Strongpoint Plémont
Bunker Project
In 2014 we were asked by The National Trust For Jersey (NT) if we could help them with documenting their work in returning the Plemont site back to nature and help identify bunkers from above using our drone.
Plemont was a large Strongpoint during the Occupation and later became the site of an abandoned and derelict Pontins Holiday Camp. The land was purchased by the trust with the aim to return it back to nature as well as protect the WWII fortifications that remained.
We agreed to help and were given unrestricted access to the site for this purpose. We worked closely with the developers, through the trust, as well as others including the Channel Island OCcupation Societe providing details of where we believed some of the lost bunkers to be.
It was important to us that we found all of the remaining bunkers to make sure the demolition of the holiday camp did not also destroy a bunker.
Our work below shows what a great job the National Trust have done and we are also glad to report that from our work we were able to save one of the bunkers from being lost forever.
Below was how the site looked when we started work. This is our drone video and back in 2014 this was of great quality at the time, it has not aged very well but gives you a good idea of the size of the site.
Below is a German map of the area and also an Aerial photograph from Feb 1945
Below we marked out the sites we belived to be buried or part of the holiday camp structures.
Below was filmed in Feb 2015 and you can see the progress the demolition had made.
Below are a few of the bunkers that were saved. Our first result using the drone was for a small ringstand type bunker, possibly for a 5cm mortar. This was subsequently dug out and remains on site.
Below is the M3 Observation Bunker, this had been built on and made part of a heating plant and used by janitors in the camp.
Below you can have a digital tour of this bunker
Below is a ringstand that had been converted to green waste burning.
By 2016 the work by the National Trust was complete and here is a flyover of the site. Compared to the first video the site is almost unrecognisable. This was one of our first projects supporting the work of the National Trust.