German Bunker in my Garden

1945 Island Kommandant

2009-06-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday's post certainly ignited a little flurry of interest! But as someone commented today on the Pistonheads thread, I can't really say more yet until I've got as many facts as I can. Plus those old notes aren't mine, so I'm I'm hesitant about divulging their content without permission. More to come on that soon.

Anyway, on Pistonheads there's a number of conspiracies developing. For those that are interested, what has been discussed today is who was in charge in Jersey at the end of the Second World War, as that might have a bearing on the German Authorities were up to just before liberation.

In fact, in February, 1945 (around the time that the large warehouse appeared at the southern end of my property) Admiral Friedrich Huffmeier took over command of the Channel Islands. A commentator at the time recorded "The new Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Islands in February 1945, Admiral Friedrich Huffmeier, was a fanatical Nazi. “We shall never surrender,” he told Jersey’s Bailiff Alexander Coutanche. “In the end you and I will be eating grass."

Huffmeier is also credited with arranging, in the spring of 1945, several daring raids on a nearby French sea port, which was at the time under the control of the allies, even though the end of the war was looming. Wikipedia entry.

This was all at a time when Jersey was one of the most heavily fortified places in Europe.

And what was Huffmeier's plan for the Island with Nazi surrender imminent in Europe? Well, apparently it was to defend it to the end!

The book "Britain under the Jackboot" records that:-

"A "very bad" German was Vice Admiral Friedrich Huffmeier, a fanatical Nazi, of gaunt appearance, whose long admiral's greatcoat gave the impression of a shroud. He carried a large, bulging briefcase which somehow added to the sense of macabre. Huffmeier was sent to the islands in the autumn of 1944, officially as Seekommandant, but unofficially as the eyes and ears of Berlin. In February 1945, he replaced yon Schmettow as commander in chief--von Schmettow having been ordered to return to Germany for being "soft" on the islanders. It is said there was a botched plot, apparently involving von Aufsess, to kill him.

A month before the war ended Huffmeier addressed a mass meeting in the Forum cinema, where he explained the importance of defending the Channel Islands. An attack by the British and Americans might at any moment put them in the front line. They must prepare for this hour spiritually and materially; the more desperate the times the more united they must be.

After the death of Hitler, Huffmeier berated the skipper of a Red Cross vessel, which was in port, for not flying his flag at half-mast. Later that day an Allied ship appeared and signalled proposals for surrender. He replied: "Ihr Angeboot ist uberflussig" ("Your request is superfluous", or colloquially, "Get lost"). Huffmeier apparently believed that the islands--being "British"--could be used in bargaining to gain better terms for a defeated Germany.

On 8th May, as Churchill formally announced the surrender of the rest of Germany, a similar demand was put to Huffmeier. His representative, a nervous young naval officer, Armin Zimmerman (who later held senior rank in NATO), kept the rendezvous with the ships HMS Bulldog and HMS Beagle. Taking a deep breath, he told the British he had been authorised to discuss an "armistice", not a "surrender". His hosts replied that it was surrender or nothing. Zimmerman took another deep breath and said his instructions were that the British must withdraw or they would be fired upon.

The two ships retired to a safe distance. That night saner voices pressured Huffmeier to change his mind. The ships returned; Huffmeier threatened to open fire when they arrived before the appointed time. Generalmajor Heine, Huffmeier's deputy, signed the surrender document. Huffmeier could not bring himself to attend. It was left to von Aufsess to announce, at a hastily convened meeting of Channel Island elders: "Der Krieg ist zu Ende, und in den Kanalinseln auch" ("The war is over, and in the Channel Islands too"). Thus it was that the European war ended in the Channel Islands a day later that it ended anywhere else.

HMS Beagle returned on 12th May, and took Huffmeier into formal custody. His last order, which was disobeyed, was that his men should greet the British with Nazi salutes."

Anniversary update

2009-06-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

I've been recently mulling over a particular detail of last year's events which I didn't at the time reveal. In fact, the incident probably had a bearing on the momentum of my excavation plans, and caused much discussion among a close circle of people that I revealed it to. For the sake of completeness (and a slight revival in the original Pistonheads thread today) I thought that I'd recount a little about it now.

About a week or two after we'd opened the bunker, when interest was at its peak, I had a phone call from an excited chap who introduced himself as a historian.

He asked if he could come round and have a look. I agreed. He asked if he could come straight away (i think it was about 7.00pm). Given that my enthusiam was still running at a high I agreed to this as well, and about half an hour later he arrived, bringing with him a friend who had what I can only describe as an industrial size hand held spotlight (5 million lumen?).

They pulled up and got out of the car, and immediately started surveying the garden, asking lots of questions about the orientation of the land, water courses, drainage, whether I knew the history of the property etc etc. They asked if they could have a good look around the garden before looking inside the bunker, and I left them to it for a few minutes.

The historian was, at a guess, in his early 60s, and had long thinning grey hair. He was wearing (no joke) a heavily patinaed Indiana Jones style leather jacket and desert boots.

They got extremely excited whilst looking at the aerial photos from the war that I'd handed them. They commented in quiet voices to themselves about the fact that there appeared to have been a warehouse built at the southern end of the property at the latter stages of the war. They pointed at the collapsed northern quarryface. I strained my ears and heard the historian in hushed discussion with his colleague asking "why would the germans have done that, whilst their army was in retreat across Europe at that time, when the occupying forces were preparing to surrender?" "What did they have to hide?"

Shortly afterwards, when they were walking abck towards me, i overheard other man say to the the historian, "Do you think this could really be the place?"

The historian told me he'd spent his whole life scouring every german fortification and bunker in the Channel Islands, and had never come across details of the one in my garden before. It was getting darker and I noticed that his air of excitement had not abated.

We then climbed down inside the bunker, and they were very interested in the fact that the entrance to the bunker faced north towards the quarry face, and not south, which they noted would have provided an easier entrance. We discussed the rumours about a longer tunnel that existing in the vicinty (which I did post about). He told me that some people were not quite so open to believing the rumours as others, and the two of them discussed something I couldn't hear between themselves again.

They'd been at the house quite some time by this stage, and I invited them inside the house to show them the photos that I'd taken of the excavation that we'd been doing, which were on the computer. Again, further interest.

The historian then asked if I'd had any contact from the media. I said I'd had several approaches. He then leant in and quietly suggested that for the moment I might perhaps play my cards close to my chest until some more research was done.

He then spent some considerable time telling me about avenues of investigation open to him through official records offices and archived military resources. He suggested to me some avenues of enquiry i might undetake (some of which I have explored and posted about, others which I have not).

By this stage it was dark and late. The visitors had been at the house several hours, and showed no signs of leaving. I decided to politely suggest we carry on our discussions another time, and the historian apologised, explaining this was his passion and that he sometimes got carried away with himself.

