Battery History (1941-1945)

Following Hitler's October 1941 directive, the Channel Islands were to become a naval fortress. Naval resources alone were insufficient, so army coastal artillery was brought in. The battery was operational by December 1941 as HKB 471 Batterie Pleimont.

In 1943 the unit was redesignated as the 15th Battery of IV Battalion, Artillery Regiment 1265. In 1944 it was renamed Batterie Generaloberst Dollmann.

The battery fielded four 22 cm K532(f) guns with an approximate range of 22 kilometers. Guns were housed in separate pits and controlled from a Leitstand command center.

The guns were originally French Canon de 220 L Mle 1917 Schneider weapons, captured after the 1940 campaign in France and re-deployed for coastal defense.

After liberation in 1945, the guns remained in position until scrapped. Emplacements were later backfilled and landscaped in 1948.

Construction And Armament

Construction began in 1941 on the south-west tip of Guernsey at Pleinmont, where the battery was positioned to command the western and south-western sea approaches to the island.

The original intention was to mount four modern 15 cm SK C/28 naval guns, but these were unavailable. Instead, the Germans installed four captured French 22 cm K532(f) guns dating from the First World War.

Each gun weighed around 10 tonnes and had a range of roughly 23 kilometres, giving the battery a formidable defensive reach across the surrounding coastline and shipping lanes.

Unlike several major coastal batteries on Guernsey, Battery Dollmann remained under German Army control rather than passing to the Navy, which influenced the layout and command arrangements of the site.

Layout Of The Battery

Battery Dollmann was far more than four gun pits. The site included a central Leitstand command and fire-control bunker, eight large ammunition bunkers, crew shelters, machine-gun Tobruks, and anti-aircraft positions.

Four Tobruks were adapted for French FT-17 tank turrets, while other support features included a searchlight position, a water reservoir, and service buildings required to keep the battery operating.

A substantial network of concrete-lined communication trenches connected the different positions, allowing men and ammunition to move across the battery while remaining under cover.

Name, Command, And Wartime Role

The battery was named after Friedrich Dollmann, commander of the German Seventh Army. Although he never served in Guernsey, naming batteries after senior commanders was a common wartime practice.

Because Battery Dollmann remained with the German Army, its command bunker was modified with additional concrete observation levels rather than the standard naval range-finding arrangement seen elsewhere on the island.

Its wartime purpose was to defend Guernsey from Allied naval attack or invasion and to form part of the wider German coastal artillery network covering the island.

Despite being fully operational, the battery never fired in combat at Allied ships. After D-Day, the Channel Islands were bypassed and isolated until the German surrender in May 1945.

Liberation And After The War

On 9 May 1945, German forces in Guernsey surrendered to British troops, and Battery Dollmann was captured almost completely intact because the island had not been invaded or heavily bombarded.

This unusual survival helped preserve the site far better than many comparable Atlantic Wall batteries elsewhere in Europe.

After the war, the original guns were removed for scrap or disposal, but the reinforced concrete structures remained. During the Cold War, the former command bunker was reused by the Royal Observer Corps as a nuclear monitoring post before eventually being abandoned in the late 1980s.

Recovery And Restoration (1995-2001)

A surviving 22 cm K532(f) barrel was recovered from Jersey in 1995. Pleimont No. 3 gun pit was selected as the most suitable restoration location in Guernsey.

Work began in 1997 after lease and permissions were secured. Approximately 1,000 tons of spoil and backfill were removed. Bunkers were cleaned, repaired, and prepared as close as possible to wartime appearance.

A replica chassis and mount were fabricated using copies of original French blueprints obtained through archival channels. Restoration included repainting steelwork, replacing bunker wiring, and careful engineering to support the barrel.

In June 2001, the restored barrel and mount were lifted by crane and fitted into the restored emplacement.

Today the site stands as a preserved historical landmark linking wartime history, post-war salvage, and local restoration effort.

On selected summer open days, the restored gun is demonstrated using blank charges, helping visitors understand the scale, sound, and engineering of the original battery.