The military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany lasted for most of the Second World War, from 30 June 1940 until liberation on 9 May 1945. The Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey are British Crown dependencies in the English Channel, near the coast of Normandy. The Channel Islands were the only de jure part of the British Empire in Europe to be occupied by Nazi Germany during the war. Germany's allies Italy and Japan also occupied British territories in Africa and Asia, respectively.
Anticipating a swift victory over Britain, the occupying German forces initially experimented by using a moderate approach to the non-Jewish population, supported by local collaborators. However, the situation grew gradually worse and ended in near-starvation for both occupiers and occupied in the winter of 1944–45. 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, such as the war tunnels on the island which spent most of the war acting as a hospital. Island leaders maintained some authority, independence and autonomy from the German occupiers.
Before occupation
Early months of the Second World War
Between 3 September 1939, when the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, and 9 May 1940, little changed in the Channel Islands. Unlike in the UK, conscription did not exist, but a number of people travelled to Britain to join up as volunteers. The horticulture and tourist trades continued as before; the British government relaxed travel restrictions between the UK and the Channel Islands in March 1940, allowing tourists from the UK to take morale-boosting holidays in the traditional island resorts. On 10 May 1940, Germany attacked the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg by air and land, bringing the war closer. The Battle of France was reaching its climax on Empire Day, 24 May, when King George VI addressed his subjects by radio, saying, "The decisive struggle is now upon us ... Let no one be mistaken; it is not mere territorial conquest that our enemies are seeking. It is the overthrow, complete and final, of this Empire and of everything for which it stands, and after that the conquest of the world. And if their will prevails they will bring to its accomplishment all the hatred and cruelty which they have already displayed."
On 11 June 1940, as part of the British war effort in the Battle of France, a long-range Royal Air Force aerial sortie carried out by 36 Whitley bombers against the Italian cities of Turin and Genoa departed from airfields in Jersey and Guernsey, as part of Operation Haddock. Weather conditions resulted in only ten Whitleys reaching their intended targets. Two bombers were lost in action.
Demilitarisation
On 15 June, after the Allied defeat in the Battle of France, the British government decided that the Channel Islands were of no strategic importance and would not be defended, but did not tell Germany. Despite the reluctance of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the British government gave up the oldest possession of the Crown "without firing a single shot." The Channel Islands served no purpose
for the Germans other than the propaganda value of occupying British territory. The "Channel Islands had been demilitarised and declared ... 'an open town'".
On 16 June 1940, the Lieutenant-Governors of each island were instructed to make as many boats as possible available to help evacuate British soldiers from Saint-Malo. Guernsey was too far away to help at such short notice. The Bailiff of Jersey called on the Saint Helier Yacht Club for help. Four yachts set off immediately, and fourteen others were ready within 24 hours. The first yachts arrived in Saint-Malo on the morning of 17 June and embarked troops from shore to waiting transport ships; the remaining yachts from Jersey arrived on 18 June and helped clear the last parties from land.
On 17 June 1940, a plane arrived in Jersey from Bordeaux, evacuating Brigade General Charles de Gaulle. After coffee and refuelling, the plane flew on to Heston, outside London, where the next day the general made his historic appeal of 18 June to the French people on the BBC. The last troops left the islands on 20 June, departing so quickly that they left behind bedding and half-consumed meals in Castle Cornet. The Hawker Hurricane fighters of the No. 501 Squadron RAF arrived in Jersey from Dinard in France on 17 June and evacuated to England on 21 June.
Evacuation
The realisation of the necessity of civilian evacuation from the Channel Islands came very late. With no planning, and with secrecy maintained, communications between the same island governments and the UK took place amid confusion and misinterpretation. Opinion was divided and chaos ensued as the islands adopted differing policies. The British government decided to make as many ships as possible available so that islanders who wanted to leave had the option.
Authorities in Alderney had no direct communication with the UK and recommended that all islanders evacuate. All but a handful did so. The Dame of Sark Sibyl Hathaway encouraged everyone to stay. Guernsey evacuated 80% of school-age children, giving the parents the option to either keep their children with them, or evacuate them with their school. By 21 June it became apparent to the government of Guernsey that it would be impossible to evacuate everyone who wanted to leave and priority would have to be given to special categories for the time remaining. The messaging in Guernsey became anti-evacuation; in total 5,000 schoolchildren and 12,000 adults out of a population of 42,000 were evacuated. In Jersey, where children were on holiday to help with the potato crop, 23,000 civilians registered to leave, but the majority of the islanders, following the consistent advice of the island government, chose to stay, with only 6,600 of 50,000 leaving. Nearby Cherbourg was already occupied by German forces before official evacuation boats started leaving on 20 June; the last official one left on 23 June, although mail boats and cargo ships continued to call at the islands until 28 June.
Most evacuated children were separated from their parents. Some were assisted financially by the "Foster Parent Plan for Children Affected by War", under which each child was sponsored by a wealthy American. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt sponsored a girl named Paulette.