I walked out to the car with them, and as the historian was getting in through the door, he again reminded me to be cautious about taking up any offers of assistance just yet. He then leant into the car, opened the glovebox, and told me that he was going to show me something.

He then held out to me a rolled up clutch of old papers covered in manuscript notes, and gestured me to take them. I asked what they were? He smiled and suggested that I take them and read them. As I took the string bound paperwork, he got in the car and shut the door. Then, as he drove off, he leant out out of the window and shouted "When you've read them, get in touch and we'll talk some more!".

I went back inside, thinking how slightly surreal the whole experience had been. Then I poured myself a drink, sat down, and unrolled the slightly creased papers, flattening them in a small pile on the desktop.

Slowly I read the first page. Then the second. I took another slug of drink and scratched my head in disbelief. I read the third and laughed to myself in excitement. After the fourth I got up and had to walk around the room.

Before reading further I got on the phone to Dave. I re-read the first four pages to him, before continuing through page after page of notes. When I eventually finished, Dave asked whether I thought it was for real? I told him I honestly didn't know. In fact, I still don't ....

Some Progress!

2008-10-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

Well, the sun came out today, so I went underground. My nephew wanted to earn some pocket money, so I enlisted him to help clear out some of the more managable bits of stuff from the bunker. I hadn't been inside for a few months now, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Flooded? Overrun with spiders? Actually no.... it was nice and dry and relatively bug free.

We removed lots of the bits and pieces. There were lots of these little metal "caps". Anyone any idea what they might have been?

There were also quite a few of the old lamp shades on the floor, only one of which is still hanging.

This is the strange canister that appears to be designed to be worn on someone's back. Plant sprayer or bee fumigator (there's a beehive in the back too remember)?

Here's all the junk we removed....

There was a lot of this alloy-type tubing, which had "porcelain"(?) insulators attached to it? No clue as to what this might have once have belonged to. Anyone any ideas?

All this clearing enabled us to sweep up the floor a bit half way along. The concrete underneath the thick layer of dust and rust particles was smooth and dry.

A few more pictures of the tunnel from today:

I haven't really attacked the front yet. I need to deal with all the tangled barb wire in order to get to the floor underneath, and whilst I could laboriously cut it up into small pieces, I can't help but think that it would be easier to remove it in one tangle once the doors are fully open.

Tunnels for sale in London

2008-10-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

The "Kingsway Tunnels" are currently up for sale in London. If you fancy an underground lair, and have around £5 million spare, then these could be for you.

Access to the mile-long system of horizontal and vertical shafts is through unmarked doors in the street on High Holborn, and the site is fully equipped with electricity, water supply and ventilation equipment - making it the perfect place to hole up and hide from 007, though aspiring Blofelds will have to provide their own white cat.

The Public Record Office used the tunnels for a while to store 400 tons of secret documents, before the complex was turned into a "trunk exchange" to connect long distance telephone calls in the days before the subscriber trunk dialling (STD) code.

It was built to hold 8,000 (!!) people during air raids, and in its days as an exchange housed around 80 workers, who enjoyed a canteen and recreation room - complete with snooker table.

More details here: http://www.24dash.com/news/communities/2008-10-15-For-sale-Secret-network-of-tunnels-100ft-under-London

AVRO Vulcan Bomber

2008-09-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

I've been busy at work. Apologies. The bunker has not been progressing. The closest that I've come to wartime arctifacts was the Vulcan Bomber that flew overheard recently. And that was "cold war", and quite a long way away at that.

So no bunker news at the moment. But have some delta wing silhouettes in the meantime.

1946 Photograph

2008-08-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

Well I've now got hold of a photo taken in 1946 of the garden in front of my house, showing the rockface where the tunnel entrance is. It doesn't look like the rockface has been collapsed in the photo, although its also possible that the tunnel entrance may already have been partially covered over. The ground level on the right appears much higher than at the moment, and there seems to be rubble lying on the ground in the background. I've put a photo taken today from where I think is roughly the same vantage point

1946

2008

Its a little disappointing that this is the only photo of my garden (all the others he sent are of next door). Its also a shame that there's nothing in the picture to show that its taken just after the war (abandoned military vehicles perhaps?)

However, the good thing is that it looks like there was a solid quarry face immediately behind where the tunnel entrance we've already uncovered comes out, so once I clear the spoil away from the entrance, I'm hoping there's at least a 30 foot high wall of solid rock and I may not have to worry too much about having to build any retaining structure.

1945 aerials again for comparison with the garden shot.....

Tree Felling

2008-08-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

Dave came round this afternoon and we finally spent an hour or so making a little progress. The slope of collapsed rock, which is the next area we're focussing on, now has a load a fir trees growing on it. They're actually fairly tall. Before I'm able to do any more excavating of this area, the trees (or at least the largest shown here below beforehand) will have to go.

The aim is to drop it down accurately between those two shrubs in the foreground without damaging them. Dave dons the Pistonheads safety helmet (which actually did protect him from a falling pine cone).

And then climbs up the spoil to the base of the trunk.....

Where he started by stripping some of the lower branches.

Before downing tools and refusing to do the chain-sawing. So it was left to me, to make a classic wedge cut at the front of the tree and then the single cut at the back.....

What happened next though was unexpected comedy. The tree gracefully fell to 45 degrees, stopped and hung there! Rather like the toppled statute of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

We then all watched bemused as it sank several more feet in extra slow motion before the trunk finally cracked and it dropped to the ground. Video posted here.

After which Dave went to work, chopped it up, and put it in the boot of his car.

I did say that the next bit was going to involve "just a little bit" more work, didn't I?

Health and Safety

2008-08-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

We've been preparing for the next bit of excavation by getting some "proper kit".

:)

More 1940s photos soon

2008-08-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend I heard back from the gent whose father purchased the property after the war. He said that he'd had a chance to look back through some old family photos, and that he'd found some dating from 1946, although all but one of them are of the main house (next door). He said that he's put them in the post, so hopefully I'll receive them soon.

He also confirmed that our house burnt to the ground in 1948, although he didn't say how. He said that his father rebuilt it in the same style. That was something of which I was unaware.

Finally, he gave me the location of an apparent cache of old buried bottles in the garden?? Something else to dig for when I can find a spare moment!

Apologies for Inactivity

2008-08-05T13:53:00.001-07:00

...I've been on holiday in the United States for the last few weeks.

For any aussies reading this, congratulations on your Holden / Pontiac G8 GT. I took this one as a hire car whilst there and it was a great drive.

I guess I've got some more digging to do now!

Storage Dimensions?

2008-07-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I hadn't accurately measured the dimensions of the bunker until today. I'm posting a cross-sectional diagram, together with a scale MX5 / Eunos / Miata in there for the Pistonheads! After all, there is a roadway leading down into it underneath all those rocks !

