German occupation of the Channel Islands

The Occupation of the Channel Islands refers to the Military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany forces during World War II. It lasted from 30 June 1940 until the Liberation on 9 May 1945. The Channel Islands, which are crown dependencies, were the only piece of British Isles to be invaded and occupied by German forces during the war.

Before Occupation

Demilitarisation

On 15 June 1940, the British Government decided that the Channel Islands were of no strategic importance and would not be defended. They decided to keep this a secret from the German forces. London had decided that the Channel Islands would be little more than a drain of resources for the Germans. The tens of thousands of German soldiers that Hitler had sent to defend the Islands meant that they could not be sent to defend more strategically important sites, such as the West coast of Europe. The Channel Islands served no purpose to the Germans other than to cite occupied parts of British territory in German propaganda.

Evacuation

The British Government consulted the Islands' elected government representatives, in order to formulate a policy regarding evacuation. Opinion was divided, and without a policy being imposed on the Islands, chaos ensued and different policies were adopted by the different islands. British Government concluded their best policy was to make available as many ships as possible so that Islanders had the option to leave if they wanted to. Alderney recommended to all its Islanders to evacuate, the Dame of Sark encouraged everyone to stay. Guernsey evacuated all children of school age with their schools, giving the parents the option of keeping their children with them, or evacuating with their school. In Jersey, the majority of Islanders chose to stay.

Invasion

Since the Germans were ignorant of the fact that the Islands had been demilitarised, they approached the islands with some caution. Reconnaissance flights were inconclusive. On 28 June 1940, they then sent a squadron of bombers on a mission over the Islands, and bombed the harbours of Guernsey and Jersey. In St Peter Port, what the reconnaissance mistook for troop carriers were actually lines of lorries queued up to load tomatoes for export to England. 44 islanders were killed in the raids.

While the German Army were preparing to land an assault force of two battalions to capture the Islands, a reconnaisance pilot landed in Guernsey on 30 June to whom the Island officially surrendered. Jersey surrendered on 1 July. Alderney, where no-one remained, was occupied on 2 July, and a small detachment travelled from Guernsey to Sark which officially surrendered on 4 July.

Occupation

The German forces quickly consolidated their positions. They brought in infantry troops, established communications and anti-aircraft defences, established an air service with mainland France and rounded up British servicemen on leave.

Government

In Guernsey, the Bailiff, Sir Victor Carey and the States of Guernsey handed overall control to the German authorities. Day-to-day running of Island affairs became the responsibility of a Controlling Committee, chaired by Ambrose Sherwill.

In Jersey, {help needed}

Resistance & collaboration

There was no resistance movement in the Channel Islands on the scale of that in mainland France. This has been ascribed to a range of factors including the physical separation of the Islands, the density of troops (up to one German for every two Islanders), the small size of the Islands precluding any hiding places for resistance groups, and the absence of the Gestapo from the occupying forces.

Resistance involved passive resistance, acts of minor sabotage, and sheltering and aiding escaped slave workers. The islanders also joined in the Churchill's V sign campaign by daubing the letter 'V' (for Victory) over German signs.

A number of Islanders escaped (including Peter Crill), the pace of which increased following D-Day, when conditions in the Islands worsened as supply routes to the continent were cut off, and the desire to join in the liberation of Europe increased.

The policy of the Island governments, acting under instructions from the British government communicated before the occupation, was one of passive co-operation, although this has been criticised (see Bunting), particularly in the treatment of Jews in the islands.

Some island women fraternised with the occupying forces, although this was frowned upon by the majority of Islanders, who gave them the derogatory nickname Jerry-bag.

File:EBOccupStamps1.jpg

Stamps designed by Blampied issued in 1943 for use in Jersey during the German Occupation

The lack of currency in Jersey led to a request to artist Edmund Blampied to design bank notes for the States of Jersey in denominations of 6 pence, 1 shilling, 2 shillings, 10 shillings and 1 pound, which were issued in 1942. A year later he was asked to design six new postage stamps for the island of ½ d to 3 d, and as a sign of resistance he cleverly incorporated the initials GR in the three penny stamp to display loyalty to King George VI.

British Government reaction

The British Government's reaction to the German invasion was muted, with the Ministry of Information issuing a press release shortly after the Germans landed.

On 6 July 1940, 2nd Lieutenant Hubert Nicolle, a Guernseyman serving with British Army, was dispatched on a fact-finding mission to Guernsey. He was dropped off the south coast of Guernsey by a submarine, and rowed ashore in a canoe under cover of night. This was the first of two visits which Nicolle made to the island. Following the second he missed his rendez-vous, was trapped in the island. After months in hiding, he gave himself up to the German authorities, and was sent to a German prison-of-war camp.

In October 1942, there was a British Commando raid on Sark, named Operation Basalt.

In 1943, Vice Admiral Lord Mountbatten proposed a plan to retake the islands named Operation Constellation. The proposed attack was never mounted.

Fortification

As part of the Atlantic Wall, between 1940 and 1945 the occupying German forces and the Organisation Todt constructed fortifications round the coasts of the Channel Islands.

The majority of the workforce was slave labour composed of prisoners of war from Eastern Europe, as well as Spanish republicans.

In Alderney, a concentration camp, Lager Sylt was established to provide slave labour for the fortifications.

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Deportation

In 1942, the German authorities announced that all residents of the Channel Islands who were not born in the Islands, as well as those men who served as officers in World War I, were to be deported. The majority of them were transported to the southwest of Germany, notably to Biberach an der Riss and interned in the Lindele Camp ("Lager Lindele").

Representation in London

As self-governing Crown Dependencies, the Channel Islands had no elected representatives in the British Parliament. In order to ensure that the Islanders were not forgotten, it fell to evacuees and other Islanders living in the United Kingdom prior to the occupation. The Jersey Society in London, formed in the 1920s, provided a focal point for exiled Jerseymen. In 1943, a number of influential Guernseymen living in London formed the Guernsey Society to provide a similar focal point and network for Guernsey exiles. Besides relief work, these groups also undertook studies to plan for economic reconstruction and political reform after the end of the war. The pamphlet Notre Île published in London by a committee of Jersey people was influential in the 1948 reform of the constitution of the Bailiwick.

Bertram Falle, a Jerseyman, was elected M.P. for Portsmouth in 1910. Eight times elected to the House of Commons, in 1934 he was raised to the House of Lords with the title of Lord Portsea. During the occupation he represented the interests of Islanders and pressed the British government to relieve their plight, especially after the Islands were cut off after D-Day.

Committees of émigré Channel Islanders elsewhere in the British Empire also banded together to provide relief for evacuees. For example, Philippe William Luce (writer and journalist, 1882 - 1966) founded the Vancouver Channel Islands Society in 1940 to raise money for evacuees.

Under Siege

Following the D-Day landings and the liberation of Normandy during June 1944, the German supply lines for food and other supplies through France were completely severed. The islanders' food supplies were already dwindling, and this made matters considerably worse, and the islanders and German forces alike were on the point of starvation.

Churchill's reaction to the plight of the German garrison was to "let 'em rot", even though this meant that the islanders had to rot with them. It took months of protracted negotiations before the SS Vega was permitted to bring Red Cross parcels of food and other essentials to rescue the starving islanders.

Liberation and legacy

Liberation

The islands were liberated on 9 May 1945, the day after V-E Day.

Aftermath