‘We dug under our home in Guernsey and found a German bunker’

A couple says they have been left gobsmacked after they dug under their house and discovered a Nazi bunker under it.

Shaun and Carrie Tullier bought their home in the Torteval area of Guernsey four years ago and knew it had been the site of a World War Two German gun emplacement.

However, after being tipped off by someone who used to live in the house about a bunker possibly being underneath it, the couple decided to dig up the driveway and eventually managed to unearth the wartime building.

The couple said they had plans to turn the bunker into a games room and gym, but were also keen to make sure historic elements remained in place.

Germany forces occupied the Channel Islands from 1940 until 1945 and, under Adolf Hitler’s orders, turned the the islands into an “impregnable fortress”.

During the occupation, hundreds of islanders were deported to prisons in Europe and many who remained on the islands nearly starved.

The occupation lasted until 9 May 1945, when Guernsey and Jersey were liberated.

Sark was liberated a day later, while Alderney, where most of the islanders had been forced to leave their homes, could not return until 15 December 1945.

Islanders now celebrate the end of the Nazi occupation with Liberation Day events in Guernsey, Jersey and Sark, along with Homecoming Day in Alderney.

Mr Tullier said he and his wife had been told about the site being used as a German gun emplacement, but they had a suspicion there was something else there.

“From the outside, you could tell it was sitting on top of something,” he said.

Mr Tullier added that it was when a previous occupant of the house told them in March 2022 a bunker might be underneath it, he decided it was time to investigate.

“We’ve been doing up the house anyway, so I hired a digger and, with the help of a mate, we started digging up the driveway to see what was there,” he said.

“We kept digging down for a while and then finally, the ground just gave way and this doorway appeared.”

It is believed the bunker’s entrance was blocked up in the 1960s and Mr Tullier said he was impressed with how well built the structure was.

The bunker consisted of two main rooms measuring 17ft by 10ft (5.18m by 3m) and 17ft by 20ft (5.18, by 6m), with features including a tiled floor, escape hatch and German writing on the walls.

Among the messages on the walls include “achtung feind hort mit” – which translates to “beware, the enemy is listening”.

The couple also found dozens of tins and other debris which had been left behind inside the bunker.

Mr Tullier said one of the main issues which needed sorting out after the bunker was found was pumping water out after it had gathered inside over the decades, but the structure was generally fairly sound.

He added converting the bunker into a games room – with a snooker table – and gym remained a work in progress.

Mr Tullier said the discovery of the bunker had piqued the interest of other people and he felt it was important to keep the German elements present.

He said: “It’s not just a games room – people come along and ask to see the history.

“You hear a lot of people say they would just blow up these bunkers, but we feel very privileged to have it.

“I know it was a bad time for Guernsey [during the Nazi occupation], but I do find the history fascinating and I think we need to keep it so we remember what happened.”