La Valette Underground Military Museum


Useful Information

Location: La Valette, Guernsey GY1 1AX.
Guernsey, St. Peter Port, opposite the Bathing Pool, southern end of the harbour front. Town Map N12.
(49.448214, -2.531270)
Open: MAR to 15-NOV daily 10-17.
[2023]
Fee: Adults GBP 7.50, Children (3-18) GBP 3.50, Seniors GBP 6.
[2023]
Classification: SubterraneaWorld War II Bunker TopicAtlantikwall
Light: LightIncandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours: self guided
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: yes
Bibliography:
Address: La Valette Underground Military Museum, La Valette, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 1AX, Tel: +44-1481-722300.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

MAY-1944 Freya radar site nearby bombed by the RAF.
1987 conversion of the tunnels into a Museum started.
AUG-1988 opened to the public.

Description

The Underground Military Museum is located in an E shaped system of tunnels at the western end of the harbour front at St. Peter Port. Originally used as a fuel storage facility for German U-Boote (submarines), one of the three parallel tunnels still contains the original fuel tank, the others were transformed into a museum. The displays are military items from World War II like uniforms, helmets, and rifles. The main topic of the museum is life under German Occupation (1940-45) during World War II. But there are also some exhibits on the military history of Guernsey before World War II.

Only a fe hundred meters away was the Freya radar site at Fort George. It was particularly significant, as it covered the area to the west of the Normandy beaches. In late May 1944, in the build-up to the invasion of France, the Allied Forces planned to destroy all long range radar installations. Two attacks by the RAF to take out the radar resulted in multiple casualties and 8 Allied aircraft lost. The Channel Islands were an impressive fortification, they had "more guns than 600 miles of the Normandy Coast", and so the Allied Forces decided to bypass the Islands in the D-Day Landings.