New history tours launch on the Islands of Guernsey ahead of the 80th anniversary of Liberation Day

On 9 May, Guernsey will mark the 80th anniversary of its Liberation from the German Occupation during World War II. The celebrations will run throughout 2025, with several ‘Heritage80’ events held across the islands, making it the perfect year for travellers to visit the Islands of Guernsey. Included in the commemorative activities is a selection of new guided history tours which will allow visitors to explore sites of significance to the occupation and commemorate the milestone anniversary.

OCCUPATION EXPLORER TOUR

On this four-hour tour of the most significant sites linked to the occupation, guests will hear from their accredited guide Amanda Johns, who shares personal stories about her family’s experience on Guernsey during the war. The guided tour will take visitors to the German Occupation Museum, which houses an extensive collection of original items, documents and extremely rare pieces, before heading up to the Pleinmont Gun Batterie.

NEW: Tours of Guernsey’s Occupation Explorer Tour will run at 10.00am on 8 May during Liberation Week. The tour is also available to book throughout 2025 and is priced at £77 per person, inclusive of entry fees.

BATTERIE MIRUS TOUR

This 1.75-hour guided tour will showcase one of the historic gun placements that make up part of the incredible Batterie Mirus fortification. Guests will gain exclusive access to the fortification, which is not open to the public, and can marvel at the labyrinth of once-secret corridors and military history as they explore one of the largest WWII gun emplacements in the Channel Islands. They will learn about the guns transported to the island during the war and get an exclusive opportunity to observe photographs from a private collection.

NEW: Tours of Guernsey’s Batterie Mirus Tour will run at 10.30am on 5 May during Liberation Week. The tour is also available to book throughout 2025 and is priced at £19 per person, inclusive of a donation to Festung Guernsey – the non-for-profit organisation who manage and carry out restoration of the site visited.

80 YEARS OF LIBERATION TOUR

On the new 80 Years of Liberation - Occupation Tour 2025, visitors will explore the concrete fortifications on the island whilst learning the stories of the occupation that have been recounted by local families over the past 80 years. The German Underground Hospital, which was used by occupying forces as a hospital and ammunition store, will also provide an eery insight into WWII, set in a complex of tunnels that was built by the Germans. The tour will also stop at the island’s Liberation Monument and the Pleinmont gun batterie, situated high on Pleinmont Point.

NEW: Island Coachways’ 80 Years of Liberation – Occupation Tour 2025 will run on Tuesdays from 10.30am to 2.00pm and is priced from £45 per person, inclusive of all entrance fees. The tour will run from May to October 2025 and require a minimum of two bookings to operate. A full-day tour option is also available.

GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY TOUR

The new three-and-a-half hour Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society tour allows guests to explore the locations featured in the best-selling book. The tour will visit the lanes, meadows and farmhouses where the main characters “lived” their colourful lives and will also visit the iconic viewpoint where Elizabeth met her German lover, for incredible views of the other Channel Islands and France. Other highlights include visiting the Little Chapel which is now regarded as the smallest consecrated church in the world and passing by many German fortifications on the way to White Rock Pier. Throughout the tour, the guide will recount real-life tales, showcasing the heroism of the Islanders during the German occupation.

NEW: Island Coachways’ Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society tour will run on Fridays from 10.30am to 2.00pm for £25 per person. The tour will run from May to October 2025 and require a minimum of two bookings to operate.

LIBERATION DAY ON THE ISLANDS OF GUERNSEY

From 6 to 11 May, the Islands of Guernsey will host a variety of festivities in celebration of the anniversary. This will include a parade led by the Band of HM Royal Marines, a seafront cavalcade of British military vehicles and vintage cars, historical re-enactments, and community celebrations of live entertainment, vintage fairs and family-friendly events, including a drone show depicting the powerful story of the island’s Liberation in a breathtaking fusion of technology, art and history.

The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles under German control during World War II. Between 1940 – 1945, they were occupied by German forces. Each of the Islands of Guernsey had a completely different experience during the war, but collectively, they became the most fortified part of Hitler's Atlantic Wall.

Guernsey’s Liberation began at dawn with the arrival of HMS Bulldog in St Peter Port on 9 May 1945, which saw German forces formally sign a declaration of surrender aboard the vessel. This year’s 80th Liberation Day programme will see members of the World War II generation, veterans, and evacuees at the centre of a day of remembrance and community celebration.

The remnants of the Occupation are still visible across the islands, with fortifications dotted along the coastline and unique museums documenting this important part of the islands’ past. Hundreds of reinforced bunkers, gun emplacements and tunnels were constructed across the years, transforming the tiny archipelago into one of the most fortified places on earth. Much has been done to preserve and restore these fortifications for visitors to explore today.

This includes the newly renovated German Naval Signal Headquarters; a network of underground rooms where German Forces in the Channel Islands handled all the important radio signals traffic. Today, it is a museum displaying a range of original artefacts including the Enigma code machine that was being decoded by the British staff at Bletchley Park during World War II.

For further information on Guernsey’s Liberation Day celebrations, please visit www.liberationday.gg and for further information on Heritage80 and the Islands of Guernsey, visit www.visitguernsey.com/experiences/history

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