Fort Hommet
| Fort Hommet | ||
|---|---|---|
 Fort Hommet with Victorian and German additions |
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| Alternative name (s): | Fort Houmet | |
| Creation time : | 1804 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Construction: | Ashlar | |
| Place: | Castel | |
| Geographical location | 49 ° 28 '27 " N , 2 ° 36' 43.1" W | |
| Height: | 8 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Fort Hommet , also Fort Houmet , is the ruin of a coastal fort on a headland in the municipality of Castel on the Channel Island of Guernsey . It was built on a site that had been fortifications since 1680 and consists of a Martello tower , which was built in 1804, additions from the Victorian era, and bunkers and casemates that the Germans built during World War II .
Early fortifications
In 1680 there is a fortress at this point with a cannon. After the French attempt to invade Jersey in 1781, the island's fortifications were expanded; the Guernsey Loophole Towers emerged , z. B. the nearby one in Vazon . In the course of 1795, the fortifications on the headland were expanded, with additional cannon stands being installed. In 1805 six cannons are recorded at this point. The connecting route between Saint Peter Port and the fort was brought up to military standards around 1808 with money from a land sale in the requisitioned Braye du Valle .
Martello tower
The Martello Tower was built in 1804, after the start of the coalition wars , under Lieutenant Govenor General Sir John Doyle . Doyle simply had a local mason named Gray build the tower with two others and referred to this as "fieldwork," bypassing the Army's Ordnance Corps .
The tower of Fort Hommet, like the other two Martello towers on Guernsey, Fort Gray and Fort Saumarez , was intended as donjons for the gun batteries in which they stand. The Martello Towers in Guernsey are all smaller than those in Great Britain ; those of Fort Saumarez and Fort Hommet are smaller than that of Fort Gray. Each of the towers had a 24-pound carronade on the roof in support of the battery. Fort Saumarez and Fort Hommet have external stairs up to the 2nd floor.
Victorian period
In Victorian times the fort received additional batteries and barracks. In 1852 some of the 24-pounder cannons in the batteries were replaced by 68-pounders and 8 " grenade launchers .
The largest additions, however, took place during the Second World War, when the Germans occupied the Channel Islands. The Germans recognized the defensive benefit of the position and fortified it further to the "Rotenstein base".
Rotenstein base
The entire headland was designated as a base.
West of the Martello Tower is a bunker with a steel dome with many loopholes . The Martello tower itself contained two bunkers with searchlights of 60 cm and 150 cm in diameter and accommodation for the operating crews. To the north lie two casemates with 10.5-centimeter K331 (f) guns . Two casemates of the same type face south over Vazon Beach , one of which is now open to the public as a museum. A “Tobruk” trench (reinforced profile) and a casemate for a 4.7-centimeter anti-tank gun 36 (t) completed the defenses towards the beach. In the middle of the headland is an R633 bunker that contained a 5-centimeter M19 machine grenade launcher . A reinforced field news booth, a fortress-like shelter, a minefield, field positions with trenches and machine gun trenches with coaxial, rotatably mounted heavy machine guns 37 (t) , flamethrowers and barbed wire barriers made the defenses of the base complete.
Minefield No. 27 with 417 S mines , 464 plate mines and 624 British booty mines protected the headland.
After the war
After the liberation of Guernsey in 1945 , the British Army and the islanders razed the fortifications. At the end of the 1940s, all metal parts, such as cannons and explosion protection doors, were scrapped. Many of the bunkers, including the cannon casemates at Fort Hommet, were filled in with earth to restore the appearance of the coastal landscape as it was before the war.
Recently, the States of Guernsey had parts of the fort restored, particularly the four-inch coastal defense gun casemate bunker. This is now open to the public, even if only at certain times. The bunker of the M19 machine grenade launcher is currently being renovated.
Monument protection
The entire Fort Hommet and the associated facilities with the entire German fortifications on the headland were designated on November 2, 1990 as a Protected Monument , reference number PM137.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paddy Dillon: Channel Island Walks . Cicerone Guide, 2011, ISBN 978-1-85284-288-8 , p. 89.
- ↑ Cont. Guernsey Museums, accessed April 9, 2018 .
- ^ Richard Strappini: St Martin, Guernsey, Channel Islands, a parish history from 1204 . 2004, p. 115.
- ↑ The towers of Fort Hommet and Fort Saumarez have a diameter of 10.2 meters and are 5.1 meters high; Fort Gray's is 10.8 meters in diameter and 7.8 meters high.
- ^ William H. Clements: Towers of Strength: Martello Towers Worldwide . Pen & Sword, London 1998, p. 169.
- ^ William H. Clements: Towers of Strength: Martello Towers Worldwide . Pen & Sword, London 1998, p. 87.
- ^ William H. Clements: Towers of Strength: Martello Towers Worldwide . Pen & Sword, London 1998.
- ^ A b Charles Stephenson: The Channel Islands 1941-45: Hitler's Impregnable Fortress . Osprey Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-84176-921-5 , p. 28.
- ^ Ernie Gavey: German Fortifications of Guernsey . Guernsey Armories. ISBN 978-0-9531631-0-6 , pp. 28-30.
- ^ Henry Beckingham: Achtung Minen Guernsey: The History of the German Minefields on Guernsey 1940-45 - Told by the Bomb-disposal Officer Who Supervised Their Removal . Woodfield Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-903953-87-1 , p. 27.
- ^ Protected Tree, Building and Monuments: PM137. States Of Guernsey, Retrieved April 9, 2018 .
