A Little History

I come from the small island of Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. Those with an interest in the past might know that the 8th May is celebrated as V.E. Day, the day that Europe was finally freed from the yoke of Nazi Germany at the end of the Second World War.

Fewer people know that on the next day, the 9th May 1945, the German Occupation of the Channel Islands was brought to an end.

The Germans had invaded Guernsey, Jersey and Alderney in June 1940, and occupied the British islands for five years, constructing impenetrable defensive fortifications using over 1.5 million tons of concrete and the forced labour of over 13,000 prisoners of war, brought to the island from the Eastern Front. The propaganda Hitler implemented off the back of holding British territory was invaluable, as Germans saw photographs of their soldiers in the company of British policemen, and parading outside such inherently British institutions such as Lloyd’s Bank.

For those years, 25,000 Guernsey residents lived under the oppression of Nazi occupation, with 16,000 German troops stationed on the island. Hitler himself supervised the design of the massive artillery batteries and anti-aircraft positions, holding the belief that once the third reich was permanently established, the islands could be turned into a Nazi version of utopia, and as such needed to be defended from allied invasion.

An invasion never came, although radar and gun emplacements were bombed on the night of 5th June 1944, ahead of the D-Day operations. The islands were cut off from German supplies for 11 months, effectively held under siege by the allies, and those months were savage for the garrison, the British civilian population, and even more so the prisoners of war. Starvation came to many of the POW’s, and in December 1944 the Germans allowed the International Red Cross ship S.S. Vega to dock with essential food and fuel for the population.

The 9th May is a national holiday in Guernsey, a time when the community comes together to celebrate their ‘Liberation Day’, in memory of those who suffered through the occupation and in thanks to those who came ashore in 1945 to receive the German surrender, bringing freedom at last.

I hold the place dear to my heart, and if you ever want to find out more about this dark chapter, please don’t hesitate to ask me.