In WWII the Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Germans. In June 1940 Alderney’s population were mostly evacuated to the UK. On 2 July German troops arrived on the island.
The five year German Occupation of Alderney left many lasting marks on the island's landscape.
Following Hitler's orders to convert Alderney into an impregnable fortress, thousands of slave workers from countries like Russia, Spain, France, Poland, and Algeria built hundreds of bunkers, gun emplacements, an anti-tank wall, as well as tunnel complexes on our small island.
The Occupation Trail explores some of the sites from this dark period of the island's history.