So, the tunnel itself is 120 inches (10 feet) wide at the entrance (measured between the concrete base walls), tapering in slightly to around 115 inches wide at the rear. Its 96 inches (8 feet) high to the centre of the ceiling arch, and slightly lower at the rear (the floor slopes to the entrance, presumably for drainage).

Lengthwise it is 60 feet (easy accommodation for 4 Miata!).

Noirmont Point

2008-07-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well, whilst I'm keen to continue excavations, having spoken to the diggermen, for one reason or another, because of holidays and work commitments, I'm not going to be able to get the heavy machinery back on site until the beginning of August. It's a little dissappointing, but cannot be helped.

In the meantime I've been continuing my research, and it's beginning to become apparent that the area around my house is littered with the remnants of its previous Luftwaffe occupants. I've found that there were at least six other smaller structures like mine in the valley, together with underground and overground armouries, a whole load of above ground workshops and stores, hidden tunnels used as personnel shelters, and makeshift field gun emplacements hidden ominously out of sight in the tree lined hedgerows - guarding the entrance road to the valley. The trouble is that, according to the historians, whilst the Germans were meticulous note-keepers, much of the Luftwaffe paperwork from the Occupation of this Island is unfortunately missing (unlike the Infantry and Marine Korps, about which records seem to abound).

As I have no new pictures or progress from the garden to add today, I thought I'd make a quick visit today to one of the impressive Kriegsmarine Command Bunkers on the coast, on a headland called Noirmont (Black Hill), which overlooks the main port.

Most of the German defences found at Noirmont were part of the Marine Batterie Lothringen, which includes 6 Ständige Flak bunkers, together with an imposing M 132 fire controlpost / Marine Peilstand 1. There are numerous other smaller bunkers including crew shelters and ammunition stores which connect to the open gun emplacements. Many of these buildings have been fastidiously preserved and maintained by the Channel Island Occupation Society.

This is the naval range finder sitting atop the complex, which is itself configured a little like a warship buried into the headland.

Behind this is the entrance, with steps leading down into the multi-levelled complex.

Some of the rooms inside:

One of the batterie flak emplacements with adjacent underground ammunition bunker:-

Another gun emplacement:

And the Watchtower again:

Digging can resume!

2008-07-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

So the Planning authorities have now come back and confirmed that they are happy for me to continue removing the rock spoil from the bunker entrance and access road. Where's the number for the diggerman? A little bit more preparation and I'll be ready for phase 2.

I also had a visit from mrmaggit, a pistonheader who's been following the story and was this week over here on holiday. He even managed to pose infront of the bunker in his "What would Dave do?" T-shirt.

More Dave T-shirts as seen on pistonheads.com....

Local Myth and Legend

2008-07-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Island is full of stories about hidden wartime tunnels. This even extends to stories of U-boat pens underwater on the north coast. When Jersey was a popular holiday destination in the 60s and 70s, the coach drivers taking holiday-makers around on tours would embellish these rumours for best effect. I've tried not to do this with my blog, and just to present the facts as I find them.

However, there is one local legend which I have had cause to consider whilst investigating the wartime history of the property. That is because the legend, on closer investigation, actually concerns the property (as it existed in the war)! Perhaps the best way to tell the story is to paraphrase from a fairly old piece of local historical research that I traced in one of the museums here, which contains several paragraphs debunking some of the local tunnel myths. After those paragraphs, it continues along the following lines:-

NOTE: For the sake of this post I have changed the name of the published property address, which in the original text is the same name as my neighbour's house.

"All these stories are firmly believed in by the gullible. Perhaps the best illustration of imaginary tunnels came from a gentleman who insisted that, as a small child, he had regularly played in a tunnel which commenced in the front garden of a house called [the Granary], and ran right through to [another adjacent valley], a distance of some three quarters of a mile; he claimed he had regularly traversed the entire length of this tunnel. Attempts made to tell him otherwise were to no avail. He was adamant, and added that as the owner was worried about accidents, he had caused the tunnel roof to be blown in at 3 different places. "If you don't believe me, ask him!".

We did, and the former owner of [the Granary] roared with laughter! The alleged tunnel was nothing more that a half round steel shelter (which admittedly looked like a small tunnel entrance from the outside) which may be seen from the road and is now partly used as a garage, and partly as a wood store. It is about 30 feet long. He was able to relate that when his father in law [the father of the previous owner of my house] purchased the property as long ago as 1946, even then there were stories of german weapons concealed behind a false wall at the rear of his shelter; to clear up the matter the Royal Engineers, who were still working in the Island at the time, were asked to investigate. They did, and after much hammering and probing, were able to report that the rear of the shelter consisted of nothing but solid rock. Despite this, local folklore still insists there is a concealed tunnel"

Now, as I have already said, my neighbour's property does indeed have the small half round round steel shelter that is about 30 feet long, as described above.

What is interesting though, is that there is no mention of any checks being carried out or investigation being undertaken in the quarry behind the main house at the "Granary", in what is now, and undoubtedly was at the time that the aforesaid research was published, the part of the original "Granary" land that had been sold off to form my (quite separate) property!

Don't you just love myth and legend?

shhhh...Don't tell my wife

2008-07-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

Another Shrub has been sacrified.

Now you see it...

Now you don't.

Having measured up underground, I think that the odd little piece of wall to the left of the steps in the centre of these pictures is perhaps going to have the air vent leading up out from the end of the tunnel inside. Just need to get the spade out next. (That bush looked a bit sick anyway).

Identifying the guns

2008-07-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last night I met a very knowledgable chap from the Firearms Council (who also happens to be called David). He visited the house to see the bunker, and brought with him his very rare early Lee Enfield Mark 1 militia rifle, to use as comparison with the two weapons found in the tunnel.

Unfortunately we couldn't pick up the gun nearest the entrance as it has over the years become fused to the floor!

However David immediately recognised it as an early Mark 1 "long" gun, dating from the end of the 19th century. Apparently these were often used as sniping rifles during the first world war.

The weapon that was located further inside the tunnel we removed to make a direct comparison with the Mark 1 "short" gun that David had brought along. His particular gun is rare in that it had been specifically issued to the Island Militia. It had its original bayonet.

On the basis that the gun from the tunnel had a bridge (seen at the back of the breach), David concluded (as many others already have) that it was a Mark 3 Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE), and that the stock had obviously at some stage been forcibly knocked off.

Dave was on hand to preside over proceedings.

I was also able to recount to the others a conversation I'd had earlier in the day with another member of the 1960's Tunnel clearance team (which I've already previously mentioned). On this occasion I managed to talk to a specialist diver who'd been a member of the crew. This man did have a clear recollection of visiting the site now occupied by my neighbours and my property in the 1960s. He said that the visit came about because of a rumour that the fence posts in the garden of the property were all made of old WW2 rifle barrels! (This happens to be a modern day piece of local folklore - one which David had heard before).

Anyway, when the diver and the team turned up, there apparently did indeed find about 40 to 50 wartime rifle barrels being used in the garden for fencing and these were collected up as part of the Island wide clear up.

