After Hitler's October 1941 order to fortify the Channel Islands (as part of the Atlantic Wall), work began on a string of fortifications all around Jersey.

Ho8 was intended to be a vast network of tunnels that would allow the German occupying infantry to withstand Allied air raids and bombardment (in preparation for an invasion).

Conditions were terrible, although Russian and Ukrainian POWs were treated the worst, with cases of malnutrition, death by exhaustion and disease among them becoming common.

On the other hand, the voluntary workers often had much better conditions, being offered over four times the wages that they would have earned working in similar jobs for the States of Jersey, and often receiving extra food rations.

The hospital had 500 beds for patients, with a full heating and air conditioning system (although the rest of the tunnel complex usually maintained a constant temperature of about 17 °C (63 °F), due to its being built deep into the hillside).