The occupation of the Channel Islands

silverharp

Was watching a prog on one of the Sat. channels about the occupation of the channel Islands, but what was missing was any perspective from the German side. Given the events of WW2 is has to line up with guarding the Swiss boarder as the cushiest posting a German soldier could expect to have had.
Apparently the commander had no intention of surrendering right up to VE day, which again would love to have known what was going on in his head, as after D day the Islands were cut off and the only consequence of not surrendering earlier was making the local population go hungry although it seemed there was at least 1 red cross ship allowed in before the end.
For the average German soldier they must have thanked their lucky stars that they weren't on the Eastern front etc.
Has anyone ever read up on this one?

Fratton Fred

silverharp wrote: »

Was watching a prog on one of the Sat. channels about the occupation of the channel Islands, but what was missing was any perspective from the German side. Given the events of WW2 is has to line up with guarding the Swiss boarder as the cushiest posting a German soldier could expect to have had.
Apparently the commander had no intention of surrendering right up to VE day, which again would love to have known what was going on in his head, as after D day the Islands were cut off and the only consequence of not surrendering earlier was making the local population go hungry although it seemed there was at least 1 red cross ship allowed in before the end.
For the average German soldier they must have thanked their lucky stars that they weren't on the Eastern front etc.
Has anyone ever read up on this one?

I haven't read up on it, but I have visited Jersey and been to the underground hospital there. it wasn't all roses from what I recall, I think the locals did cause a few problems and there was a lot of POWs there, building the hospital so i guess it was about as cushy as any other POW camp. I seem to recall that the Germans did execute some resistance, or maybe locals, in retaliation for resistance attacks as well, but not on the scale as crete for example. Strategically the channel islands aren't that important which is why the allies just by passed them and cut them off.

It's a very nice island and the beers cheap too, there are a couple of museums and obviously the Hospital which fill you in on life during the war.

motherfunker

From what I have read it wasent only the locals who went hungry at the end, the germans dident have any foor for themselves either, I think the description I read said "emaciated soilders".

jmayo

From talking to people that have visited Channel islands and have relatives who live there, there was resentment towards those that were seen to have fraternised with the enemy.
Also a few children had resulted from these liasions.
Also the Islanders were a peeved that they had been left even after France had been liberated.

Fratton Fred

jmayo wrote: »

From talking to people that have visited Channel islands and have relatives who live there, there was resentment towards those that were seen to have fraternised with the enemy.
Also a few children had resulted from these liasions.
Also the Islanders were a peeved that they had been left even after France had been liberated.

I can understand why they would be miffed, but Jersey would have been a tough nut to crack and there was no strategic reason to do so. The Allies just took the Garrison there out of the war by blockading it. If they had invaded the loss of life would have far outwieghed the hardship suffered by the islanders.

Tony EH

jmayo wrote: »

From talking to people that have visited Channel islands and have relatives who live there, there was resentment towards those that were seen to have fraternised with the enemy.
Also a few children had resulted from these liasions.
Also the Islanders were a peeved that they had been left even after France had been liberated.

The simple facts of life during the occupation was that Islanders had to get on with the Germans garrisoned there and by and large they did. It was to the benefit of all concerned that each faction co-operated to a degree. The Wehrmacht police system also operated quite closely with the Island police in trying to stamp out black marketers for example.

On the smaller Islands, Alderney and Sark, there was actually a rota system installed for inmates to take turns and do their time, because there was only one jail cell!

My mother was from Guernsey and she was evacuated to England in 1940. her mother and sister stayed behind. They were of the opinion that the occupation wasn't too much of an intrusion into Island life and only got really hard in the latter years, mainly due to the blockade. The Germans, in 1944, actually had to appeal several times to the British to let Red Cross ships dock at Peter Port as they were being stopped for a time on Churchill's orders.

The Germans tried hard to make the occupation look like a benign affair and it was certainly to their advantage not to stir up the Islanders too much. They even had to apply to the Dame of Sark for permission to land on the 4th of July, when they occupied that Island.

The Islanders were even allowed to listen to the BBC on their radios for a while, which is remarkable when you consider that in other occupied countries, that could get you a spell in a Gestapo prison. The Islanders radios were later confiscated as the SOE had started to broadcast resistance codes to units operating in France.

Male/Female relations with German soldiers was actually quite common and was tolerated, but became frowned upon if things got too serious. This would earn the nickname "Jerrybag" for the girl who became too affectionate to a German.

Tony