‘Hitler’s Island Fortress’ (Jersey) | Series 18 Episode 4 | Time Team 

Regarding Jersey civilians sharing food with German soldiers: Some of it may have been generosity. But there was also a pragmatism to it as well. The civilians had the food. The Germans had the guns. When things get to the point of starvation, one group having food and the other having guns is not a good mix. So what was needed was to have a German protector/advocate, who would tell his buddies "leave this family alone, they're decent." A cup of tea and a couple bites of chocolate is a small price to pay for that sort of protection. And by the time the aide packages started arriving, Jersey civilians had spent years negotiating their way around Germans with guns, playing a delicate balance between laying low, what resistance they might manage, and flattery/bribery/manipulation, in order to survive. This was one more step in that dance.

Time Team. You got me through a year of chemo therapy with your show. In the hospital and on my occasional trips home I watched you. Thanks a million for such an informative and entertaining program. I am a survivor.

That funnel thingy reminds me of the kind of field urinal we used in the Canadian Army. You dig a trench, fill it with gravel, stick that funnel into it and bury the lot with the funnel sticking out. Congrats, you found the karzy.

I remember seeing this episode while living in Canada and loved the fact that Tony Robinson referred to himself as an ‘Amateur archaeologist’ and requested this dig.

"If this was Roman we'd probably say it was part of a ritual" - LOL

i discovered this series about a week ago (i am from germany).. and i really really love it. i have been binge watching the episodes because they are just awesome. not only the archaeology but the people too. i would have loved to have something similar in german while growing up.

There's a famous poem about the anti-aircraft defences. It's called The German Guns. "Boom, boom, boom, boom, Boom, boom, boom" and I can't remember the rest.

I would totally support you if Tony comes back....yes, this is a Bribe :))) He is animated, has a great sense of humor, super likable, makes the 'dig' incredibly fun & doesn't 'whisper' or talk quietly like the new announcer (sorry, but I like what I like). I realize that this is Tony's decision not to return to Time Team, but he has earned his place there & we love him to bits xx

A lot of lumps and bombs 😀 . I love Time Team. Still need to watch some Episodes. R.I.P Mick

I love the WWI/II centered digs that Time Team do, just as fascinating as the episodes centered on ancient times.

I’ve read a few things, and watched a few videos about the Occupation of the island by the Nazis. An it seems that on a whole is the Nazis didn’t really Nazi like they did everywhere else. That the Nazis didn’t pillage the island, and even towards the end of the war when Churchill wouldn’t send food to the island because he didn’t want the Germans to get it. So everyone on the island had to do Beau Coup farming, and even though the Nazis was running out of food too they never once stole food, and made sure the island population was the first to eat. The Germans were happy to be on the island instead of on the frontlines fighting. That’s for the British people on the island and not so much for the slave labor forces that was treated as if they’re just subhuman

I would love to see Tony back with the rest of the original crew. They were fantastic!!

I'm a big fan of time team regardless of the time period they're investigating. BRING BACK TONY AND PHIL

As a child in Jersey, I explored all of these old bunkers. It was a great time to be young. I found a few interesting relics in these bunkers too, some I still have.

Wow, this is one I’ve never seen before! I’ve been searching them out online, so this is first new one of these reissued ones on RU-vid. It’s amazing and terrifying. Thank you for all the work to make these viewable again, Time Team!

My family comes from Guernsey and to hear tell of it, my great grandfather, a then boy at the time, was so traumatised by the occupation that he could never bring himself to trust a German again, regardless of whether they were even born at the time.

Late to the party, (as usual). Sorry. But I am pretty certain that I know wot that un-identified "funnel" is: I strongly suggest that "funnel" is actually a collar for a canvas tent/enclosure where a stove pipe/chimney would have exited. These collars are still in use today, and they are regluated/manditory. They allow a screaming hot stove pipe to pass through fabric without setting that fabric alight. It's an insulator in fact. So, the "funnel" would be sewn and riveted into the side or roof of the enclosure with the thin tapered bit pointing up and out. The stove pipe would then be fed up through the taper and would teminate outside of the taper, thus preventing a fire catastrophy.

Time Team, you are getting me thru a very difficult time. Thank you with all my heart.

I like the personal touch from tony ( baldrick)

I'm so glad the team took the dive ... the amount of history is amazing

Stewart and John are the secret weapon of Time Team

I think that cone looking thing was connected to something that was for funneling a liquid like gas or petrol. Maybe even fuel for the aircrafts. I say that because I have seen devices like this here in Texas on land used by the US Air Force. You have to remember that many Texans are desendants of Germans who came to Texas in the 1800s due to famine. We have a LOT of concrete installations built very much so how Hitlers people did during ww2. It is a true testament to German engineering, I must say.

Andrew Robertshaw is exceptional to watch in regards to recovery of WWI & WWII retrievals and relocations of personnel.

I love prehistory, and really didn't think I'd enjoy this episode, but it was cracking! I'm so grateful for these uploads

I'm off to Jersey for a holiday in August, I wonder if I can go and see where these digs took place

First aired 27th February 2011 - UK

The most fascinating Time Team to date . . .

I am only 5 minutes in, and this is my favorite episode, ever. They are carefully instructed about being atop a heavily mined landscape. Folks seem reluctant to plunge into the soil!

Regarding Jersey for un-exploded bombs, 88mm flax, live grenades and worst dangers friend & foe and it seems to me my dad was a Royal Marine Commando fighting in New Borneo. Figure that myself folks & dames with Americans & Brits 😊 👍.

You should have done a little bit of history on the 88. Like you do on Roman weapons or Saxon weapons. Thing was a beast of a weapon and probably the most important artillery of ww2.

Brilliant episode.

Some may believe they're exaggerating the danger such old shells pose. A good example of seriousness is 1930's Tennessee, U.S.A. when a forest fire began detonating artillery shells laying dormant since the American Civil War of 1860's, that's 70 years! If only they'd build everything else to last as long as our weapons.

Glad they finally managed to upload the right episode! :D

Thanks so much for this episode. Jersey is an island I know well and love.

Fascinating.

"These enclosures with 88 mm guns were the cannons!" ...Yes. Yes, they were.

Interesting to see the old rusted tin of New Zealand Anchor butter on an English Channel Island.

Very interesting, thank you.

Fascinating

Thank you.

Somehow I missed seeing this one. I followed the link from your recent post on the possible UXB.

As someone who was in the military, I find their approach to the UXOs a bit mystifying. The round they thought might be live, there were people standing less than *ten feet away* from a potential hazard, yet the old guy was more worried about an empty, flattened case with no propellant or projectile, because the primer *might* still be live. Very backwards thinking, IMHO. I don't think they should have been handling any UXOs unless it was done by a professional. If that dude was supposed to be the professional, I'm truly relieved that nobody was injured.

This is one of my favourite episodes. 👍👍👍

The cone shaped object you found is the base mount for the 20mm anti aircraft gun.

My man Tony is really a great storyteller.

What a brilliant episode,

So good to see Phil!

'here is a potentially live round' all still stood around filming it while hes digging git out.....very safe.

Intresting title.

wow, a video that we haven't already seen 3 times on this channel... oh, wait,never mind.

I think that mystery bit of metal might be a marking cone. I’ve seen them on small airfields in Alberta. Usually they are painted orange and can be pinned down into the ground. I could be wrong, but it has the right size and shape.

Holy cow !!! I found it a gold video here thanks I'm gonna susbcribe thanks a lot very interesting

@17:30 it's not a case from a razor, it contained decontamination tablets. Just the top lid is missing.

Wondered whether those supposed 'fox-holes' were really just latrines, so the soldiers didn't have to leave the vicinity of the flak-gun!?!

This was so interesting. My dad would have loved it.

Hi Tony, ask Ben about the time the bomb squad came to our school. If he doesn't play ball hit me back for more details. 😄🇬🇧

Thanks!

I learned something new

It has been said in the past that a lot of the small arms found on the island was just thrown over the cliffs into the sea. some of the weapons was trapped in the cliffs.

7:15 classic tony... the guy just says it wont explode and then tony rocks up and says it could blow up in their faces!

