English Harbour

The bewildering scale of the fortification programme necessitated the creation of a railway line to transport the vast quantities of building materials required around the Island. With an air of the ridiculous to the tune of a band, the Organisation Todt officially inaugurated the western branch of its railway on 15 July 1942.  

However, the path of the eastern branch from St Helier towards Gorey was complicated by the layout of St Helier Harbour and the position of Mount Bingham. Therefore, by early 1943, the area of the English Harbour - part of St Helier Harbour - was subject to considerable works. A wooden bridge was built to carry the narrow gauge line over the Harbour and it was necessary to bore a tunnel beneath South Hill and Mount Bingham. 

It was noted in written Organisation Todt communications at the time that the rock in the area of the tunnel was fractured and fragile, necessitating surface extraction to complete the project.  

Spanish Republican forced worker John Dalmau published the following account in his book ‘Slave Worker in the Channel Islands’:

‘…work was started on tunnels underneath Fort Regent. Conditions of work were very dangerous. Innumerable lives were lost because of the loose quality of the granite into which the tunnels were bored. Almost every foot of these tunnels cost a human life. On one occasion while working on scaffolding against the face of the tunnel I felt a trickle of dust on my neck. Looking upwards, I saw the roof of the tunnel moving slowly. I shouted and jumped clear. Two others were not as lucky as I. One, a Czech, was killed outright, and the other, a Spaniard, lost both legs.’ 

Workers killed as a result of injuries in the workplace were buried in the Strangers’ Cemetery at Westmount, St Helier. See ‘Westmount Memorial’ for details.