The German Occupation

On 28 June, German aircraft machine-gunned and dropped bombs on the Islands, killing 11 in Jersey and 33 in Guernsey.  On 1 July ultimatums were dropped on the Island demanding that white flags be flown, and white crosses be painted on the ground in various prominent locations. German forces arrived at Jersey Airport and the Bailiff, Alexander Coutanche, who had been made Civil Governor, formally handed over control.

At first, about 1,750 German troops were stationed in Jersey, that number increasing to 11,500 by the end of the first year of the Occupation and remaining roughly at that level. The military occupiers continually issued orders and proclamations which appeared in the Evening Post newspaper and were pasted up around St Helier. Laws were soon passed to curtail the rights and freedoms of Jersey’s small Jewish community. Day-to-day government was in the hands of a devolved States of Jersey ‘Cabinet’ known as the Superior Council, headed by the Bailiff.

Food was a vital concern and with outside sources cut off, Jersey had to become self-sufficient, although essential commodities were sourced from France by a hard-working Purchasing Commission. Farming methods changed drastically, with potato fields given over to wheat and disused mills put back to work. Sugar beet was planted, from which a sweet syrup could be extracted, seawater boiled for salt and improvised tea (dried carrot) and coffee (powdered acorns) became the norm. Despite five years of often dire shortages, children at the end of the Occupation were found to be in better-than-expected health, possibly because of reduced sugar consumption and their regular, although small, rations of full-cream milk. Bowel disorders, known as ‘Occupation dysentery’, and skin conditions, known as ‘Occupation dermatitis’, were however widespread amongst the population.

Fuel was another scarce commodity, both for heating and cooking, and thousands of trees were felled through the years to provide logs and abandoned properties were stripped. Motor vehicles were commandeered and shipped to France, and only essential vehicles were allowed on the roads with permits. Bicycles became invaluable, and when the tyres wore out, they were often replaced with hose pipes.

Education was affected, with both Victoria College and the College for Girls commandeered for German use, and despite a shortage of teachers in Jersey, the school-leaving age was raised to 15. An order in 1943 that all children should learn German was complied with, but apparently with little enthusiasm for learning the language of the enemy.

The Occupation caused large numbers to become unemployed. In order to avoid these workers being employed on projects to the benefit of the Occupiers, Deputy Edward Le Quesne – Minister for Labour – conceived a scheme for the construction of a road along the Island’s north coast.  The Summerland Factory at Rouge Bouillon, St Helier, produced makeshift clothes and footwear out of the sparse quantities of material available.

Economically, the period was difficult. German authorities flooded the Island with Reichsmarks and pfennigs, which had no value elsewhere, and local and English currency soon became scarce. Consequently, local artist Edmund Blampied was commissioned to design a series of new bank notes. Higher income tax and sales tax rates were introduced in an attempt to counteract the loss of earnings from agricultural exports, food subsidies, the cost of French imports and the expenses of the occupying force, for which the Island was responsible under the Hague Convention. When the Occupation finally ended in May 1945, the Islands were bankrupt, Jersey to the tune of £7.75m in debt. Much of this debt was later written off.

Most daily commodities were in short supply and, not surprisingly, a black market soon surfaced. Some people made considerable sums through this illicit means, which could be exchanged for Sterling once the Occupation came to an end. Retrospective taxation of wartime earnings was implemented.

In peacetime, the States of Jersey – Jersey’s government – required the sanction of the British monarch on new legislation. Now all laws, orders and regulations had to be submitted to the German Commandant before being enacted.  The States of Jersey still met to pass annual budgets, and the Island’s courts continued to function as usual, and tried the great majority of civil and criminal cases.

Wishing to control the movements of the civil population, the German authorities made it compulsory for everybody to be registered under the Registration and Identification of Persons (Jersey) Order, 1940. This registration process required the collation of personal details concerning everyone within the Island. Every Islander was then issued an identity card. Children under the age of 14 were recorded on the back of their father’s card.

A year into the Occupation, work began to turn Jersey into a fortress against Allied attack. As the civilian population could not be obliged to work for an occupying force, and the Organisation Todt brought in around 6,000 enslaved and forced labourers from throughout Europe to carry out their grand plans, including an estimated 1,500 Russian prisoners-of-war, including Ukrainian and Belarus, and 2,000 Spanish Republicans. Others came from France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Holland and North Africa. A combination of totally inadequate rations, dangerous working conditions and the brutality meted out particularly to the Russian workers resulted in the deaths of 116 workers. They were buried in the Strangers Cemetery at Westmount, St Helier.

Islanders were sympathetic to the plight of the workers, and often put themselves at risk by helping and hiding workers who tried to escape. In 1944, sisters and brother Louisa Gould, Ivy Forster and Harold Le Druillenec, with the help of others, hid a Russian labourer named Feodor Burriy, who went by the name of Bill. They were informed upon by a neighbour and arrested once incriminating items were discovered in their home – Bill had already left, thanks to a last-minute warning. Louisa and Harold were sent to concentration camps, Louisa dying in the gas chambers at Ravensbrück, but Harold survived Bergen-Belsen.  As the only Briton to prevail, Harold interrupted his convalescence to testify at the Belsen trial in Luneburg in October 1945.