He said that he were also told by the then lady owner of the neighbours house about a large wooden armoury that had existed at the property immediately after the war, which had been full of munitions. These had been removed and the wooden shed sold to a farmer.

He also recounted that they had checked the neighbour's tunnel while on site, and had been told by the then owner of another tunnel that had already been covered over. I asked him whether he was able to find anything out about this second tunnel and whether it was perhaps on my property. He said that the lady owner had told him the second tunnel had for a short time after the war been used to store the large amount of the guns collected up from the armoury, before they were moved again (by whom he wasn't sure) and the tunnel was then blocked up.

I asked if she had told him how it was blocked? Apparently she had explained to him that the gardener had put some beehives inside and then covered the entrance and made a rockery! Because of this, he said that his team didn't actually check behind the neighbours house in the area where my property is located. Instead they took the lady at her word that the tunnel was secure.

Finally he said that he had heard that an underground chamber had later been found that was full of mausers!

So what can be gleaned from this story? Well, I suppose the bee hive part of it could be said to check out - as we found a rotten old hive inside our tunnel! But, and this is a big but I think, I'm extremely sceptical about the suggestion that a gardener in the nineteen forties could have "covered the entrance with some rocks", after all, do you remember that huge boulder that we couldn't move with all our modern equipment? And the massive landscaping required to fill in the entrance road is hardly "making a rockery"?

There must be literally be hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of tons of rock spread out around on the northern face of the quarry which doesn't appear to be there in the wartime aerials. So....perhaps there is another similar sort of tunnel somewhere nearby on the neighbours land? Or perhaps the story about the gardener is wrong, afterall, it was recounted in the 1960s, perhaps not even by the owner who lived there imediately after the war?

And what about those Mausers? If I'm only hearing about their discovery now, I imagine they're long gone.

"Lego" Garden Bunker Set

2008-07-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

Forget "Lego" Indiana Jones! The Crystal Skull wasn't great anyway. Treat your kids to a Garden Bunker boxset instead, complete with Nazi tunnel, Dave and CY88 figurines, Bob the Boulder, and that all important light stick (Digger not included).

Credit to Mr_Fibuli @ pistonheads.com

Forward Planning

2008-07-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

There's couple of reasons why I've not been excavating any further at the moment.

Firstly, the fact I've got a full time job and family tends to occupy a large proportion of the daylight hours.

Secondly Dave, who's been assisting me to date, has been off on holidays again.

Thirdly, I have had to seek advice from the authorities regarding any further works, from a planning point of view. Many people have said I should just crack on and not get them involved, but I'm afraid that I can't risk getting into any legal difficulties with my property over this. I don't live in the middle of nowhere unfortunately. In any event, I don't foresee that there will ultimately be any problems, just a slight delay.

Lastly, but perhaps most interestingly, the increased exposure of the story, by way of the TV news article locally, and this blog (which has now attracted over half a million hits in a fortnight or so) has led various people to get in touch with me, including several historians and other people who, either personally, or through family and friends, have information about the tunnel and the site itself.

I've already met with some of these people, but have other meetings planned for the next few days. Some of the information that is filtering through is very exciting indeed, and hopefully once I've starting sorting it into some sense and order, I'll be able to share.

French Railway Steelwork?

2008-06-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I spoke to a gent who was a member of a team in the 1960s who were tasked with doing their best to locate all the hidden tunnels in the Island in order to make them safe.

The reason for this was that after the war, much of the German equipment (helmets, guns, gas masks etc) had merely been thrown in the tunnels and bunkers by the Islanders and then sealed up. Naturally when wind of this got out in later years, groups of local boys eagerly set about exploring for Nazi bounty. One long tunnel complex was a particular favourite, and the story goes that in the early 1960s a group of boys who were exploring it lit a fire in it on their way out. This in turn burnt all the oxygen, so that when the next group went in, it was a death-trap. Two poor boys lost their lives, and the government set about opening up the sealed bunkers, recovering the german equipment and thus attempting to make these tunnels less of a temptation for bounty-hunters. (By the way, did you know that a genuine Nazi helmet goes for £500 nowadays!)

So, that was the job of the guy I spoke to. When I asked him if he remembered coming down to my neck of the woods, he said that although there had been some constructions checked, he could not remember mine. Furthermore, he also said that had they found it, they would have removed the "tempting" guns. So it just goes to show that even the team tasked with finding all the bunkers in the 1960s seems to have missed some! Makes you wonder what else there might be out there.

When I described the tunnel construction to him, he said that from his experience, it sounded that there was a distinct possibility that the steel roof in mine was made from metal that had been destined for French railway tunnels. He said that the Germans were adept at re-cycling all sorts of material for their fortifications built as they spread out through Europe. I guess that makes sense now....

I also asked him about the presence of British Lee Enfield rifles? Interestingly, he said that by the time the Germans reached the atlantic, they were running low on weaponry, so thought nothing of seizing guns from surrendering territories and issuing them to their own troops. He said that it would therefore not be far fetched to conclude that some German soldiers in the Island had been issued with seized Lee Enfield guns and british ammo!

1940's Recollections

2008-06-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

More research for you today folks.

I heard back from the gentleman whose father purchased the property (both mine and my neighbours together) immediately after the war. He was about to go on holiday and said he'd try to look out any photos he had on his return. In the interim though he confirmed that as far as he knew (presumably what he had seen or been told by his father) the tunnel that I have found was used as a workshop for repairing heavy equipment - he specifically recalled that it had been large enough for the Germans to drive their loaded trucks into.

He also said that in the area of the garage , there was another stucture - a workshop / armoury which appeared to be used for weaponry. In addition to the tunnel on the neighbours property, he recalled a water generator in the stream in front of the neighbours house. He also said that there was a wind mill on top of the hill above the quarry.

He said that the neighbour's house seemed to have been used by Officers and men as accommodation, while my house was used as a mess hall. Finally, he recalled that when his parents bought the site, the upstairs of my house was "stuffed with rifles" that had to subsequently be removed by the British army.

I really hope that he'll be able to find some pictures in due course.

In the meantime I've managed to unearth some more WW2 aerial photographs taken by the RAF. I've already posted on from February 1945, which I marked up earlier:

There must have been something of interest in the vicinity though, because the RAF only risks flights over the Island in daylight to take photos of strategic or defensive positions (the latter usually the gun emplacements scattered around the coast and town). In late 1944 it seems that the RAF flew two further sortees over the area.

This one is from September 1944:

And this one is from November 1944:

What is clear is that the large warehouse in the southern part of the quarry was only built between November 1944 and February 1945. It is also clear that it was only on the third sortee, in 1945, that they managed to fly over at around midday, when the sun was shining directly into the quarry and there was no shadow cast over the tunnel entrance. However, I'm really not sure if I can see a windmill anywhere just yet!

