20 October, he issued a directive that permanent fortification should be pressed forward energetically, to create an impregnable fortress. His intention was that the Islands would forever remain a fortified outpost of the German state, much as Gibraltar, a rocky peninsula jutting south from Spain at the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, then was for the UK. On 15 December, this was followed by a construction order for the Atlantic Wall: intermittent coastal fortifications that stretched from Norway in the north to the border of France with Spain in the south, to create a defensive western boundary for German-occupied Europe, including the Channel Islands. Chapter 3 describes how German armed forces were organized to apply their considerable engineering and geological skills to this formidable task. The geology of the Islands had an important bearing on fortification. Geological history had been a formative influence on Island surface features, and these in turn influenced the selection of many military construction sites. The best sources for quarrying construction materials, such as crushed stone for making concrete and Preface vii sand for cement, were determined by geologists. Geologists also advised on where best to site wells or infiltration galleries to make use of groundwater for secure water supplies—at a time of unusually low rainfall. German armed forces made operational use of far more military geologists during World War II than their British and American opponents worldwide. Indeed, although between 1941 and 1943 the German Army and the German Air Force in total made use of at least 14 uniformed geologists on the Channel Islands, during this period the British Army made use of only three military geologist staff officers in total, in all of its theatres of operation.