The Channel Island Military Museum

The Channel Island Military Museum The best Occupation experience on the Island. A vast collection displayed in a German bunker.
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We open for the season every year on the Monday before Good Friday and close at the end of October for the winter. The Museum is housed in a German bunker which once formed part of Hitlers Atlantic Wall defences. All the rooms and corridors are full of German military and civilian Occupation items. Hundreds of items, many personnel stories, and a 40 minute commentary. Well worth the visit if your

interested in the history of the Island. The artefacts on display in the Museum are a very small part of the owners collection which he started when he was 7 years old and is still searching for new items today nearly 50 years later. His lifelong passion has been to save all and any items from the 5 years of German Occupation, after hearing his Grandparents stories about the Occupation and those of his Father he became determined that this time should not be forgotten. The Occupation happened here on the Island of Jersey and is the most important time in the Islands recent history, the Museum and all the artefacts on display are evidence of this time and an exceptionally rare and valuable insight into those times for tourists and researchers alike.

A few more from our Normandie tour. There’s always something of interest around every corner.
01/06/2026

A few more from our Normandie tour. There’s
always something of interest around every corner.

A morning out at Ecausseville this morning at the site of the WW.I French Naval airship hanger.
01/06/2026

A morning out at Ecausseville this morning at the site of the WW.I French Naval airship hanger.

At Utah beach this afternoon.
31/05/2026

At Utah beach this afternoon.

Having a drive around visiting a few museums and and local places of interest
31/05/2026

Having a drive around visiting a few museums and and local places of interest

A good start to the day
31/05/2026

A good start to the day

31/05/2026

And so the day begins. Day 3 of our Normandie trip. A peaceful walk around the square before the crowds arrive.

Day 2 of the Normandie 2026 tour. Very happy with today’s find. A nice German permit allowing Sanitats Gefreiter Johann...
30/05/2026

Day 2 of the Normandie 2026 tour. Very happy with today’s find. A nice German permit allowing Sanitats Gefreiter Johann Weinzierl to wear a Red Cross armband issued by the Stabsarzt u. Fuehrer der Iw. San Staffel Jersey.
There is always something new to find even when you are away.

The 2026 Normandie has got off to a great start. Good time was made getting up to St.Mere Eglise from St.Malo.We have al...
29/05/2026

The 2026 Normandie has got off to a great start. Good time was made getting up to St.Mere Eglise from St.Malo.
We have already met up with a number of old friends from previous years and are looking forward to the start of our week early tomorrow morning.
More photos and updates to come as the week progresses.

29/05/2026

Fridays item interest is somewhat different today, it’s not an item as such. It’s more of a milestone and an anniversary. The Museum was officially opened on the evening of the 28th of May 1989 by the then Constable Mr A.P. Queree, and the following morning the Museum opened to the public. That was 37 years ago today. Back then I had a business partner and everything seemed to be about as good as it could get. But like many businesses the partnership broke down over time and we went our separate ways.
I continued with the Museum and it has evolved over the years and become the foremost Occupation Museum on the Island, not in its actual size but in its content. Judging it on the artefacts displayed within the bunker nothing else come close. With most item having been sourced locally and being original the Museum is known as the place to visit if you really want to see items from the time.
The Museum relies solely on visitors for its survival, and luckily although there has been a major downturn in tourism since it first opened it still continues to show those who visit the Occupation through its many artefacts, stories, documents and photographs. The Museum also holds a fairly large document and photo archive that is frequently used by authors and historians. Last year alone it helped in one way or another with at least 5 different books that were published.
The collection is still being added to, and many of these items are historically significant to the Islands Occupation history.
Averaging it out, over the last 36 year’s from when the Museum opened at £2.50 an adult the price has gone up less 21p a year. Today at £10 an adult and £5 a child this truly does represent a value for money experience. There is much more on display than you will see elsewhere and items are always being added to the displays.
The Museum will continue to do what it has done well for the last 37 years and hope that many of you will come for a visit and see what has been achieved.

Wednesday’s item of interest just show that Occupation souvenirs come in all different forms. This is a piece cut from a...
27/05/2026

Wednesday’s item of interest just show that Occupation souvenirs come in all different forms. This is a piece cut from a Kriegsmarine Flag. The person who took it, cut it from the full flag. Luckily this part still has the makers label attached and a couple of small ink stamps. It was made by Bonner Fahnenfabrik of Bonn.

Below is some information taken from the internet which may be of further interest.

Reichskriegsflagge (German: [ˈʁaɪçsˌkʁiːksflaɡə], lit. 'Imperial War Flag') refers to several war flags and war ensigns used by the German armed forces in history. A total of eight different designs were used in 1848–1849 and between 1867–1871 and 1945.

The Kriegsmarine flag for the Third Reich was designed personally by Hi**er, this flag served the Heer and the Luftwaffe as their war flag, and the Kriegsmarine as its war ensign (the national flag serving as jack). This flag was hoisted daily in barracks operated by units of the Wehrmacht, and it had to be flown from a pole positioned near the barracks entrance, or failing this, near the guard room or staff building. New recruits in the latter part of World War II were sworn in on this flag (one recruit holding the flag and taking the oath on behalf of the entire recruit class with the recruits looking on as witnesses – before, this was done on the regimental colours).
The flag had to be formally hoisted every morning and lowered every evening. These hoisting and lowering ceremonies took the form of either an ordinary or a ceremonial flag parade. At the ordinary raising, the party consisted of the Orderly Officer of the Day, the guard, and one musician. At the ceremonial raising, one officer, one platoon of soldiers with rifles, the guard, the regimental band, and the corps of drums were all present.
The proportions of the flag are 3:5. Fusing elements of the Third Reich period flag (crooked cross and red background) with that of the old Imperial Reich war flag (four arms emanating from off-centre circle and Iron Cross in the canton), these flags were uniformly produced as a printed design on bunting.
Raised for the first time at the Bendlerstraße Building (Wehrmacht Headquarters) in Berlin on 7 November 1935, it was taken down for the last time by British occupation forces after the arrest of the Dönitz Government at the Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg-Mürwik on 23 May 1945.
In his book, Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer states that "in only two other designs did he (Adolf Hi**er) execute the same care as he did his Obersalzberg house: that of the Reich war flag and his own standard of Chief of State."

Address

Grande Route Des Mielles
Saint Ouen
JE32FN

Opening Hours

Monday 10:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 10:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 17:00
Thursday 10:00 - 17:00
Friday 10:00 - 17:00
Saturday 10:00 - 17:00
Sunday 10:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+447797732072

Website

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