Not a person but a couple of guns!

But they have history...

Standing in a quiet formal garden in Guernsey, as a silent reminder to war, are two German 13.5cm field howitzers. Most people may simply pass them by as they drive or walk past Victoria Tower and Gardens in St Peter Port. Surprisingly these two pieces of artillery were not left over from the German Occupation of the Islands in the 1940s, but had been presented to Guernsey after the Great War.

Even as the Battle of the Somme was raging in France, the question of how the authorities were going to deal with trophies and relics seized from the enemy was being raised. When the trophies were eventually being allocated, it was stated that the best examples were to be kept for a British National War Museum (later to become the Imperial War Museum), whilst the remaining items would be distributed to the dominion countries. By the 15th April, 1920, some 3,595 guns, 15,044 machine-guns, 75,824 small arms and 7,887 assorted other trophies had been distributed under the auspices of the War Trophies Committee.

No part of the British Empire was ignored, and in 1921 the Channel Island of Guernsey received its share of the Allies’ spoils of war. The list of items received included four 13.5cm Kanone 09 artillery pieces, two trench mortars, two anti-tank rifles, two machine-guns, a gas gong, six steel helmets, two sets of body armour, an entrenching tool, six rifles, three bayonets, twelve ‘Pistols Illuminating’, three carbines, and a field gun of unspecified calibre.
The arrival of the war trophies, however, was unexpected by the Islanders. A temporary home was found for the items at the Town Arsenal in St Peter Port, then the headquarters of the Royal Guernsey Militia and today, the home of the Guernsey Fire and Rescue Service.

In October, 1921, Major FHS Le Mesurier, the Deputy Assistant Adjutant General of the Royal Guernsey Militia, complained to the States of Guernsey Supervisor that the war trophies were taking up valuable space and preventing the Militia from using their own drill hall. The matter was considered at the States Deliberation (being a self-governing Island this is effectively a Parliament meeting) where it was decided to set up a committee to report back on what should be done with these war trophies.

After much discussion the States decided to adopt the committee’s suggestion and instructed that the guns should be placed in the grounds of Victoria Tower, though the sum of £70 was saved by not installing the railings.

After two decades of the guns being on display with no maintenance and in frequently damp conditions, particularly at the western end of the gardens which are normally in shade, the wheels of two guns placed that end of the garden had started to collapse. As children often played on the guns, the potential risk of injury was considered too great and in 1938 the decision was made to call in a local scrap merchant, Mr. Ralph O’Toole, who was asked to dismantle and remove the two western guns.

With the swift advance through France of the German forces and following the withdraw of all military personnel from Guernsey on the 19th June, 1940, the States became concerned that the two remaining 13.5cm Kanone 09 guns would be seen by enemy aerial reconnaissance aircraft and be misinterpreted as active artillery. They chose to hide them by simply burying them, and consequently large sloped pits were dug in the centre of the gardens and the guns pushed in to the holes and covered.
Following the Liberation of Guernsey on the 9th May, 1945, all of the German guns from the occupation were removed and scrapped or dumped at sea. The two 13.5cm Kanone 09 guns remained buried and all but forgotten for the next thirty-eight years until Arthur Oswald Hamon, who was at the time Chairman of the Ancient Monuments Committee, approached States member Roger Berry with the proposal that the guns should be dug up and restored.

This suggestion duly became a subject of the States meeting in November, 1978. The States approved the recovery and granted a budget of £2,000 to excavate and restore them. It was decided to replace both guns in the gardens, one at either end. Work was soon underway, the task being completed in December, 1978.

Exposed to the elements, both artillery pieces were quickly painted with Croda Triple Coat grey paint. This was done not to conform to any military colour scheme but simply this was because it was the same paint that was used during the maintenance of the cranes in St Peter Port Harbour. The guns still retain that colour scheme today.
Still on display beside Victoria Tower, the artillery pieces in Guernsey are believed to be two of just three 13.5cm Kannon 09 guns, from an original production run of just 190 of the type, that have survived worldwide.