BBC Feature

2008-06-26T16:34:00.001-07:00

The tunnel featured on the BBC news today. Watch the news item at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQfWcyWMnxI

I've also spoken to another previous owner of the property since the last update, together with an ex bomb disposal officer who worked in the Island. They had some interesting things to say, but as it's late and I'm pretty tired, I'll do an update on what they said next time.

Thanks too to all those who offered explanations about the ammo crate. Obviously that can be safely ruled out of the WW2 investigations!

A little bit more history...

2008-06-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some research since the weekend, and today I managed to track down and speak on the phone to a relative of the family who originally purchased the property immediately after the war (at a time when both my house and my next door neighbour's house occupied the same larger plot). During our conversation he told me some interesting things.

Firstly, he said that it was his understanding that the tunnels (note the plural - I'll come back to that) at the property were sealed up shortly after the war - he thought it was around 1947. Unfortunately, if true, that would mean that there would have been plenty time for any good stuff to have been removed

Indeed, he also said that he thought that part of the property back then had been used by the Germans as an armoury of sorts, and he said that he recalled that the authorities (the British Forces) came onto the site after the war and took a lot of munitions away. Perhaps this explains the presence of British rifles?

When I asked about why the tunnels had been sealed he said that he thought his relative had been concerned about safety in general, although when I then explained the location of the tunnel that I have found, he said that that wasn't the one that one that caused the main concern He then recounted that the British army had been called in to investigate another tunnel which purportedly ran back unerground into the hillside. He said that there was talk that this was a long tunnel, which might link up elsewhere, and that after the soldiers had done their inspection, they collapsed the rockface and sealed up the entrances.

Could this, i wondered, explain the large spread of spoil in between the excavated tunnel entrance and the garage, which also extends behind the garage (the pyramid shaped part of the slope on which the pine trees are growing)?

Now the sort of tunnelling that the Germans built into solid rock was a very different affair to what I have found so far. And anyone who's visited the German Underground hospital here will know what these can sometimes look like: http://www.digitaljersey.co.uk/tourism/H08/index.htm

Who knows what is hidden under those rocks then? Whatever is there, even if its nothing, is certainly well buried.

He also mentioned that there was an underground room which had been used by the Germans somewhere behind the house, which had later been used as a water tank.

That prompted me to lift some man hole covers, specifically this one....

which revealed...

A brick vaulted chamber, filled almost to the top with what appeared to be builders rubble, rubbish and dirty water. Nice! I've no idea how deep it is at the moment, but can only assume that it was filled by lazy builders when the property was extended in the 80s.

The last thing he told me was that another relative might be able tell me more, and promptly gave me his email abroad, so I've dropped him a line too

Finally, I also made another (unrelated - I think) military find. Although I've lived at this house for a few years now, it is still yielding some interesting discoveries. When poking around in an old shed yesterday, I found this:

Some of you may wonder how I could be so patently unobservant to have missed it before. Well the truth is, it was under a pile of old wood, junk and spiderwebs, and I hate spiders. But I thought it now needed to be checked.

So I opened it, genuinely not sure what I would find, only to see it was empty. What was interesting though was the fact it still looked new inside, and that the packing label was still clearly legible.

Any armourers care to explain?

Getting Impatient

2008-06-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well I'm still waiting for Diggerman to come back with a quote for doing the main excavation of the entrance road (not something I can just tell him to get on with unfortunately, as it will possibly involve some shoring up). Until that's done I can't really start easily clearing the stuff out, and I really want to get on with that, and start treating the steelwork.

Also waiting for the historians to come back with anything! The possibility that the tunnel might be in any way noteworthy from a historical perspective has also contributed to my reticence in pushing forward!

Several times over the last few days, I've climbed down the ladder, squeezed through the slim gap in the rusty steel doors and paced the cool dark tunnel. Each time I still feel surprised that this thing has been hidden underneath the garden all that time! Whilst endless possibilities as to use spring to mind, just plain old easy access storage would be nice at the moment.

(I've also realised that you can only take so many photographs of a tunnel before they all become a little samey! - Another reason to crack on soon)

Video inside Tunnel

2008-06-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I spoke to the BBC today who were interested in doing a live interview on News 24 this evening. However, for one reason or another (probably because they discovered I wasn't "the" Dave with his stick from the photo) that didn't end up going ahead. Not to worry though. In other news the blog is approaching a quarter of a million hits in six days.

I also had a look inside the neighbour's tunnel. It is roughly the same construction but the ceiling is quite a bit lower. Whilst it's drier, it's also quite badly corroded, all the way through the steel, in some places (see second picture).

The neighbour said that a "bunker hunter" had once pitched up and told him of rumours that the tunnels in this area all interlinked! The back of his has collasped under rockfall, so who knows! Man, people love a good underground tunnel rumour!

It also has the same wiring setup along the side of the sheeting, which the neighbour had always thought was some kind of comms wiring. In my mind this suggests that the wiring in both is original, and not a later post-war addition.

Finally, a night vision video that Dave edited from inside the tunnel (sorry gamers, no Wolfenstein to be seen) ! We still haven't started clearing yet, as I promised that I'd try not to start moving stuff around until certain people have had a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc3HEAabo90

Next door Tunnel?

2008-06-17T02:19:00.000-07:00

I've spoken to my neighbour and he's going to let me have a look in the tunnel on his property this week. Our two properties used to form part of one larger property during the war. His is partially above ground and he uses it as a garden store, but by all accounts it's a fairly similar construction to mine - perhaps smaller. Hopefully it might yield some more clues as to the possible purpose of their original construction.

Interestingly, it is located roughly on the other side of the rockface behind my garage.

I've also taken a moment to collate all of the 'shopped images posted on the original thread about Dave and his "Light stick". Perhaps not to everyone's interest, but we thought they were amusing all the same! I've put them all in the previous posting on Dave:

Link back: http://gardenbunker.blogspot.com/2008/06/what-would-dave-do.html

Time to slow down a bit!

2008-06-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

After last weekend's adventure, I actually decided to spend father's day with the family. When I started the dig last week it wasn't, believe it or not, my intention to actually uncover nazi riches, or end up providing a modicum of world-wide entertainment (some 140,000 blog hits in the last 3 days!).

As a proud member of the Pistonheads.com website, the original thread was really just to show some heavy machinery, some impetuous digging, and a large hole / potential garage under the garden.

Over this weekend, I've linked to and read discussions on various other threads around the world discussing my bunker. The majority of them are positive. Many are critical about the length of the Pistonheads thread , some can't see what all the fuss is about at all.

The truth is that no thought on my part really went into the events of last week. I happened to have a good bunch of friends who were able to provide help, or gain access to the equipment needed. It was undoubtedly the spontaneous nature of the discovery and its reporting which made it fun for both us, and for the readers and contributors everywhere.

I've had half a dozen approaches from TV people, and several for news items. Dave is on a T-shirt and has fans! I don't think he's forgiven me.

