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

This volume discusses how the German armed forces made effective use of military geologists to assist their fortification of the Channel Islands after their capture from the British in 1940. The book presents a unique case history of German geologist expertise applied to British terrain, intended to make the Islands into an impregnable fortress that postwar would remain a permanent outpost of the German state. In doing so, the book explains why the Channel Islands constitute a 'classic' location for British geology; how German armed forces made far greater military use of geologists than either their British or American opponents; and the legacy of fortifications that may conveniently be seen by tourists today - fortifications bypassed by Allied forces that liberated nearby Normandy after D-Day in June 1944, and surrendered intact at the end of the War in Europe in May 1945.

Edward P. F. (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 officer. He pursued a full-time career lecturing on geology in the University of London, at Bedford College 1966-1985, Royal Holloway 1985-2003, until retiring to an honorary research fellowship at Royal Holloway: his current appointment. He served in the reserve army 1960-1990, 1967-1990 in the Royal Engineers (Volunteers) as a military geologist with brief attachments to British forces worldwide (British regular forces having no geologists who serve as such). The senior geologist with call-out liability within the British Army 1974-1990, he transferred in 1990 into the Regular Army Reserve of Officers, as a colonel. He was an active member of the University of London Military Education Committee 1996-2009, finally as chairman, and served 2013-2017 as founding President of the International Association for Military Geosciences. He has contributed to over 130 journal articles or book chapters on historical aspects of military geology, co-edited three books on this subject for the Geological Society of London, and in 2014 received the Society's Sue Tyler Friedman Medal for excellence in research into the history of geology.