Guernsey and the German army

Abstract

Support for the fortification of Guernsey was provided by five geologists of the German Army’s military geological service, each with the status (equivalent to major or captain) of a Technischer Kriegsverwaltungsrat (TKVR): a uniformed ‘Technical War Administration Officer’. A report with military engineering geology and water-supply maps for the island was compiled in November 1941 by TKVR Walter Wetzel, a former professor leading a military geology team (Wehrgeologenstelle 9) based in Paris. Site investigations were subsequently initiated by visits from TKVR Friedrich Röhrer, a Heidelberg professor serving in Paris as the geologist with the Army’s Inspectorate of Land Fortification (West) who generated three reports, and by his assistant TKVR Scherer, who generated another two. From May to December 1942 a military geology team (Wehrgeologenstelle 4) was based on Guernsey, led by TKVRs Bernhard Beschoren and Dieter Hoenes and including Lance-Corporal Dr. Gottfried Reidl. Its geotechnical output included at least seven major reports and seven thematic maps for the island: its first geological maps at 1:25,000, plus innovative maps for military geology, raw materials, and groundwater—documents that facilitate a detailed case history illustrating the work of one of the 32 Wehrgeologenstellen then established within the German Army. Additionally, Lance-Corporal Dr. Rolf Thienhaus contributed geological expertise to tunnelling projects (whilst serving within a Mining Engineer Company), and a map of coastal features was generated in 1943 for the Navy’s headquarters (in Paris), apparently by Wehrgeologenstelle 6.