However, the time has come to start going about things a little more methodically, and some thought does now need to be put in. I'm not about to start smashing up my garage, or risk doing any exploring or work that is unsafe.

It's certainly not over yet. In fact its only really just started.

I'm going to be making good the tunnel, and that doesn't really lend itself to daily news updates! Some things may indeed take a while to accomplish. Of course, if I find out anything else interesting while the further work is being carried out (and I hope we do), then I'll let you all know. I'll also give an update if the historians or my researches come back with any interesting wartime information. If the tunnel ends up as a swish bat-cave style garage, then I'll be sure to let you all know how it was done.

Thanks for reading and do check back!

CY88

(Picture credit: Bunkermonkey @ Unseen Jersey)

Photo behind garage

2008-06-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

Well, not an entirely productive lunchtime today, I'm afraid to say....And certainly no gold!

Dave and I went into the tunnel and shot quite a lot of video of all the bits and pieces in there. We'll edit that and put up later. Whilst that was happening, a bloke turned up to have a look at the steelwork for me. He's going to come back and sandblast a patch of it so we can assess how long / much it will take to sort out what appears to be heavy surface rust (afterall - my intention for digging this thing up was always so that I could use it again). He said that he could ultimately only do that once we'd opened the door up some more though.

By the time we'd spoken about that, we were keen to have a peep down behind the garage. Dave thought about rigging up a "suspended" camera.

We managed to climb onto the roof and clamber across.

Then, as Dave was having a look and I was trying to take another picture...

...I slipped and sliced my fingers on a bit of the galvanised roof panel :( All the heavy machinery last weekend and no mishaps, and then this happens! Bugger!

Dave managed to get a picture. It just shows a rock wall and a concrete ceiling. It doesn't look very big from that angle at least!

and by the time I'd cleaned my fingers up, my kids had finished their lunchtime nap and Dave had had a bleep to go into work :(

So, as you see, it doesn't always happen with the smooth precision and breathtaking speed of last weekend! I'll upload the tunnel video shortly.

What's behind the garage?

2008-06-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something else of interest from my research into some of the unexplained items mentioned on the Pistonheads.com thread. I meant to post this last night. I was looking at the 1945 aerial recon photo (taken by the British Air Force), and decided to try and shade off some of the features for identification. That's what you see below.

The red rectangle is the house, which still exists. The green circle to the north is a large tree (the stump still exists). The light green shading shows approximately where the quarry face is. The interesting bit is the sand coloured shading, which is where I have guessed the driveway / roadways would have been at the time.

You can see better now I hope the track going down into the tunnel we've found. What is interesting is what appears to be the continuation of that track in the other direction, behind the house (where the garage now is) and, unless its my mind tricking me, into a structure that abuts the quarry face. What do you think?

Local Historians puzzled

2008-06-13T00:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. The experts that visited last night were actually a bit baffled! They said it wasn't what they were expecting to find. They said they hadn't really seen inside one like it before, but thought that the roof was definitely fabricated from German steel (as opposed to British steel seized in France, or French steel).

They agreed that it seemed to have been set up for heavy machinery (or something heavy that needed to be attached to the floor at least) and could have been a workshop, but they were not sure what for. They thought it might have been a very early construction at the start of the war, and that it still may have Luftwaffe links, because apparently the Luftwaffe were based in the vicinity. They also thought that the Lee Enfield guns were probably put in there after the war before it was sealed, rather than have leftovers from the war itself.

Whilst inside tonight took a picture of the (horse-drawn) cart arm...

and also we noticed that the green gunk / paint had now turned orange since two days ago? Deterioration due to change in air quality perhaps? I think that I should start a clean-up and maintenance program for the tunnel soon.

The local experts said it would actually probably help to clear the floor now to look for clues, and that they would go away and do some research through the papers and various archives that they hold. I'll post what they come back with. All in all, they were pleased to have seen it, but said that it raised more questions than answers!

They did say that it appeared to be fit for use, which was good to hear.

Dave decided to stay home and catch up on all the reading. This blog had some 33000 hits in its first day yesterday ! Crazy! Thanks for reading.

Luftwaffe Connection?

2008-06-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

I've just heard back from one of the local historians who's going to be visiting with some colleagues this evening. Apparently, they've checked their records, and he has
written in his email.....

"Enquiries confirm that this was a store for the Luftwaffe anti-aircraft battery located in the vicinity"

So, where's that anti-aircraft battery I wonder? I'm looking foward to seeing what they have to say when we meet up later.

Waiting Game

2008-06-12T02:58:00.001-07:00

I tried to have a look last night, from a window in the first floor of the house, at what was behind the garage. It seems that there may well be enough room to stick a small camera or mirror down the gap between the roof and the concrete bit. In fact, I think this might well be Dave's first task on his return (5pm landing, so perhaps a bit optomistic. Otherwise i might climb up myself.)

As you can imagine, since finding the tunnel I've also been trying to speak to people who might know a bit of history about the house. Interestingly, someone who used to work as a gardener for the old owners, told me that they had told him a long time ago (i know, i know!) that there was an underground chamber, but in a different location from the one we now know about.

So..., just in case thats not a tall tale, I also think that I'll start by checking under all the manhole covers (there are a few).

Lastly, WW2 historians are visiting this evening as well. We can hopefully start moving things around once they've been.

Guns! Guns! Guns!

2008-06-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

Right, I took up the offer of assistance from two seasoned bunker explorers (JerseySi and BunkerMonkey from "Unseen Jersey"). They came round tonight and I think that they seemed quite impressed with the tunnel. They took lots of photos with a proper camera and said that they would post them up on their own site, so hopefully I can link to that in due course. Anyway, as we were photographing everything, one of them exclaimed "That's a gun", and so I looked hard, and realised that it was, although the metal had badly corroded and all the wooden bits had rotted away....(so don't get angry if they don't look like schmeissers and lugers like you were probably expecting )

This weapon has subsequently been identified as a British Lee Enfield Rifle!!

So, a little after finding the first weapon, they found another one! And to be honest, by this stage I just felt a little stupid for not having found them myself, but I guess I was just a bit excited at the weekend to notice.This one was at the other end of the tunnel, and like the first the stock had rotted away. It was also appeared to be a rifle. The metal on the second was in better condition (perhaps because it had been covered under the corrogated sheet) although still "decommissioned". This has again since been identied as a British Lee Enfield Rifle. What British Rifles were doing in a German Bunker we can only speculate at the moment.

No magazines or ammunion found though, although we haven't started sifting through all the dirt on the floor yet.

We also found a tin of green gunk (which the others thought might once have been green nazi paint)

And the "rings" in this bucket on closer inspection turned out to contain nuts??

See JerseySi and BunkerMonkey's own report and pictures here:-

http://unseenjersey.proboards82.com/index.cgi?board=jerseyreports&action=display&thread=173

What Would Dave do?

