This selected bibliography on modern European fortifications, from 1850 to 1950, provides a selection of the most important books and articles written on this topic. The work covers regions and countries and includes many sources on such popular topics such as the Maginot Line along with lesser known fortifications such as the Salpa Line and the Swiss National Redoubt. References for the fortifications that appear cover everything from the Iberian Peninsula to the Soviet Union and from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean countries. This work includes not only American and English, but also non-English publications. This source features books and articles done in the nineteenth and twentieth century ending in December 2000. Each contributor is a member of SITE O, an international fortifications research group. In addition to helpful annotations, each chapter includes summaries on the fortifications. Also features a multi-lingual glossary and reference maps.

Incredible as it may seem today, detailed plans were drawn up to recapture the Channel Islands, the most heavily fortified of all the German-occupied territories, regardless of the potentially ‘severe’ loss of life and the widespread destruction to the property of the British citizens. Under the codenames Constellation, Condor, Concertina, and Coverlet, the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney were to be attacked in 1943. The operation against Alderney would be preceded by a bombardment by between 500 and 600 medium/light bombers and an astonishing forty to fifty squadrons of fighters. The official papers which have now become available state that: ‘The islands cannot be taken without causing some civilian casualties. In the case of Alderney, it is thought that the air bombardment will have to be on such a scale that all personnel on the island will have to become casualties.’ A similar number of aircraft would attack Guernsey while, for the assault upon Jersey, thirty-one squadrons of heavy bombers and strike aircraft would bombard the island’s east and west coasts. This would be followed, on D-Day, by parachute and infantry landings and then a commando assault in the south-west. On Day 2 of the operation the first of the tanks were to land, with more armor and infantry to follow on subsequent days. As the German garrison of the Channel Islands was some 40,000 strong, the islands would be turned into an enormous battlefield, and a vast killing ground. The consequences for the Islanders were almost too horrendous to imagine and the political fallout beyond calculation if the operations failed in their objectives after the devastation and loss of British lives that the fighting had caused. Despite all this, it was thought that such operations would become the ‘second front’ so persistently demanded by Stalin to draw German troops from the Eastern Front and might also help the Allied forces which were about to invade Italy – Operation Husky – from North Africa. Equally, the Channel Islands would be the ideal base for the D-Day invasion of France scheduled for 1944. There was much then in favor of mounting the operations against the Channel Islands regardless of the fact that it meant the death of untold British citizens at the hands of British troops and the Allied air forces. The Allied Assault Upon Hitler's Channel Island Fortress is, therefore, the first detailed analysis of what would have been the most controversial operation ever undertaken by the British and American armed forces.

The definitive illustrated history of German World War II fortifications, covering the Atlantikwall, Westwall, and myriad other defensive works. Hitler's 'West Wall' was one of the greatest engineering projects of the 1930s. Stretching more than 390 miles and containing some 14,000 pillboxes it was a significant statement of intent. But it was only as World War II progressed that Germany's defensive requirements expanded beyond all previous expectations. Along the Atlantic coastline Germany poured millions of tonnes of concrete into chain batteries, bunkers and minefields, whilst defensive works were sunk into the mountainous terrain of Italy in an attempt to halt the advancing Allies. As well as these large-scale defensive works, Hitler's Fortresses delves into the principles and engineering of basic frontline defences, showing how the average German soldiers prepared their fox-holes and field fortifications, as well as exploring special purpose fortifications like the huge U-boat pens, V-weapon sites and Hitler's own personal constructions, from his sprawling headquarters to his mountain-top lair. This exhaustive study of German wartime fortifications reveals much about the strategic and tactical thinking of the German High Command, and combat accounts explore how effective the defences were in practice. Illustrated throughout with contemporary photographs, cutaway diagrams, artworks and maps, this edition shows exactly how key types of defensive positions looked and functioned, and provides an authoritative record of the Third Reich's defensive mindset.

Tank Turret Fortifications traces the origins of the idea from the development of the first armoured turrets in the nineteenth century through to the present day. On the way it covers the inter-war period when the first turrets were used in this way, the Second World War, when tank turrets were used on every front in the European Theatre of Operations, and the post-war period, when tank turrets were used even more widely. The book also details the decline of the idea as countries reassessed the threats they faced and slowly dismantled all their fixed fortifications. Widely used during World War Two and since, tank turret fortifications deserve a history, and Neil Short has spent several years writing this, the first proper study.

Following the fall of France and the surrender of Paris on 14 June 1940, the British Government announced that the Channel Islands had no strategic importance and would not be defended. The Germans occupied the islands from the end of June onwards and remained in control until the end of the war. On 10 October 1941 Hitler announced his intention to 'convert them into an impregnable fortress', and the islands formed the most heavily fortified and defended section of the entire Atlantic Wall. This book describes the design, construction and manning of these defensive positions, as well as considering more widely the occupation of the Channel Islands by the Germans.

Alderney Fortress Island