Guernsey WW2 German fortress gets protected building status

The Batterie Strassburg includes a command post, gun positions, bunkers and machine gun posts

A fortress that was part of Hitler's plan to stop an Allied invasion of mainland Europe has been given protected building status.

Batterie Strassburg at Jerbourg in Guernsey was built by slave labour during World War Two.

It is one of the last surviving parts of Hitler's Atlantic Wall, a network of defences from Norway to Spain.

Guernsey's Development and Planning Authority (DPA) has given it Grade A protection amid fears for its future.

It is one of the last surviving parts of Hitler's Atlantic Wall, a network of defences from Norway to Spain

Occupation of the Channel Islands

• Only British soil to be occupied during World War Two

• After the German offensive through France and the Dunkirk evacuation the British government decided the islands were not strategically important and left them undefended

• This was not communicated to the Germans who bombed Guernsey's St Peter Port Harbour and targets in Jersey, killing more than 40 people

• German troops landed in Guernsey by plane on 30 June 1940 - the start of five years of occupation

• The islands were turned into an "impregnable fortress" on the express orders of Adolf Hitler

• A fifth of all the defence works in the Atlantic Wall - a defensive line stretching from the Baltic to the Spanish Frontier - were built on the islands

Only protected buildings which are considered to have an "outstanding special interest" are eligible to be given this grading.

Batterie Strassburg includes a command post, gun positions, bunkers and machine gun posts.

DPA President Victoria Oliver said: "This historic structure is a significant part of our island's heritage and culture.

"We have to protect it from being destroyed by developers or vandals."

She praised Festung Guernsey, a group of volunteers who study and restore German fortifications on the island, for their help in surveying and researching the site.

Paul Bourgaize, from the group, told BBC Radio Guernsey: "The Occupation had a huge impact on Guernsey's way of life, so it's a period of history that we should really try and educate people about.

"Alderney and Jersey had similar size gun batteries forming an impenetrable corridor.

"We really need to be careful that we don't allow this era of our history to disappear."

The fortress has been called a significant part of Guernsey's heritage and culture.

Follow BBC Guernsey on Twitter and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].