2008-06-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

Interest in the thread has been growing, as have the number of fans for Dave and his "Light-stick"! As a bit of fun, I've reproduced below a number of the many 'shopped pictures submitted by posters in the original thread (many thanks to all the contributors - hope you don't mind me collating the images here).

Credit: Chris Cambo at GTA forums

(Credit: Cheeky Jim)

These T-shirts actually made it into production! Thanks Jim!

(Credit: Unknown - perhaps someone will tell me)

( Credit: The_Sheriff)

(Credit: Dehp)

(Credit: Dehp again)

(Credit: Bodo)

(Credit: Funk)

(Credit: Sound_man)

(Credit: Polus)

(Credit: Funk again)

(Credit: Rhinochopig)

And finally, not a 'shop, but a screengrab of Dave making the frontpage of a leading Swedish financial website: E24

Inside at Last!

2008-06-08T08:26:00.001-07:00

Because its all happening we had such big plans for when we finally had enough room to get in....some of its on video....but ultimately it all boiled down to who was in the right place at the right time... namely who was nearest the door - forget masks! Richard and Pete just happened to be nearest............ and we couldn't hold them back

The old padlock is still attached to the doors and I follow them with the camera.

The point of entry, looking back into the daylight.

The same view but from further inside the tunnel

Rudimentary wiring on the ceiling attaches to lamps that are rusted but still hanging.

Hi folks. Back at the keyboard. Just spent some time tidying up and trying to fence off the entrance for safety. We had to dig a good 10 foot deep hole, and the surrounding rock is very loose. I hope it doesn't rain. Also a few people came round to have a look. Right, where do I start. The tunnel (because that's what we now know it is) is definitely real. No photoshopping here

That's Mrs88 having a look down the other end above. It's over 8 feet in diameter, and around 60 odd feet long. Its completely underground, apart from the opening we dug. No there wasn't any vintage mercedes or luftwaffe uniforms. There were paint pots (well, tar pots infact). No carpet though! There was genuine german WW2 barb wire (as someone spotted). There was also various stuff we couldn't recognise. We haven't taken anything out, or gone through it with a fine tooth comb. There wasn't any gold bars visible to the naked eye , but then I put this into perspective by reminding myself that there is a 60 tunnel under the garden!

Oh, and did I mention there appears to be a false floor in part of it? !

This is the item that someone thought was a breeze block on the video. It is in fact some sort of pump up spray canister that can be worn on the back of the operator. We can't tell what was in it, and it seems to have brushes inside the drum?

It was found lying on a bed of what appears to be genuine WW2 German barbed wire.

Back to the floor - half way down, Richard notices that the floor is covered in sand (rather than concrete). We wipe it away to see that there appears to be a metallic floor underneath...?

This seems to have "cast" bumps on it?

Peter gives the floor a thud - we can't be sure, but sounds like a lid?

We start clearing the sand to see if we can find the lip ?

At this point we decide that we're getting a bit carried away, and that we should perhaps check the length of the tunnel first before ripping into things. Plus the floor would be easier to check later when a bit cleaner and not in such excitement (after all, its not like someone's going to tell me clear off for trespassing)

No idea what this is / was?

Clearing the Entrance

2008-06-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

With the mini-hammer retired, diggerman got back to work...

Dave phoned at this point from the airport to ask about the Boulder. Rather than spoil his holiday, I lied that it was tucked up safe near the lawn and that would be there for him on his return.Richard spotting for today.

A moment after this picture, Richard shouts at diggerman to stop....

He's noticed a cavity opening up somewhere we weren't expecting.....In front of the tunnel entrance, under where the Boulder was keeping sentinel, we encounter a second obstacle!!!!!!! Richard tentatively investigates

It appears that the path of the digger is now blocked by a second new undergrown chamber, this time full of what appears to be water. A grapefruit sized boulder topples into the hole with a worryingly deep "Plop".

We set about debating what we've stumbled on now!

At this point I must admit I was slightly downheartened. Having destroyed the boulder in order to crack on, the thought of having broken into an old septic tank or the drains was sickening.However, after prodding around inside the not-so-smelly-at-all water with a long stick, we found that the chamber was only about 4ft square. Looking at the old photos, and knowing where the house drains were, we decided that what we had inadvertently broken into was most probably a water tank for the tunnel, which would have allowed a tap to be located at the entrance - well, sounded sensible to us. Diggerman said "lets cover it up and press on" and we agreed, noted where to avoid any digging for the rest of the day.

The whole of the area around the entrance is full of broken rocks that had fallen from the quarry overhead. Diggerman drove in to push a few to the back

Now we can start going down.

We finally smell victory !!

See a video as we get near to gaining access here...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vt_XJPC6ekI

Goodbye Bob!

2008-06-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

The guys arrive at 8.00am on Sunday morning. I'm hoping we won't wake the neighbours.

A big tractor for pulling a big rock?

Many of you will be wondering over the plight of our rotund friend, the Boulder. I'm afraid the news is not good. After much umming and arhhing, we decided that the "Ball of Doom" would be broken up and removed. If anyone is interested I have the bits, some still relatively huge, others very very tiny .There was a brief moment once the "mini-hammer" had been attached to the digger arm, and we found that the air pressure was not working, that we almost thought we heard a sigh of relief from the big old rock, but once the valves were opened, there was no turning back. Like a dentist attacking plaque, diggerman turned up the music, aimed, and got to work....

I actually took a video of the "primary cut", so you can see the wrath of the mini-hammer in action, http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=afY0vMU9qtU .

The tractor earns its keep...

Mini-Hammer Arrives

2008-06-07T15:57:00.000-07:00

Right. Some updates. It was a lovely day, so breakfast at the pier for starters :)

I've just been on the phone to Dave. He's been rigging up a video camera on a pole set-up as suggested. Not sure if it will work, but he's coming back in a moment to try.

I'm also fairly convinced that I want to try to keep the boulder, although some more heavy machinery arrived several minutes ago....

(the name on the side of that thing must be ironic, no?)

The guys that delivered the hammer drill said that they too might try to save the boulder if it were them. One also said that it may be worth a bit of money. Only trouble is they too reckoned i'd need a bigger digger / crane if I wanted to save time in moving it . Its a dilemma, break it and go into the tunnel, or risk delaying things? I'm thinking that maybe some more shrubs can be sacrificed to the left of the thing, and roll it into a new position that way?

In order to reach the tunnel entrance, I need to either move or pulverise the boulder (marked B above).

I'm told that to purchase a boulder like it would be very expensive. That together with a wave of nostalgia is suggesting I should try and keep it. However, to move it safely, I'm told I realistically need a bigger digger. Unfortunately, the one i've got is about the biggest one that I can fit in the entrance to my house and up the driveway!

