The Ho Tunnel System Jersey refers to the network of Hohlgangsanlagen constructed by German forces during the occupation, forming a series of sites that vary in scale, condition, and purpose.
The best preserved and publicly accessible example of a Hohlgangsanlage in Jersey is Ho8 at the Jersey War Tunnels, which now operates as a major Second World War museum.
Repurposed Hohlgangsanlage: Ho Tunnel System in Jersey
Jersey contains some 25 known numbered tunnels. Some reached partial completion, while others never progressed beyond their planning. After the war, authorities repurposed only a small number of the island’s tunnels, with locations and purposes varying widely.
- Ho1 (Munitions Store I): St. Peter’s Valley, west of La Route d’Aleva. The tunnel remained incomplete but still saw later use. It eventually became a small mushroom‑growing site.
- Ho4 (Munitions Store): Grand Vaux Valley, west side. Jersey Water later repurposed the incomplete tunnel and now uses it for storage.
- Ho5 (Fuel Store): St. Aubin, along the Railway Walk. The tunnel reached completion and later served for storage. It remains under the control of the States of Jersey.
- Ho8 (Artillery Quarters/Hospital): St. Lawrence. This became the island’s main underground hospital and is now the Jersey War Tunnels.
Ho8 Entrance and Looking into Main Tunnel
If you want to see how one of these structures found a second life after the war, I’ve also written about my visit to St Catherine’s Bunker aka Widerstandsnest (WN) Mole Verclut. WN Mole Verclut bunker and tunnel complex later became the island’s turbot fish farm before becoming a new tourist attraction.
Hohlgangsanlage (Ho2 – Ho9) Tunnels in Jersey
The Hohlgangsanlage system extended far beyond Ho8 and the repurposed tunnels. Their distribution shows how the Germans intended to fortify Jersey on a larger scale.
- Ho2 (Ration Store I): East side of the German Road in St. Peter’s Valley. A 1962 tragedy led to the permanent sealing of the incomplete tunnel on private land.
- Ho3 (Munitions Store II): Location surveyed but never excavated. The project stayed at the planning stage with no confirmed tunnelling.
- Ho6 (Personnel Shelter I): Location uncertain, possibly linked to water investigations. The project appears to have stopped after early exploratory work. No confirmed tunnel survives.
- Ho7 (Artillery Reserves): Cap Verd area. The tunnel never advanced beyond planning and minor exploratory activity. No substantial excavation is recorded.
- Ho9 (Electricity Generating Station I): Bellozanne Valley. Engineers planned an underground power station to protect Jersey’s electrical supply from air attack. However the project never moved beyond design. No excavation was completed.
- Ho10 (Ration Store II): Grands Vaux. The tunnel remained incomplete, and both entrances are now sealed beneath later development and rockfall.
- Ho11 (Personnel Shelter II): Near the dam of the Grands Vaux reservoir. The tunnel never progressed beyond planning and left no physical trace.
- Ho12 (Fuel Store II): At La Commune, St. Saviour. Only a short section was excavated before abandonment, and the entrance was later destroyed after the Ho2 tragedy.
- Ho13 (Munitions Store IV): East side of Beaumont Valley, St. Lawrence. Water problems halted work early, leaving two unstable and dangerous adits.
Hohlgangsanlage (Ho14 – Ho25) Tunnels in Jersey
- Ho14 (Fuel Store IV): La Mont au Roux, La Haule Hill, St. Brelade. Its existence remains unconfirmed, with only local folklore suggesting any construction.
- Ho15 (Storage): West side of Beaumont Valley, St. Lawrence. Russian forced labour began excavation, but work stopped in 1944 with only a basic floor completed.
- Ho16 (Personnel Shelter): West side of Beaumont Valley, St. Lawrence. The abandoned entrance sits beside Beaumont Hill, unnoticed by most passing traffic.
- Ho17 : unknown
- Ho18 (Hospital): Westmount, St. Helier. The Germans planned to adapt an older trial tunnel, but no occupation‑era excavation took place.
- Ho19 (Harbour Electricity Generating Station): La Folie, St. Helier. The tunnel was designed to power harbour cranes if bombed, but construction remained incomplete.
- Ho20 (Connecting Tunnel to Ho19): Mount Bingham. It was planned to link both sides of the hill underground, though no confirmed excavation survives.
- Ho21 (Storage): Mont du Jubile, St. Peter. Water issues caused early abandonment, and the tunnel never appeared on later German maps.
- Ho22 (Storage): Rozel Valley, St. Martin. Its existence relies solely on an Organisation Todt official’s notes, with no physical evidence found.
- Ho23 (Personnel Shelter): Grouville Marsh. Engineers likely intended to use nearby Les Maltieres Quarry, but the project never advanced.
- Ho24/25 (Storage): Greve de Lecq Valley, St. Mary/St. Ouen. Claims of construction lack evidence, and RAF photographs show no signs of excavation.
The Mount Bingham page documents the occupation-era artillery positions and surviving Hohlgangsanlage tunnels at the site.
The 1962 Ho2 Tragedy
Two teenage boys crawled under the concrete barrier of Ho2 to explore; however, a fire lit by other youths the previous day had burned through the oxygen and left carbon monoxide from smouldering pit props, causing the boys to collapse inside and they lost their lives trying to escape.
