Festung Alderney - The German Defences of Alderney

Alderney, third largest of the Channel Islands and lying seven miles from the coast of Normandy. possesses one of the finest concentrations of 19th and 20th century military architecture in north-weat Europe.

During the Second World War, the Germans invaded the Channel Islands after the fall of France in 1940. The occupation, and subsequent fortification of the Islands, has always been considered to be due to Adolf Hitler's personal obsession with the possession of British soil. Eventually they were to become one of the most hevily fortified sections of the Atlantic Wall and by 1944, with an Allied invasion imminent, were designated as one of  twelve "Fortresses" that were to be defended to the last man.

Atlhough far smaller that either Jersey or Guernsey, Alderney was fortified to a greater degree, for its size, than the other islands, having thirteen infantry strongpoints and twelve resistance nests, five coastal batteries, twenty-two anti-aircraft batteries, three defence lines and over 30.000 landmines.

Using aerial photo-reconnissance photographs taken by 452 Squadron within days of the German surrender in May 1945, the author has produced a series of line drawings of every battery or infantry strongpoint in Alderney. Each German position is described noting the surviving emplacements. Also included are maps of the German minefields, tunnels and underground telephone system together with plans of all fortress standard bunkers in the island and their distribution.

The book is written in English entirely and profusely illustrated with 10 maps, more than 50 plans and 250 photographs of which 90 are in colour.