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Armed resistance by islanders to the German occupation was nearly non-existent, though there were a number of British forces raids on the islands. Many islanders were employed by the Germans, and Germany imported thousands of forced labourers to build extensive defensive works.
Everything changed on 8 May when the Germans released all British, French and American prisoners of war and all German prisoners held in the islands. [ 2 ] : 180 Bunting and flags were put up in the streets, [ 10 ] radios, which had been banned for years upon pain of imprisonment, were produced in public, connected to loudspeakers.
The Channel Islands, comprising the Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey, which also comprised Alderney and Sark, fell under German control on 30 June 1940.. Prior to this, the lightning Blitzkrieg resulting in the fall of France gave the British government and the island governments just enough time to evacuate those who were willing to leave the islands immediately.
German soldiers in Jersey. During the five-year German occupation of the Channel Islands (30 June 1940 to 9 May 1945) civilian life became much more difficult. During that time, the Channel Islanders had to live under and obey the laws of Nazi Germany and work with their occupiers in order to survive and reduce the impact of occupation.
Barbara Quevâtre was 14 when she was evacuated from Guernsey ahead of its occupation by German forces. Keen to help out she joined the Women's Royal Naval Service in 1944 with the hope of ...
During the German occupation of the Channel Islands, there was limited resistance.The islands had a very high number of German soldiers compared to the civilian population, one soldier for every 2-3 civilians, which reduced options; this linked to the severe penalties imposed by the occupiers meant that only forms of non-lethal resistance were used by the population.
The German soft occupation attitude resulted in Sark people treating the small number of Germans more as tourists, soldiers would be invited to dinner and everyone met in the Mermaid Tavern. The Guernsey cricket team came to the island in 1940 for a local match.
Gillian Carr, a Senior Lecturer at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, researched the German occupation of the Channel Islands and persecution of over 2,000 islanders from 1940 to 1945. Her findings were the subject of an exhibition titled: On British Soil: Victims of Nazi Persecution in the Channel Islands at the Wiener Library for the Study of ...