THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING

A novel setting
The other life of the only British territory occupied by the Germans in WWII
By Linda Matchan, Globe Staff | November 8, 2009 ST. PETER PORT, Guernsey – When you put your mind to it, there are plenty of ways to use a bunker on your property. Extra storage. Wine cellars. Recording studios. These are some of the creative solutionsdevised by the resilient residents of Guernsey, a small, scenic island in the far reaches of the English Channel that found itself in Hitler’s crosshairs in World War II. Guernsey was occupied by some 15,000 German troops between 1940 and 1945, and fortified so ferociously it was virtually impregnable. “You can’t go more than 3 miles without seeing a bunker,’’ said John O’Neill, a Guernseyphotojournalist. But the Germans left in a hurry when the war ended, abandoning their estimated 700 bunkers and everything in them. Since they’re probably there for eternity, the people of Guernsey have made the best of them. O’Neill’s rock band used to rehearse in one. Others have used them to grow mushrooms and store fish. “We’ve seen people use them for billiards,’’ said Molly Bihet, author ofseveral books on Guernsey’s wartime history. “They’re solid and they’re warm because they’re well insulated.’’ Until recently, the occupation has been a little-known footnote to World War ll history. The harbor was bombed in 1940, killing 41 civilians. Half the population and most of the schoolchildren were evacuated, and all residents not born on the island were deported and interned in camps.Thousands of slave workers from German occupied territories were shipped to the island, starved, and worked – in many cases – to death. But in the last year the island (population about 65,000) has been thrust from near-obscurity into the international limelight with the surprise success of an American book, “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’’ (The Dial Press/Random House), by first-timenovelist Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It was named one of the best books of 2008 by Time, The Washington Post, and other publications; the paperback has more than a million copies in print. Written as a series of letters exchanged after the war, the novel tells intertwining stories of romance and the occupation. Because a subplot revolves around the eccentric members of the literarysociety, it’s been a particular hit among book groups; nearly 57,000 of them from the United States entered a contest sponsored by the publisher to win a trip to Guernsey. Yet here on the island, most people have barely taken notice. Not all the bookstores carry it. There’s not a single potato peel pie souvenir to be found, not a slice of potato peel pie available in a restaurant. The book has barelymade a dent in tourism: “Independent and group travelers have ventured to the island in search of potato peel heritage this year, but in the 100s rather than the 1000s,’’ e-mailed Jason Moriarty, marketing manager for Guernsey’s commerce division. But he’s optimistic it will improve, and at least two local tour guides are working up Potato Peel Pie tours including locations described in the book. ButGuernsey folks are a self-contained, hunker-down sort, accustomed to and not offended by being overlooked, most famously by Winston Churchill, who as wartime prime minister decided the Channel Islands were of no strategic importance and thus would not be defended. The fact that the book inspired this reporter to cross the ocean and see it for myself struck people here as so remarkable that myvisit was covered by the local newspaper.

What seems remarkable is that more tourists don’t visit, given the extraordinary wealth of World War II history; the ease of getting here (an easy 45-minute flight from London); and the island’s beauty and unrivaled quirkiness. At various times, Guernsey has been under the sovereignty of both France (30 miles east) and Britain (125 miles north), and the…