German Military Geology and Fortification of the British Channel Islands During World War II

Ted Rose is an alumnus of Oxford University (1st class honours in geology 1963, followed by a DPhil for a thesis on Libyan fossiliferous limestones 1966) and a former British reserve army (Territorial Army) soldier (a subaltern successively in the Oxford University Officers Training Corps, Q (Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars) Battery Royal Artillery, and A (Oxfordshire Rifles) Company of the Oxfordshire Battalion, Royal Green Jackets). He pursued a full-time career lecturing on geology in the University of London, at Bedford College 1966-1985, Royal Holloway 1985 onwards, before retiring in 2003 from a senior lectureship to an honorary research fellowship. From the Green Jackets he transferred into the Royal Engineers (Volunteers) for 21 years, serving primarily as a military geologist with brief attachments to British forces worldwide (British regular forces having no geologists who serve as such), and for the last 16 of those years as the senior geologist with call-out liability within the British armed forces. He transferred in 1990 into the Regular Army Reserve of Officers, as a colonel, reaching the age-related liability for call-out in 1998. He was an active member of the University of London Military Education Committee until 2009, finally as chairman, and in June 2013 was elected Honorary President of the International Association of Military Geoscientists now in process of formation.

Chapter1.Introduction.-Chapter2.Geology.- Chapter3.Geologists and the German Armed Forces.-Chapter4.Jersey and the German Army.-Chapter5.Jersey and the German Air Force.-Chapter6.Guernsey and the German Army.-Chapter7.Guernsey and the German Air Force.-Chapter8.Alderney.-Chapter9.Groundwater Investigations: German and British.-Chapter10.Conclusion: Contemporary Context and Postwar Legacy.

"The book is much more than a collection of papers; however, it represents the most comprehensive volume on the topic and is beautifully illustrated in colour and very carefully edited to provide the reader with a full understanding of the reasons behind the fortifications, and the thinking behind their construction ... . This book ... is well produced, beautifully illustrated and carefully put together. If you have any interest in the topic at all, then this is a book for you." (Peter Doyle, Geology Today, Vol. 37 (2), March-April, 2021)

"The book is lavishly and beautifully illustrated with photographs of the fortifications, original drawings and sketch maps of the military works and historical military geology maps. Many examples of the German fortifications, particularly tunnels and observation posts, survive in the landscape today and some have been adapted for modern use, such as museums." (Judy Ehlen, Geoscientist, geolsoc.org.uk, 2020)