Tour Scotland short travel video clip, with Scottish music, of Churchill Barriers on ancestry, genealogy, history to the Orkney Islands. The Churchill Barriers are four causeways in the Orkney Islands with a total length of 1.4 miles. They link the Orkney Mainland in the north to the island of South Ronaldsay via Burray and the two smaller islands of Lamb Holm and Glimps Holm. The barriers were built in the 1940s, primarily as naval defences to protect the anchorage at Scapa Flow, but now serve as road links. On 14 October 1939, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak was sunk at her moorings within the natural harbour of Scapa Flow, by the German U-boat U-47 under the command of Günther Prien. U-47 had entered Scapa Flow through Holm Sound, one of several eastern entrances to Scapa Flow. To prevent further attacks, the First Lord of The Admiralty Winston Churchill ordered the construction of permanent barriers. Work began in May 1940 and the barriers were completed in September 1944 but were not officially opened until 12 May 1945, four days after Victory in Europe Day. Much of the labour was provided by over 1,300 Italian prisoners of war who had been captured in the desert war in North Africa; they were transported to Orkney from early 1942 onwards. The prisoners were accommodated in three camps, 600 at Camp 60 on Little Holm and the remaining 700 at two camps on Burray. In 1943, those at Camp 60 built an ornate Italian Chapel, which still survives and has become a tourist attraction.
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