Figure 1.--Here are some of the Channel Island children with one of the German soldiers. I think this photography was taken on Jersey. |
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The British Channel islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark lie only 15 miles off the French coast. Thus after the fall of France they were indefensable for the hard-pressed British, bracing for a German invasion of Englnd itself. Primeminister Churchill announced that Jersey was to be demilitarised and declared an undefended zone (June 19). Available shipping was limited. The British were not able to evacuate the entire civilian population. They evacuted all military personnel along with women and children desiring to be evacuated. Only men choosing to join the military were evacuated. The remaining population would have to endure German occupation. The Germans arrived (July 1940). The Islands thus became the only British territory to be occupied by the Germans during the War. The Germans stationed axsubstantial garrison on the Island, over 10,000 men. The Islands were of no real strategic importance. Hitler considered them useful as a propaganda statement. As the balance of power began to shift he became concerned that the British might seize the Islands. He thus ordered a massive construction campaign to build defensive fotifications. It was a massive effort, so large that it delayed the much more important project of building the Atlantic Wall. After the Normandy invasion (June 1944), the Islands and their German garrison was cut off. The Germans and the population neaely starved. They were finally liberated by the British after the German surrender (May 1945).
The British Channel islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark lie only 15 miles off the French coast.
The Channel Islands after the fall of France were indefensable for the hard-pressed British and of very limited strategic importance. The hard-pressed British were bracing for a German invasion of England itself and many believes that the Germans would invade. Defending the Channel Islands was out of the question. The British Government announced that Jersey, the largest island, was to be demilitarised and declared an undefended zone (June 19). They did not inform the Germans. The British Government consulted the elected representatives on each island to develop an evacuation program. to formulate a policy regarding evacuation.
This proved difficult in the time available because the different islands had varying opinions. The British Government tried to send enough ships to allow islanders who desired to do so to leave.
Alderney authorities recommended evacuation and almost all complied. The Dame of Sark encouraged islanders to stay. Guernsey evacuated the school age children, although parents could keep their children with them if they desired to do so. On Jersey most of the islanders remained.
The Germans expected to have to invade the islands and were not aware that the British had evacuated.
Reconnaissance flights did not reveal the British evacuation. Luftwaffe bombers struck the harbors at Guernsey and Jersey (June 28). At St. Peter Port the Germans mistook lines of trucks at the port for troop carriers. The trucks were lined up to unload omatoes for shipmnt to England. The Germans killed 49 islanders. The Germans wre preparing an amphibious assault. Meanwhile a reconnaissance pilot landed on Guernsey (June 30). The Islanders surrendered to him. Jersey surrendered (July 1). Alderney ws left with only a few resuidents who surrendered (July 2). A detachment from Guernsey reached Sark which surrendered (July 4). The Germans moved quickly to establish themselves in the islamds. They landed infantry troops and set up communications facilities and anti-aircraft defences. They rounded up a few British servicemen who had failed to evacuate.
The Islands thus became the only British territory to be occupied by the Germans during the War. The Germans stationed axsubstantial garrison on the Island. The Jersey garison alone exceeded 11,500 men. The substantial German garrison and small size oif the islands meant that resistance was impossible. The Germans issued a range of strict regulations. Identity papers were issued and had to be carried. Strict curfews were enforced. The Germans confiscated all vehicles and even bicycles. The islanders had to walk or use horses. All radios had to be turned in to the Germans. The German occupation authorities took over the island newspaper. Many civilians that were not native to the islands were deported to internment camps in the Reich. Their homes and possesssions were often looted or otherwise damaged.
The Islands were of no real strategic importance. Hitler considered them useful as a propaganda statement.
As the balance of power began to shift he became concerned that the British might seize the Islands. He thus ordered a massive construction campaign to build defensive fotifications. It was a massive effort, so large that it delayed the much more important project of building the Atlantic Wall. German Army engineering and building units landed on Jersey (1942). It was the beginning of a massive constructions program that turned the island into a Super Fortress. The construction was undertaken by the Organisation Todt which used both German soldiers and about slave workers fromm occupied countries, mostly Russians and French. We have seen varying estimates as to the nukmberof workers.
The Channel Islands became amongs the most heavily fortified islands of World War II. The most fortified island was Alderney, presumably because it was the closest to the French mainland. Hitler personally decreed that 10 percent of the steel and concrete devoted to the construction of the Atlantic be used for the Channel Islands. Hitler was concerned with the propaganda value he saw in holding British territory. Devoting such huge quantities of scarce materials on islands of no real strategic value , however, was pure lunacy.
The ennormous effort to fortify the islands made little military sence and would have been more useful as part of the Atantic Wall along the French coast.
The Germans set up a concentration camp on Alderney--Lager Sylt. This was for the slave labor building the fortifications. The German authorities treated the slave laborers brutally and ged them poorly. A few managed to escape from the Germans. Not only was this difficult, but there was no way off the island. A few were taken in, but the islanders were not in a position to help as on such a small island, the Germans were likely to catch islanders sheltering escappes. And this would mean arrest and depotation to a concentration camp.
There were a small number of foreign and British Jews on the Channel Islands. Most of the Channel Island Jews evacuted (June 1940), but officials did not permit foreign Jews to leave for Britain. Soon after the German occuption the NAZI occupation officials issued the first anti-Jewish Order (October 1940). They instructed the police to idetify Jews as part of the registation process. Island authorities complied. Their registration cards were marked with red "J"s. Authorities also compiled lists of Jewish property which was turned over to German authorities. [Fraser] The process developed differently on the three islands, Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, and Alderney. Jersey Jews and 22 Jersey islanders died in concentration camps. Officials made some effort to mitigate anti-Semitic measures the NAZIs demanded. They refused to require Jews to wear yellow stars. They did formally Aryanise businesses, but they were returned after the war. Even so, Jewish families had to struggled to survive after being deprived of their livelihoods. Police officials on Jersey and Guernsey did investigate Jewish ancestry for the Germans. Curfews were imposed on Jews. Shopping was limited to 3-4 pm. Two Jersey Jews committed suicide. One was admitted to an asylum where he subsequntly died. There were heros. Albert Bedane hid Mary Richardson, a Dutch Jewess who married a British sea captain, for 2 1/2 years. Guernsey police handed over three East European Jewish women to the NAZIS who deported then first to France where they were rounded up and transported to Auschwitz. The Duquemin fmily, including an 18-month-old baby girl, were deported but survived. Alderney was the site of the only SS camp on British soil--the Norderney Camp. The camp was for the French Jews and other prisoners who worked on the island. The Jews were kept separated from the other prisoners. The NAZIs transported over 16,000 slave workers to the Channel Islands to build fortifications. Among these workers were 1,000 French Jews. [Cohen] Many of these slave laborers died from exhaustion and malnutrition.
After the Normandy invasion (June 1944), the Germans did not evacuate the Islands. Hitler was still determined to hold them. The last coonection to the mailand was Malo which fell to the Allies (August 1944). The German garrison and the civilians were cut off. The Germans and the population nearly starved. The Island could produce food, but not enough to feed both the civilian population and the German garrison. Medical supplies were entirely depleted. This put the British Government in a quandry. They of course didn't want the islanders to starve, but had no desire to feed the Germans. The situation became so critical that the British arranged for the Red Cross ship Vega to supply Jersey (December 30, 1944).
The Germans finally surrendered ending World War II in Europe (May 7. 1945). The British proceeded to liberate Jersey (May 9).
Cohen, Frederick. The Jews in the Channel Islands during the German Occupation.
Fraser, David. The Jews of the Channel islands and the Rule of Law, 1940–1945.
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