Gun Battery Gneisenau

In 1942, the German army built a gun battery on the Channel Island of Guernsey, 600 metres from the coast. The battery comprised four 150 mm. guns set in open cast ring positions with a 360° field of fire and a range of almost 25 km. There was also a fire control tower set just back from the guns.

An identical battery was built at the same time in the western part of the island and was called Gun Battery Scharnhorst.

After the Allied landing in Normandy and subsequent conquest of the Cotentin Peninsula, it was decided to move the guns from these two batteries to the Channel Island of Jersey.  Here they were set up in two new batteries, Schlieffen and Haeseler, both of which were constructed in the open so no traces remain.

The relocations took place to reinforce the defence against the French coast, which had suddenly become enemy territory.

The Guernsey batteries were covered after the war and, together with the fire control tower, are today scattered amongst houses and fields.