In order to convert the Channel Islands into ‘impregnable fortresses’, Hitler’s Fortification Directive of 20 October 1941 demanded a monolithic investment in materials, entirely out of proportion to the strategic significance of the Islands. In order to ferry the vast amount of concrete needed, a railway network was also required to link with the Ronez quarries on the north coast. To counter any attempted Allied assault, anti-tank walls of reinforced concrete were built along the best landing beaches to the south and west of the Island. Many coastal defence casemates were constructed – including two at Elizabeth Castle – fitting with long-range guns, plus numerous additional bunkers armed with anti-tank guns and heavy machine guns.   Tunnels were driven into hillsides for the storage of ammunition, one of which was later converted into an underground military hospital but was never used. 67,000 land mines were laid around the Island.

In June 1942, Islanders were deprived of wireless sets which, because their local newspaper was censored, had kept them in touch with the war’s progress, and anyone not handing in their wireless or continuing to use it was liable to a fine, imprisonment or deportation. Canon Clifford Cohu, Rector of St Saviour’s Church and Hospital Chaplain, was part of a small network of parishioners who recorded and disseminated BBC news. He is most renowned for calling out the news to passers by as he rode his bicycle along the Parade, and for sharing the latest on the general and maternity wards. Canon Cohu and his defiant friends John Nicolle, Joseph Tierney and Arthur Dimmery all died in German prisons and camps. They are named on the plinth of the Lighthouse Memorial, outside the Maritime Museum, along with 17 other Islanders who never returned.

In September 1942 a high-level order was issued that all people not born in the Island, along with their families, were to be sent to German internment camps. This order, which came directly from Hitler, was an act of vengeance for the internment of German citizens by the British in Persia in 1941. About 1,200 were eventually deported, despite protests by the Island authorities. Families were sent to the town of Wurzach in Baden-Württemberg, whilst single men were sent to the Bavarian town of Laufen. They were liberated in April-May 1945 and repatriated.

The worst period of Occupation came in the final year, following D-Day in June 1944. By August, the Islands were in a state of siege and cut off from their French supply routes as the Allied armies liberated Normandy and Brittany. Food supplies dwindled and gas and electricity eventually failed. Many brave young Islanders took advantage of the circumstances and escaped by boat to France from a place on the east coast since known as the Fauvic Embarkation Point. Islanders were saved from starvation when the Swedish Red Cross ship, SS Vega, was eventually permitted to bring 750 tons of much needed supplies of food and medicine. Each Islander received a parcel which contained such forgotten delicacies of chocolate, biscuits, tea, butter, sugar, milk powder, tinned meat and fish, raisins, prunes, cheese, salt and pepper. The Vega arrived in Jersey on 31 December 1944 and visited a further five times with lifesaving provisions.

German forces in Europe surrendered on 8^th May 1945. On that day thousands of Islanders gathered in the Royal Square to hear Winston Churchill broadcast on the BBC. As the Town Church stuck three, cheers went up as the Prime Minister began speaking. His words were punctuated by more cheers, especially as he announced that “our dear Channel Islands are also to be freed today.” At the conclusion, the Bailiff hoisted the Union Jack and Jersey flag over the Courthouse. Enthusiasm knew no bounds, and many wept unashamedly. The Bailiff then appealed for calm and led the singing of the National Anthem. Political prisoners were released from Jersey’s prison later in the day, and the SS Vega entered the harbour for its second visit. Stella Perkins remembers, ‘It was a crazy mood, absolutely crazy. People were suddenly bringing outlandish old radios out of hiding and putting them on windowsills. There was loud music everywhere. Everybody shouting and dancing.’ Later that day some of the Islanders imprisoned for acts of defiance were released from Gloucester Street Prison; around 300 were detained there during the Occupation. Such was the demand that there was a waiting list to serve one’s sentence.

On 9^th May, HMS Beagle arrived in the morning and the Bailiff travelled out to it on a German naval pinnace, with the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General and General Wolff, the German Commander, for the formalities of surrender. They met Brigadier Snow and Rear-Admiral Stuart on board. Shortly afterwards the Bailiff sent messages of loyalty and gratitude to the King and Prime Minister. Two naval officers were the first British troops to arrive in St Helier Harbour, received an uproarious welcome and were carried to the Harbour Office

Later, the Advance Party of Liberation Force 135, led by Colonel Robinson, arrived at the New North Quay. They headed straight for the Pomme D’Or Hotel and proceeded to the balcony. Joyous crowds of Islanders bedecked in Union and American flags greeted Allied troops and the Union flag was once again hoisted over the Island by Captain Richmond. Among the Advance Party was Jerseyman Captain Hugh Le Brocq, who proceeded to Fort Regent to hoist the Union Jack.