The German Underground Hospital - Part 4

In 1971, shortly after decimal currency was introduced, Mr R. Ellington produced this small booklet, price 13p, which was about 2 shillings and 6 pence in old money, or half-a-crown, about the German Underground Hospital.

The research into that has increased, and the site now, under the title "Jersey War Tunnels" provides vastly more history of the Occupation as well as the history of the tunnels themselves. It has far more audio-visual means of telling its story, but back in 1971, this was what visitors to Jersey would have had. It's a very personal booklet, as Mr Ellington not only tells as much as he knows about the hospital from records, but also includes eyewitnesses who he spoke to at the time. It is in that respect, a time-capsule of social history.

Parts 1-3 can be found here:
http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-german-underground-hospital-part-1.html
http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-german-underground-hospital-part-2.html
http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-german-underground-hospital-part-3.html

The German Underground Hospital - Part 4
by R.M. Ellington

CONCRETING and PLASTERING

After the surrender by the Italians to the Allies in 1944, even Italian workers appeared in the German Underground Hospital, though whether as slave workers or contract workers has not been established

By this time all the tunnelling had been completed and the main work consisted of concreting and plastering the walls of the tunnels, as well as the installation of all the equipment, the electrical system, heating system, drilling the water well, etc., etc.

It was at this period that such local labour as was used, was put to work.

The method of concreting the walls was as follows:-

When concreting the floor, a nine inch footing was formed on each side. This formed the base for the shuttering which made the box frame for the concreting (see Diagram). By using a series of planks laid on top of each other horizontally and shoring them up and blocking off the ends, a box frame would be constructed to the height of the straight part of each wall (approximately 6' to 7'). Marks can be seen to this day on the walls of the German Underground Hospital showing how planks of different widths and thickness had to be used according to what was available. The box frame was then filled with concrete and left to dry. This method was continued all the way along the walls of each tunnel. In all, nearly 4,000 tons of concrete were employed in this work.

The curved roof was constructed in the following manner: - The Germans had prepared a number of curved wooden frames which were laid across the top of the straight concreted parts of the wall which had now dried and thoroughly hardened. Planks would be laid lengthways from one to the next of these curved formers, thus forming and enclosed box section for the curved part of the tunnel roof.

After removing any protruding pieces of rock with a hammer, chisel or long bar , this would be filled with concrete from the front of the section pushing the liquid concrete further and further in until it came to a stop at the end of the section (see Diagram).

By and large, the majority of the plastering was done by local labour. They first came on to the site on a system of 5 ten hour shifts per week earning £8 per week, but they complained to the Germans about the timing and conditions and after some bargaining, were put on a piece-work rate. This was assessed on the following system. A crew consisting of five plasterers and three labourers would have to plaster 35 sq. yards per day including having to move their own scaffolding as they moved from area to area. Under the new piece-work rates, their earnings rose to £12 per week, an almost un- heard of figure in those days.

The German foreman on the site was a Sergeant called Fritz (surname unknown) and they would call him in at the end of each shift, show him they had done their required yardage and then go off home, irrespective of how many hours they had worked. Most of these local workers came and went to work by bicycle. The Germans had occupied virtually all the hotels on the Island at that time and the furnishings in the hotels which were brought up by lorry to- wards the end when all the construction had been finished were taken mainly from these hotels, specifically beds and wardrobes (so I have it on first hand information) from the Grand Hotel on the Esplanade.

After the concreting and plastering was done, the divisions for the various side rooms, such as the kitchens, store-rooms, etc., were constructed of brick. The construction of these brick walls was done in the main by the Italian labour force imported in 1944 and plastered over by the same local labour force that did the plastering on the tunnel walls.

General Todt and the Visit of Field Marshal Rommel

It would appear that both General Todt, who was head of the Todt Organisation and Field Marshall Rommel, alias The Desert Fox, came to Jersey to examine all the German fortifications including the Under- ground Hospital.

Once again it must be stressed that these are theories put forward by individuals and no concrete evidence is available to back them up.

Richard Mayne, who has recently written a book on the occupation of the Channel Islands, and in the process has been corresponding with various German Officers who were part of the occupation forces, is trying to establish whether there is any truth in this story. If Rommel did visit the Island, it would be some time after the German evacuation from North Africa, probably in the latter half of 194

The Shirt and the Diesel Oil

One of the most amusing anecdotes that was told to me by Con Donoghue, was an incident which happened one night after the blasting had been completed at its usual time of 2 a.m. The German guard was lured to the entrance by a member of the local population who had a shirt for sale. This shirt with the pre-war valuation of approximately 6/11 d was offered to the German at around 40 Reichmarks, approximately £2.

During the period the guard was outside doing his bargaining, an old coat was placed over a drum containing light diesel oil (probably used for the compressors). A hose pipe was attached to the tap and run along the floor covered by rubble to camouflage it and when the German came back inside, he sat down on the old coat on the barrel while the locals were quietly siphoning off the diesel oil while he was actually sitting on the barrel. In many of the country districts in Jersey where there was no electricity at that time, light diesel oil was virtually the only fuel available on which their paraffin lamps would burn efficiently and without smoke and thus there was always a ready market for it.

These two adverts reproduced by kind permission of the Jersey Evening Post.

Neither of the two adverts met with any marked success, in spite of the tremendous incentive offered in regard to both money as well as extra rations. This cannot be too strongly stressed, as it shows up the local population in a very good light.

It is mainly due to the failure of the advertisement for interpreters that they made use of Conn Donoghue (see text) under the usual compulsory terms applicable to people who had been up before the German commandant.

A copy of this document was sent by the Bailiff's office to the Connétable of St. Peter on 22.9.1942.

REFERENCE DOCUMENT 1.)

Most of the farms referred to in this document are within a 1/2 mile radius of the German Underground Hospital and/or the underground tunnels in St. Peter's Valley by the side of the Victoria Hotel.

It will be noted that under paragraph 4.) the information passed on to the farmers concerned, states that-the construction of shelter trenches was the reason for the evacuation, though it would appear the true reason was the German's desire to keep the construction of the Underground Hospital as quiet as possible, and to keep the area clear of all non-essential personnel.

REFERENCE DOCUMENT 2.)

This would appear to be a warning mainly to the farmers near the slave worker's encampment on Goose Green Marsh, and near the entirely Russian encampment at La Moye.