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10.5cm Coastal Defence Gun Casemate Bunker |
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| This casemate is one of 21 'Fortress' bunkers built in Guernsey to house 10.5cm K331(f) guns. Four were installed here at Fort Hommet and make up part of 'Stutzpunkt Rotenstein'. Construction work was carried out by the Organisation Todt commencing around April 1943 by which time the railway from St. Peter Port had reached Vazon. This carried the vast quantity of materials required to build the fortifications. Once the initial site excavation had been completed the concrete base was poured. The steel reinforcing and wooded shuttering was then erected. The concrete was then poured continuously. Once cured, the shuttering was removed and the bunker fitted out. Each bunker would have only taken a matter of weeks to complete. | ||||
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Following Liberation these bunkers were stripped of furniture and small fittings by both the British Army and Islanders. In the late 1940's all metal fittings including the gun and doors were removed for scrap, the bunkers then buried and landscaped over. This site was surveyed and acquired for restoration by the Occupation Museum, internally if was found to be dry and structurally sound but stripped of every fitting. Excavation of the entrance started in April 1993. By the beginning of 1994 the gun had been replaced, doors re-hung and the ceiling and walls repainted. The rest of the year was devoted to replacing all the internal fittings back to how it appeared in 1943. The casemate finally opened to the public on 6th May 1995 |
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The gun is a French manufactured Schnieder field gun made at the Le Creusot works in 1916. After the fall of France in 1940 a large stock of these guns and ammunition fell into German hands. As they were surplus to the needs of the Field Artillery, many were stripped from there wheeled carriages and converted for mounting in these casemate positions. | |||
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| This casemate would have been manned by a crew of four or five men and one NCO and when off duty would have used this crew standby room. Nine bunks are provided to allow for extra crew under prolonged action. The air ventilation pump and heating stove is in this room. |  |
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This storeroom contained the brass shell cases. The area is now used to display some of the larger items of equipment used on the headland. | |||
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| This shell store would have contained 400-500 rounds on racks. This are has been used to display types of ammunition used by the gun as well as other equipment used on the headland. |  |
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Bunks and telephone system in crew standby room. | |||
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Open April - October, Tuesdays & Saturdays 2pm - 5pm November, February & March, Saturdays 2 - 4pm |
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