16:30 the German 88mm FlaK stood on a cruciform, not a "tripod". 2 sides could fold up and the ends could be attached to wheels for transport. There was also the 105mm version as well. The design was actually by Bofors of Sweden, who let Germany build them under licence. The British had a similar deal, but instead made the 40mm 2 Pounder Bofors, which was semi automatic. It was the Germans that scaled them up to make the fearsome 88mm, but more so because of when Rommel in France had to use them on a flat trajectory against British Matilda Tanks out of desperation, because Matilda tanks had very thick cast armour that the German AT guns at the time, the 37mm had no answer to, the same for the 50mm PaK 38. It turned out to be an extremely efficient tank killer when used "wrong" like that on a flat trajectory against Tanks, especially with dedicated AP shot. Pretty soon the 88 was being mounted in tanks. 31:24 I don't really know what kind of terrible pop history this is, but I'm only an undergraduate and know that the Organisation Todt used a lot of slave French workers and that the French were not untermenschen. Turns out that in the Channel Islands a bunch of Spanish Republican slave labourers were used, handed over by Vichy as a "present" to Todt's Labour Corps, as well as Dutch Dissidents, apart from the Ukrainians and Russians, who were the only ones classed as untermenschen, that was just a terrible conflation on her part. Some of them stayed until 1945 and afterwards some of the Dutch and Spanish slave labourers were allowed to remain and marry girls there. In Nordhausen, average lifespan of slave labourers from all nations was 3 months. With Todt really it had nothing to do with untermenschen, even though that was the reason given to treat prisoners of the Soviet Union even worse, but really Todt didn't care, it was just very cynical, and not just ideology. I don't think you'd have to editorially go that much out of your way to explain Todt how it actually was. The way the ideology worked was anywhere they occupied, if you were a member of the equivalent of the Labour Party, in a Union, communist, you were going to Organisation Todt, on a good day. On a bad day it might be a punishment battalion or just death. Most people take being a member of the Labour Party for granted in this country. So did they. Thanks for reminding me why I used to avoid these, as much as I love TR. www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Forced_workers

Obviously the occupation of the Channel Islands was a horrendous ordeal for the residents, and unlike Malta their story didn’t and does not get enough recognition, without knowing it the islander’s helped keep Hitler from the door of mainland Great Britain. Hitler, in his madness, fortified the islands to make them impregnable (where have we heard that before) from invasion, the islands were more fortified than any other Nazi held territory, including the infamous Atlantic Wall including Normandy, the amount of materials, labourers and troops sent there to build the defences, man them and be ready to repel and invasion force was so great that it diverted crucial amounts of men and materials from the areas that needed them most, and thank goodness that Hitler did that, otherwise the defences around the Normandy invasion beaches could have been far stronger and numerous, and that could have spelled disaster for the allied forces and maybe even effected the outcome of WWII.

It would be interesting to see if there are any of the German soldiers who were based there still alive

I had never heard about these island occupations. Sounds like a movie or TV series waiting to happen.

used enjoy this show when I was a kid.

Great show wish you guys would do more to understand ww2 in Europe.

Thanks.

When will we learn from history😏

Well these uploads certainly slowed to a screeching halt.

Thanks

I was trying to figure out when this episode was shot and if my guess is right its sometime around 2010 or 2011 the quality is so much batter.

The round large tubes thing. Could it have been a type of siren or warning part of a siren

“If this was roman, we'd probably say it's ritual” is great 😂😂😂😂 big up tony the man himself

Excelente vídeo gostei

love it ty

I miss mick

That mystery cone reminds me of a still.

Potential live ammunition kind of ratchets up the suspense of the episode, doesn't it?

at 03.45 into this, it mentions the last succesful invasion before th eGermans as that of 1066. the Dutch in 1688 ? the Glorious Revolution.

Anyone know the episode where I believe geophys says “you won’t find stone there” and Phil has a good time making fun of them when he does find stone?

My dad lived in Saint Helier, and managed to find a farming job in the north of the island andmy dad was able to stay on Jersey during the whole wr, to support his family mum dad and younger siblings The farm horse and othether were taken by the Germans.

I bet the squashed cone was for making liquor .

The 20mm you found looked like just the cartridge case - I.e. it had been fired and was therefore EMPTY, and not dangerous.

Odd there wouldn’t be archive records of where the guns were taken when salvaged from their emplacements???

i wonder .. at the time that episode was filmed they still yould have asked around germany for any surviving german soldiers and invite them so they could have told them what and where stuff was

Don't think I've ever seen this episode.

at 42:24 is my mate Graham Delano who owns the Gun Store in Colomberie.

This episode has a heavy tone in these days. "One megalomaniac individual" in particular...

The gun barrels were dumped over the cliffs at Grosnez. They're still there.

Surely these gun emplacements would have been obliterated by a naval bombardment, which would have preceded any invasion, I feel they probably only held off to spare the local populace.

I never knew about this. Being American we were never taught that Germany was that close to Britain. Like us not knowing about German submarines being a long the coast of New Jersey here in the States until one was found. My dad always said that he thought his ship got one but no debris came up so it couldn't be confirmed. Another ship also had drops along that section of coast as well.

"Nicht werfen" LOL. Was that really on the box?

Hate to say it, but could the metal funnel object be a urinal? 😬

easy dig

27:25 lol

🙏

Much has I love time team the adverts are very annoying.

Is it weird, I kinda love the more modern stuff 😅🤭 I guess it’s probably because I can easily tell what it is?

finally, they've started using more metal detectorist on site!

Hi but I don't mean to say this but could you please put more days on time team from Troy, 7 year's old 💚🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