Furthermore, we discussed the possibility of excavating the area marked red on the diagram, and rolling the boulder there. The diggermen said that because the area marked blue is essentially loose rocks, any excavation of the red area may well cause the whole of the blue area to collapse

In fact, they advised that digging down to the floor level of tunnel may precipitate the same result

What we've decided is to try one last time to move the boulder. If we can't it'll probably have to be "minimised".

We'll then clear gently to allow enough room for someone to go inside the tunnel entrance and do a recce. If it is structurally sound and large enough to make it a worthwhile space, then we'll weigh up what to do about access and any shoring up issues.

However, perhaps the biggest blow to the project is that Dave won't be able to make it tomorrow, and has in fact excused himself for several days Some might think it is because Dave, a notoriously modest guy, has decided to shun his unexpectant thrust into the limelight with his pole and light. The reality is that he is off on a quick pre-arranged holiday

Not to worry, there will be others in attendance with heavy plant.

What do people reckon? Keep the "Temple of Doom" Momento or not? I've not dared look at the cost of all this!

First Video Inside

2008-06-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

Dave arrived after the mini-hammer with his video camera charged. He tied it to some rope incase it slipped, and after dropping the light bulb into down through the crack again, tried to get some footage of the inside of the bunker.

The hat he's wearing is actually quite cool, its a hard-hat disguised as a baseball cap.He shot some with the bulb, and some with "night vision".

Then he went off to edit it and later on posted it up on youtube.

By this stage Dave was gaining quite a cult following with posts on the pistonheads thread appearing along the following lines:-

"Any hat that Dave wears is cool IMO. After all - he's the man with the light gaffer taped to the end of the pole "

"I'm really falling for Dave now, is he single?"

"Every one should have a friend called Dave - they're the human equivalent of a Swiss Army knife!!"

All this, together with the passionate argument that raged on Pistonheads in favour of keeping "Bob the Boulder" or destroying "him", saw the creation of a Face Book Dave / Boulder Appreciation Group. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21945437174

In the meantime, Dave uploaded the first video of footage of the inside of the bunker and posted it on YouTube http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_JixNMedjhU or watch in Video Bar opposite.

Breakthrough

2008-06-06T15:44:00.000-07:00

On Friday night my mate Dave turned up and we resolved to try and have a look into the bunker through one of the cracks.

We couldn't see much, so we cobbled together a "specialist" light, dismantling a lamp and taping the bulb to a pole!

And so we were ready to get our first view of the inside!

Because of the angle of the entrance hole and the fact that the partially open door is in the way, we can't get the camera down anywhere near the floor yet

But we can position it looking along one side of the roof, and we can't see the end yet

I'm afraid that that's it for today folks. It was getting too dark to stumble around on those rocks anymore, so we covered the hole with a big rock again (just in case any inquisitive cats come exploring in the night) and headed back to base

The Boulder

2008-06-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

Logistically the next step is going to be difficult. My wife mentioned last night that it all looked a bit messy! And I fear things are only going to get worse once that big boulder is broken up. I think at the moment that its still holding up a bank of loose rocks.

The initial postings that I've put on Pistonheads.con have attracted some positive attention, and this is encouraging. Someone likens the boulder to a famous booby-trap...

My wife was actually fairly excited too once I'd explained, and was more annoyed that I hadn't waited for her to be there. Her first comments were..."So you haven't been at work today then?" followed by "They don't leave things very tidy do they?" The latter comment may also have had something to do with the "practice" holes we dug in another part of the garden, so as to get a hang of operating the digger.

The boulder remained a puzzling part. Its very smooth and round, unlike all the other rocks that are strewn over the entrance. And whilst we live in the bottom of a valley (meaning it could feasibly have been smoothed by historic running water) the bunker / tunnel entrance (whatever it turns out to be) is clearly located right under it, which in my mind means it must have been placed there. The entrance road going into the tunnel on the wartime picture is unobscured too. Primitive booby trap? Perhaps a bit far fetched! I'm loathed to break it actually, because it would make a nice sort of monolith feature in the garden . But I guess unless someone has a chinook handy to airlift it, I have to break it up if I want to explore further

I also actually found several things while digging the practice holes yesterday (although these were kinda insignificant to everything else). I don't think any of them are wartime articles - some interesting old bottles and jars, and something I was quite excited about - a small carved granite trough. I was quite pleased with that as it is fairly vaulable - £300ish? I'm now waiting waiting for the guy to come back with the digger bits.

Finally, I found a post war photo of the property...

Arrival of Digger

2008-06-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

I soon realised that, as mentioned in the last post, I needed heavy duty equipment to continue. So today, a digger was delivered

And I got impatient....

So i got some guys in and we got stuck in on Thursday last week.

As we dig down, the boulder starts to look precarious....

It eventually starts to topple.... and the digger driver has to steady it down...

As I was taking the picture, he was actually shouting at me to move my car, which was behind the digger at the time and at risk of being hit as he reversed.

(from the yard)

(from where it came)

As the huge rock rolled away though, the spotter shouted that he'd seen something that had been uncovered....

We shift a few more rocks and.... reckon we found the entrance ..

Unfortunately.... the boulder was too big for the digger to move (we estimated about 8 tonnes) and we needed to get behind it to keep digging. So we had to call a halt to proceedings while I source a rock-breaker attachment for the digger!

Oh, and I hadn't warned my wife either... so I had this to explain when she came home

More to come.

Shrub Clearance

2008-06-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

Armed with all the aforesaid info, at the beginning of June 2008 I started clearing the undergrowth around the entrance....

What started like this....

quickly became this....

The steps you see in that second one aren't anything to do with the bunker, and will be sacrificed. Oh, and that boulder on the left is going to cause problems too....

Background

2008-06-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

People visiting this blog from Pistonheads.com may recall that in the "Secret Room" thread in early 2008, I said that I thought I had a nazi bunker buried in my garden. Well, since then I decided to get off my backside and excavate it.

Our house is in an old quarry, and when we bought it five or so years ago, the previous owner told us that there was a tunnel built by the germans during WW2. He said it was big enough to drive into, and that his father had buried the entrance during redevelopments, but not before filling it with stuff that lying around the property (?). He showed me the rough location, and I've marked it on this little map with a red dot....

Because this is Pistonheads, to illustrate another way, here is the location immediately behind my MX5 (Hairdressers car to the uninitiated - driver's knockaround for those in the know).

Since then, an old gardener has told me that it was full of nazi vehicles , but i've always taken that with a pinch of salt!

However, i knew that there were in fact several tunnels nearby on other properties. My neighbours have an above ground one, now used as a garden store which can be seen from the road, and there is another one further up the road, in a roadside bank, which is also being used as a store....

But, the problem with mine is that is completely underground, if there at all!

So I traced some WW2 reconnaisance photos of the property, which appeared to show the entrance road to my bunker. These were taken in 1945, and i've labelled the entrance in red - you can just see the road turning down into the shadow cast by the entrance...

And that's where the quest began.....