Emergency government
The Home Office instructed the lieutenant governors that in the event of the recall of the representatives of the Crown, the bailiffs should take over their responsibilities and that the bailiffs and Crown Officers should remain at their posts. The Lieutenant Governor of Jersey discussed with the Bailiff of Jersey a requirement to carry on administration under German orders. The bailiff felt this was contrary to his oath of allegiance, but was instructed otherwise.
Last-minute arrangements were made to enable British administration to legally continue under occupation. The withdrawal of the lieutenant governors on 21 June 1940 and the cutting of contact with the Privy Council prevented royal assent to laws passed by the legislatures. The bailiffs took over the civil, but not the military, functions of the lieutenant governors. The traditional consensus-based governments of the bailiwicks were unsuited to swift executive action, and therefore faced by imminent occupation, adopted smaller instruments of government. The legislatures met in public; smaller executive bodies that could meet behind closed doors enabled freer discussion of matters such as the
extent of compliance with German orders.
In Guernsey, the States of Deliberation voted on 21 June 1940 to hand responsibility for island affairs to a controlling committee, under Attorney-General Ambrose Sherwill MC, age 50, chosen because he was younger and more robust than the 69-year-old Bailiff, Victor Carey. The States of Jersey passed the Defence (Transfer of Powers) (Jersey) Regulation 1940 on 27 June 1940 to amalgamate executive committees into eight departments, each a States member. The presidents and Crown Officers made up the Superior Council under 48-year-old bailiff Capt. Alexander Coutanche.
Invasion
The Germans did not realise that the islands had been demilitarised (news of the demilitarisation had been suppressed until 30 June 1940), and they approached them with caution. Reconnaissance flights were inconclusive. On 28 June 1940, they sent a squadron of bombers over the islands and bombed the harbours of Guernsey and Jersey. In St. Peter Port, the main town of Guernsey, some lorries lined up to load tomatoes for export to England were mistaken by the reconnaissance flights for troop carriers. A similar attack occurred in Jersey where nine died. In total, 44 islanders were killed in the raids. The BBC broadcast a belated message that the islands had been declared "open towns" and later in the day reported the German bombing of the island.
While the Wehrmacht was preparing Operation Grünpfeil (Green Arrow), a planned invasion of the islands with assault troops comprising two battalions, a reconnaissance pilot, Hauptmann Liebe-Pieteritz, made a test landing at Guernsey's deserted airfield on 30 June to determine the level of defence. He reported his brief landing to Luftflotte 3 which came to the decision that the islands were not defended. A platoon of Luftwaffe airmen was flown that evening to Guernsey by Junkers transport planes. Inspector Sculpher of the Guernsey police went to the airport carrying a letter signed by the bailiff stating that "This Island has been declared an Open Island by His Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom. There are no armed forces of any description. The bearer has been instructed to hand this communication to you. He does not understand the German language." He found that the airport had been taken over by the Luftwaffe. The senior German officer, Major Albrecht Lanz, asked to be taken to the island's chief man. They went by police car to the Royal Hotel where they were joined by the bailiff, the president of the controlling committee, and other officials. Lanz announced through an interpreter that Guernsey was now under German occupation. In this way the Luftwaffe pre-empted the Wehrmacht's invasion plans. Jersey surrendered on 1 July. Alderney, where only a handful of islanders remained, was occupied on 2 July and a small detachment travelled from Guernsey to Sark, which surrendered on 4 July. The first shipborne German troops consisting of two anti-aircraft units, arrived in St. Peter Port on the captured freighter SS Holland on 14 July.
Occupation
The German forces quickly consolidated their positions. They brought in infantry, established communications and anti-aircraft defences, established an air service with occupied mainland France, and rounded up British servicemen on leave.
Administration
The Germans organised their administration as part of the department of Manche, where it was de facto incorporated into Vichy France but administered as part of military government Area A based in St. Germain in the occupied part of France. Feldkommandantur 515 headed by Colonel Friedrich Schumacher arrived on 9 August 1940 in Jersey to establish a civil affairs command structure, with a Nebenstelle in Guernsey (also covering Sark), an Aussenstelle in Alderney, and a logistics Zufuhrstelle in Granville.
The kommandant issued an order in Guernsey on 2 July 1940 and in Jersey on 8 July 1940 instructing that laws passed by the legislatures would have to be given assent by the kommandant and that German orders were to be registered as legislation. The civil courts would continue in operation, but German military courts would try breaches of German law. At first the bailiffs submitted legislation for the assent of the kommandant signed in their capacities as lieutenant governors. At the end of 1941, the kommandant objected to this style and subsequent legislation was submitted simply signed as bailiff.
The German authorities changed the Channel Island time zone from GMT to CET to bring the islands into line with most of continental Europe, and the rule of the road was also changed to driving on the right. Scrip (occupation money) was issued in the islands to keep the economy going. German military forces used the scrip for payment of goods and services. Locals employed by Germans were also paid in the Occupation Reichsmarks.
The Germans allowed entertainment to continue including cinemas and theatre; their military bands performed in public. In 1944, the popular German film actress Lil Dagover arrived to entertain German troops in Jersey and Guernsey with a theatre tour to boost morale.
Besides the civil administration, there was also a military commander (Befehlshaber Kanalinseln, on 1 October 1944 renamed Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Kanalinseln).
Military commanders were: