You can find it on all good podcast services or here.
In this episode we talk March 1941 of the Occupation of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. We cover off the end of joke that made the Germans look daft but got too teenage maids in trouble.
We look at the impact of sabotage when some phone lines get cut at the airport. Also the impact of sabotage that the RAF did before they left and subsequent bombing.attacks.
The aircraft that upset the Germans when it was discovered by the Germans.
The notice that appeared following the aircraft discovery is below.
We also talked about the Red Cross messages giving reassurance.
We also look at rationing of bread and much much more.
We mentioned the ‘Wee Mite’ aircraft that caused Kenny Bell a lot of trouble. You can find it here including photos.
Bread rationing details are included below.
If you want to email in a question send it to occupied@gnetradio.com.
Thanks to Gnet Radio for recording the podcast and thanks to Jim Delbridge for the use of his song ‘5 to 7’ as our theme.
I was chatting to my friend Jim Delbridge about what the next topic we could cover on his BBC Radio Guernsey & Jersey show. We were trying to think of something different that hasn’t really been covered before in our chats and I thought what about all the rumours that circulated around the Channel Islands! The show went out today, 28th July 2024, and we had a great chat about rumours.
There are plenty to choose from and they range from funny, bizarre, plausible to rumours that must have been worrying. When talking or writing about these rumours I like to categorise them as ‘Wish’, ‘Worry’, and ‘Wind up’ rumours.
You might at this point be wondering how on earth all these years on I know about the rumours that circulated and the veracity or not of the rumours! I have numerous diarists, both published and unpublished, to thank for this. The Rev Ord’s diary is a great source of these rumours and he records his assessment of them. He was respected, came into contact with many people through the church. They also confided in him, not just civilians, but also Germans as he was a fluent German speaker.
Often these rumours were based on something that had happened but was then misconstrued and the story grew and grew.
One has to remember that the local population had very little information, especially when the radios were taken away, and little to entertain themselves with during the course of the almost five years of the German occupation. Gossiping and rumours partially filled the void. One thing that does amaze me is how quickly these rumours got around the islands.
Wish Rumours
These are rumours that start to circulate because the local population wish or hope something is about to happen, happening or happened! As time went on they became more and more fantastic! A lot of these types of rumours centred around supposed activity of the allied forces around or in the islands, or the supposed retreat of the Germans and liberation of the islands.
One of these rumours started in the days immediately prior to the Occupation beginning. In the days immediately prior to the Germans arriving there were a lot of rumours about what was going to happen. Including that Channel Islanders were being forced to sleep in parks, which was untrue. After the initial evacuation a rumour was circulating in Guernsey that Ocean Liners were about to arrive and take the entire population to Canada.
Following the escape of eight men from Guernsey in September 1940 there was a rumour circulating the next morning that they had arranged to rendezvous with the Royal Navy to be picked up by a Destroyer or a Submarine depending on which version of the rumour you heard!
In February 1941 there was a rumour running rife in Guernsey that a Royal Navy submarine had surfaced next to a fishing boat and the Captain had a conversation with the two fisherman. He enquired what conditions were like and offered to take them to England. They declined as their wives were still in Guernsey. Anyone who heard this rumour should have known that by this stage that would not have been possible as fishing was strictly limited and involved having a German guard on your boat or German boats keeping an eye on the fishing fleet. That didn’t stop this rumour from circulating.
At varying times throughout the occupation there were rumours that Churchill & Eden had sent messages to the German Government to say that the Islands must be surrendered within forty days or they would be taken by force. Other rumours that circulated where that Eden and Churchill had died/left the Government etc. The King was also rumoured to have abdicated. Run away to Canada or more.
20th August 1942 Violet Carey records in her diary that the latest rumour is that two large boats are to take all the Germans back to Germany. This would have been a bit of a push given the shipping available at the time and the number of Germans in the Islands.
By December 1942 a rumour was circulating that the Islands were to be declared neutral, that the Germans would leave and the International Red Cross would take over responsibility for feeding the Channel Islanders. In addition to this the rumour said that a local defence force was to be raised, presumably unarmed to keep order as the Germans were not taking the enforced labour of various nationalities with them. The ships were rumoured to be sailing under the Jersey flag. Again this rumour was rather far fetched.
Worry Rumours
Worry rumours are those that came about because faced with an unpredictable occupying force who made endless rules and controlled every aspect of life. This led to rumours about what they were going to do next.
Philip Le Sauter has some fantastic turns of phrase in his diary about life in Jersey. On 23rd September 1941 he notes “Today’s rumours also concern our local Nazi builder – he is starting to build a tunnel to France, he is making a tunnel at St. Ouen from the beach to the Airport, and another at Gorey, and he is building another aerodrome at Gorey. Actually, he appears to be wholly concerned with fortifications, building pill boxes and gun emplacements.”
Now you are probably wondering how people just didn’t go an have a look to dispel the rumours. The issue being that if you didn’t live in the area you had to cycle or walk there to take a look, assuming it wasn’t in one of the forbidden zones.
In August 1943 Violet Carey recorded in her diary that there was a rumour going around that five Organisation Todt workers had tried to burn down St Peter Port, the main town, in Guernsey. Depending on which rumour you heard they were either: 1. In Prison 2. Already been shot 3. Been deported.
These sort of rumours really did cause worry as to what the very unpredictable occupiers were likely to get up to.
In addition to this there was a rumour going around that a German officer had told a local that if his wife and children were injured or killed in Hamburg by the bombing he would shoot five local women. Thankfully this never happened but given the situation it could well have so the worry was real.
One of the most sinister rumours that arose was in late 1944 when the Allies were advancing through France and onwards towards Germany. But while there was a sense of relief that the Germans were on the way to being defeated a certain amount of fear and foreboding existed. In Guernsey there many rumours going around, that gas chambers were being built, so that some civilians would be put in to reduce the population in order to save food. Given that the islands were effectively cut off and there were severe food shortages it is not surprising that this was given some credence.
Another rumour that circulated in both Guernsey & Jersey at this time was that the Americans were going to conduct a 1,000 bomber raid on the islands and that a warning had been issued on the BBC! Such a raid would have been devastating for the islands leading to enormous casualties. Of course those that had an illicit radio set knew that this was untrue, however they couldn’t say anything as to do so would have given that fact away! If they had said this and someone had overheard they could of ended up jailed or shot.
Nobody in the Channel Islands could possibly have known at the time as there was no such broadcast, but this rumour was actually not too far from the truth as the allies had considered bombing the Channel Islands in a number of plans that were formulated over the years to retake the Channel Islands. I wrote about these operations
Wind Up Rumours
Starting a rumour in the hope that it would reach German ears and then cause them to waste time and resources investigating them. These rumours could also be used as a form of resistance by making the German forces doubt if the news they were receiving was true. This wasn’t without risk and occasionally backfired on those starting or perpetuating them.
A classic example of this was in February & March 1941. A practical joke made the Germans look very silly but led to serious consequences for the two teenage maids that started the rumour that British parachutists had landed in Guernsey. They then pretended to be signalling to them which led to the Germans staking out the house and trying to capture the parachutists! Keith and I talked about this on the February 1941 episode of our podcast which you can find here. Keith and I talk about it in some detail on the podcast. Whilst it made the Germans look silly it resulted in serious consequences for those involved in the prank and for others that were suspected to be involved by the Germans.
There were many other rumours that were started either to wind up the Germans and cause them to waste time and resources or just to look silly. They also caused unsettlement in the ranks as Germans worried particularly in the later days as things were turning against the Germans.
Post War Rumours
Unsurprisingly some of these rumours found their way into local folklore and others sprung up. If I had a pound for every time someone told me a story about the occupation that is just not supported by fact I wouldn’t be working a full time job!
The veracity of these stories goes unchecked and are unfortunately perpetuated by some who write about the occupation years without checking if there is a scintilla of truth in them.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading the blog post.
I also co-host a podcast with Keith Pengelley in which we talk about the occupation of the Channel Islands month by month using first hand accounts, diaries and our research in the archives. You can find us on all the major podcast services. Just search “Islands at War” or visit our podcast page here.
You can also follow the blog on Twitter at @Fortress_Island where I share other information and photographs. If you prefer Facebook I also have a page there.
If you would like to receive email notifications of future blogs, you can sign up to the right of this blog post or here. Feel free to look around the website, where I have categorised posts to make them easier to find and other resources such as tours, places to visit and films that may be of interest.
You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.
I will be adding more as time permits. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please share it on social media or add a comment if you did. Feedback is always appreciated.
Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.
In this episode we cover the tragic story of some French men who thought they had reached England but instead had landed on a beach in Guernsey. You can listen on the player below or search “Islands at War” in your usual podcast app.
The strange case of the spies and parachutists which has the Germans worried but also makes them look very silly.
The tale of two fishermen and a submarine also makes an appearance. Plus much more.
If you want to email in a question send it to occupied@gnetradio.com. Alternatively you can send us a text with the link at the bottom of these notes (only works with iPhones).
Thanks to Gnet Radio for recording the podcast and thanks to Jim Delbridge for the use of his song ‘5 to 7’ as our theme.
I was absolutely thrilled to be offered the chance to speak to Melva Stacey. Incredibly grateful to Melva’s daughter Karin for contacting me and asking if I might be interested in interviewing her mother who is 95 years young about her time here during the occupation.
I didn’t need to be asked twice! Melva told a fascinating account about how life was for her as a teenager, her family, working in the Red Cross message bureau and nursing. Plus much much more. The photo at the top of the blog post is Melva on Liberation day 2024. You can hear the interview here.
Melva’s Registration form for her ID Card. Published with her permission.
I really enjoyed talking to Melva and by strange coincidence it turns out that her father used to be one of the listeners to a radio show that I used to present on local hospital radio and sometimes on the BBC back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s! He used to regularly write in with requests for people in nursing homes and hospitals.
Thanks to Melva for agreeing to be interviewed and to her daughter Karin for contacting me to arrange it.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading the blog post.
I also co-host a podcast with Keith Pengelley in which we talk about the occupation of the Channel Islands month by month using first hand accounts, diaries and our research in the archives. You can find us on all the major podcast services. Just search “Islands at War” or visit our podcast page here.
You can also follow the blog on Twitter at @Fortress_Island where I share other information and photographs. If you prefer Facebook I also have a page there.
If you would like to receive email notifications of future blogs, you can sign up to the right of this blog post or here. Feel free to look around the website, where I have categorised posts to make them easier to find and other resources such as tours, places to visit and films that may be of interest.
You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.
I will be adding more as time permits. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please share it on social media or add a comment if you did. Feedback is always appreciated.
Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.
Friday 28th June 2024 was the 84th anniversary of the bombing of the Channel Islands by the Germans. I have written about this before which you can find in the link below. I attended the wreath laying on Friday and there is also a video below.
There was a good turnout by the local community and members of the Channel Islands Occupation Society. Thank you to the CIOS, Constables of St Peter Port and the Douzeniers who ensured that this was tragic loss of life was marked. I thought I would share a video of the address given by Phil Martin for those not present.
You can also find Keith and myself talking about it on the June 1940 episode of the Islands at War podcast. Just find it by searching your favourite podcast app.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading the blog post.
I also co-host a podcast with Keith Pengelley in which we talk about the occupation of the Channel Islands month by month using first hand accounts, diaries and our research in the archives. You can find us on all the major podcast services. Just search “Islands at War” or visit our podcast page here.
You can also follow the blog on Twitter at @Fortress_Island where I share other information and photographs. If you prefer Facebook I also have a page there.
If you would like to receive email notifications of future blogs, you can sign up to the right of this blog post or here. Feel free to look around the website, where I have categorised posts to make them easier to find and other resources such as tours, places to visit and films that may be of interest.
You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.
I will be adding more as time permits. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please share it on social media or add a comment if you did. Feedback is always appreciated.
Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.
You can find the Podcast at Islands at War on your favourite podcast app or click link below.
Following a number of questions around the fortification of the Channel Islands we were keen to talk about early fortifications.
In the show we deal with everything from the start to late 1941! Basically everything pre-Atlantic wall.
In this show we talk about early Luftwaffe operations and their part in the Battle of Britain, re-purposing of Napoleonic forts, minefields and mishaps, interest in the islands and more.
A few pictures and links follow below to illustrate what we talked about.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading the blog post.
I also co-host a podcast with Keith Pengelley in which we talk about the occupation of the Channel Islands month by month using first hand accounts, diaries and our research in the archives. You can find us on all the major podcast services. Just search “Islands at War” or visit our podcast page here.
You can also follow the blog on Twitter at @Fortress_Island where I share other information and photographs. If you prefer Facebook I also have a page there.
If you would like to receive email notifications of future blogs, you can sign up to the right of this blog post or here. Feel free to look around the website, where I have categorised posts to make them easier to find and other resources such as tours, places to visit and films that may be of interest.
You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.
I will be adding more as time permits. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please share it on social media or add a comment if you did. Feedback is always appreciated.
Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.
If you have been reading my blog for a while you may have read my post about the two Hurricane pilots who spent some time operating from Guernsey. I am extremely grateful to Philip Mobbs who contacted me after reading my blog post. He has provided some more information which warrants a part two to the story of these men.
The original blog post is here if you haven’t read it or you want to refresh your memory!
Phillip is writing a book about another 17 Squadron Hurricane pilot Denis Wissler, who was a good friend of Harold Bird-Wilson, aka Bird’y.
Phillip was kind enough to agree to me including on the blog exerts from Denis’s diary which provides more information.
“Denis had been on 85 Sqn in France and been evacuated back to England at the time of the Dunkirk evacuations, much to his annoyance he was then sent back out as a replacement to 17. His diary entries of the period (with my text between) are below:
Monday 17 June
This was my day off but at lunch time we heard that the French had given up. We all went down to the ‘drome and after about an hour we took off and flew to Jersey Airport, a flight of about 25 mins. A grand party was thrown for us and we had a damn good time. I went to bed at midnight. We heard that the Russians had joined us and having drunk to it we heard it wasn’t true.
When the news of the impending armistice reached Dinard the French Base Commander gave the CO, Squadron Leader MacDougall, one hour to leave or all the squadron’s Hurricanes would be impounded and destroyed. Sergeant Desmond Fopp, a young Australian pilot, recalled:
‘The CO suddenly appeared and said that all serviceable aircraft were to be flown out immediately and climbed into his aircraft for take-off. We hastily followed as he had omitted to say where to! Due to a slow start (flat battery) I remember following the last dot in the sky and eventually landed in Jersey.’
Tuesday 18 June
What a day. We got up at 5am and were driven to the aerodrome. We sat about for a while and then I relieved 3 sergeants who were standing by in their aircraft. Just as we were to be relieved there was a flap and off we went. I did a patrol of 1.55 hrs over Cherbourg. Having landed I was sent to Guernsey where I remained with 5 others for the rest of the day, and night. We heard today that we are off to England tomorrow oh I hope it is true.
Wednesday 19 June
We were woken up at 4am and brought to readiness. We sat about and slept until 10 when we managed to rustle up something to eat. We were then told we were to go at 1.30. 1.30 came but we had to wait for a DH89 to arrive. We took off at about 3.15 and landed at Tangmere at about 4, and left for Debden at about 4.45 arriving about 25 mins later, whoppee, back in England again.“
Phillip also provided some more information about the state of their aircraft and that claim of a Guernsey lady having flown to England in a Hurricane.
“Many of the squadrons Hurricanes were by this time unserviceable, Sergeant Fopp flew his back with a burst tailwheel. Two pilots returned in a two seater Magister they had scrounged and another two found an abandoned Fairey Battle but managed to make it flyable enough to get them home. In a post-war interview Bird-Wilson said that some of the local women in Guernsey had asked to be flown to England and that later he had met one at a party who said that she had indeed flown back in a Hurricane, the pilot having removed the radio to make space for her. According to Edith Heap, a WAAF who served at Debden and had known Birdy, he had flown a girl back although he denied it.” – Phillip Mobbs.
Thanks very much to Phillip for taking the time to contact me and allowing me to share this. Do keep an eye out for his book when it comes out.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading the blog post.
I also co-host a podcast with Keith Pengelley in which we talk about the occupation of the Channel Islands month by month using first hand accounts, diaries and our research in the archives. You can find us on all the major podcast services. Just search “Islands at War” or visit our podcast page here.
You can also follow the blog on Twitter at @Fortress_Island where I share other information and photographs. If you prefer Facebook I also have a page there.
If you would like to receive email notifications of future blogs, you can sign up to the right of this blog post or here. Feel free to look around the website, where I have categorised posts to make them easier to find and other resources such as tours, places to visit and films that may be of interest.
You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.
I will be adding more as time permits. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please share it on social media or add a comment if you did. Feedback is always appreciated.
Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.
You can find the Podcast at Islands at War on your favourite podcast app or listen in the player below.
Following a number of questions around the fortification of the Channel Islands we were keen to talk about early fortifications.
In the show we deal with everything from the start to late 1941! Basically everything pre-Atlantic wall.
We talk a bit about early Kommandandt’s, early fortifications and the obsession with holding the Channel Islands despite there being no strategic value. A few pictures below.
If you want to email in a question send it to occupied@gnetradio.com. Alternatively you can send us a text with the link at the bottom of these notes (only works with iPhones).
Thanks to Gnet Radio for recording the podcast and thanks to Jim Delbridge for the use of his song ‘5 to 7’ as our theme.
A message from A.J. Sherwill, was recorded in Guernsey on 1st August, 1940, and subsequently transmitted twice by Bremen Radio. Once on 24th August 1940 and again on 30th August. It was a controversial broadcast when viewed from the UK and also was viewed with some suspicion locally. Keith and I spoke about on the August 1940 episode of the ‘Islands at War’ podcast. You can listen below.
I thought it merited further examination and explanation than we were able to give it in the podcast.
In this blog I will add some more information and context to this broadcast; who requested it, who thought it was a good idea, the content of the message and how it came about! I will also talk about the the other message that was recorded but never broadcast.
The idea was first mooted on 5th July 1940 in the meeting of the Controlling Committee, the body formed to run the Bailiwick of Guernsey during the war. The President of the Controlling Committee was Ambrose Sherwill.
The President informed the Committee that the Commandant of the German Garrison has asked him to prepare a message of approximately 100 words, with a view to being broadcast through the German wireless station. Mr. Stamford Raffles suggested that the Commandant he asked if it can be requested that the British Broadcasting Corporation be asked to re-deliver the message and also that the English papers be asked to copy.
Minutes of the controlling committee 5th July 1940
Stamford Raffles, information officer, and the rest of the Controlling Committee must have thought it was a good idea as they didn’t oppose it and there is no more mention of it in the minutes. It would therefore seem unfair for Ambrose Sherwill to be singled out for criticism. That is if criticism was indeed fair which I will look at further into this blog post.
The Commandant, I use the English spelling but you could refer to him as Kommandant as the German terminology, was Major-Doctor Albrecht Lanz. Lanz was the first Commandant of Guernsey and was killed on the Eastern front during the battle for Smolensk in January 1942.
The Speech!
The speech was recorded by the Germans on 1st August 1940.
This is His Britannic Majesty’s Procurer in Guernsey, Channel Islands speaking to the people of the United Kingdom, and in particular to those who left Guernsey and Alderney during the evacuation which preceded the German occupation.
I imagine that many of you must be greatly worried as to how we are getting on. Well, let me tell you. Some will fear, I imagine, that I am making this record with a revolver pointed at my head and speaking from a transcript thrust into my hand by a German Officer.
The actual case is very different.
The Lieutenant-Governor and Bailiff, Mr. Victor Carey, and every other Island official has been and is being treated with every consideration and with the greatest courtesy by the German Military Authorities.
The Island Government is functioning. Churches and Chapels are open for public worship. Banks, shops and places of entertainment are open as usual.
Naturally, the sudden and entire severance of communications with the United Kingdom created innumerable problems with which we have wrestled and are still wrestling.
Perhaps the best indication of the measure of our success will be shown by the latest figures of unemployment, which are as follows: Males unemployed (of whom hardly any are fit for manual labour) 186; females unemployed, 191. Relief by way of public assistance is not above the normal figure.
The States have set up a Controlling Committee to speed up public business. My friends, Sir
Abraham Lainé, A.M. Drake, R.O. Falla, R.H. Johns, John Leale, Stamford Raffles, and Dr. A.N. Symons are collaborating with me on this Committee and are working like trojans.
The conduct of the German troops is exemplary.
We have been in German occupation for four and a half weeks and I am proud of the way my fellow-Islanders have behaved, and grateful for the correct and kindly attitude towards them of the German soldiers.
We have always been and we remain intensely loyal subjects of His Majesty, and this has been made clear to and is respected by the German Commandant and his staff.
On that staff is an officer speaking perfect English – a man of wide experience, with whom I am in daily contact. To him I express my grateful thanks for his courtesy and patience.
And now let me end on a more personal note.
To Elizabeth College, the Guernsey Ladies’ College, the Guernsey Intermediate Schools, the Guernsey Primary and Voluntary Schools, to both Teachers and Scholars, all our love and good wishes.
To all men of military age who left here to join His Majesty’s Forces, God speed. To all wives and mothers and sweethearts, God bless you. To all Guernsey children in England, God keep you safe.
God bless you all till we meet again.
And to Mary Rose, to John and Dick, Mummy and I send our fondest love and best wishes.
Tell Diana Raffles that her parents are well and send their love.Will the B.B.C. please re-transmit this message and will the daily papers please publish it
Evening Press 2nd August 1940 from my collection of newspapers.
Some Guernsey folk were angered that he had taken the opportunity to pass a message to his children when they couldn’t get a message to their own. It was however not a selfish act but an effort to prove that the message was genuine.
The German officer recording the broadcast then informed Mrs Sherwill that there was still time for her to record a message.
This is Mrs. Sherwill speaking for the mothers of Guernsey. We are all quite happy and contented with life over here if only we could have news of all our children to whom we send our very dearest love.
They are always in our thoughts and prayers. The Guernsey woman is always cheerful and philosophical under adversity – and the following story is typical of the spirit of the Island both before and since the occupation.
A Guernsey fish-woman in the market said to me just before the arrival of the Germans: “Ah! but ain’t some people awful, say! There’s a woman, she ses to me, she ses: ‘The Germans is to the back of the Island.’ ‘Ah well!’ I ses to her ‘Tell them to come round to the front.
Occupied Guernsey – Herbert Winterflood
Mrs Sherwill’s message was never broadcast, which Ambrose himself thought was probably due to the insolence of the second part which probably irked the Germans.
As for Ambrose’s broadcast that did go ahead although not quite achieving what he, and Stamford Raffles which was to be rebroadcast by the BBC and reported in the UK Newspapers.
The broadcast was barely reported in the Newspapers in the United Kingdom and for good reason. Churchill was reportedly furious. You can read the news coverage below. After that you will find my analysis of was it a good idea and the motivation.
In Guernsey it did make the newspapers. The following comments were made in a leading article in the Guernsey Evening Press of 2nd August, 1940, regarding A.J. Sherwill’s message. One has to bear in mind that the newspaper was subject to German censorship and indeed forced to publish propaganda articles written by the Germans.
We feel sure that everyone in Guernsey will feel a thrill of joy that a message from Mr. A.J. Sherwill, President of the States Controlling Committee, was recorded by him yesterday, and is to be broadcast in the near future from the Bremen Station in Germany, and that the B.B.C. are being asked to re-transmit the message and the daily papers to publish it.
The message has been made possible by the kind permission of the German Commandant, and it was made on a gramophone record, which has been sent to Bremen for transmission.
The possibility of some such transmission of good news was made to our Information Officer some days ago, by a representative of this paper and we are glad that a means has been found for putting it into effect.
The actual time of transmission by wireless from Germany is not yet known: it may be expected in the near future, and if Mr. Sherwill’s request is carried out, it is safe to assume that every Sarnian now on the mainland will hear it and, still better, read it at leisure. Mr. Sherwill’s message, in well chosen words, is one that is at once homely, loyal and true to the history of the Island since the evacuation of part of the population and of our life, under changed, but not unhappy, conditions since the German occupation. It is a message such as any Guernseyman, anxious to reassure his loved ones beyond the reach of correspondence, would have himself wished to send, and it is therefore one voice speaking for all and with the heart of each with it.
The thanks of Guernsey will be given to the German Commandant for this happy and considerate gesture, one which all islanders will deeply appreciate.
Guernsey Evening Press of 2nd August, 1940
What about Jersey?
The governing body in Jersey was the Superior Council, the equivalent of the Controlling Committee in Guernsey. Having looked at their minutes and other archive sources I can’t see that they were requested to make a similar broadcast. What is certain is nobody from Jersey made such a broadcast.
I can think of a few reasons for this but these are only my thoughts rather than actually any hard evidence either way. Firstly Jersey had a different Commandant to Guernsey, Captain Gussek who was Commandant in Jersey was a very different character to Lanz who was in charge in Guernsey. He viewed his command of Jersey more as a conquering hero and being of a temporary nature. He was about to lead his men on to the next stage to invade England on Operation Sea Lion. He was therefore less interested in the civilian administration of Jersey and any propaganda to be gained from it.
My second thought on why no broadcast came from Jersey was simply that there was a much smaller number of evacuees to the UK from Jersey. Only about 6,500 people had been evacuated from Jersey’s total population of circa 47,000 as opposed to almost half of the population of Guernsey being evacuated. A similar broadcast from Jersey would therefore have had much less propaganda value.
Analysis of why and was it wise?
As noted above Churchill was reportedly furious. He was noted to be furious about a number of things to do with the Channel Islands i the month of July so it is unsurprising he was furious about this in August. His initial fury was at having to give the islands up at all and then the less than impressive Operation Ambassador which you can read about here. This broadcast just annoyed him further.
With the passage of time and all the information that is available perhaps it is unfair that the speech was viewed by some as sucking up to the Germans and providing propaganda for the Germans.
If you had been in his position, one month into being occupied by the enemy that has rolled across Europe in quick fashion, cut off from a large portion of your population who have been evacuated and are anxious for news of their loved ones who are still in the Channel Islands. What would you do?
At the time he recorded the speech he had no idea how news from the Channel Islands could be sent or if it was ever going to be allowed. Talks about the use of the International Red Cross setting up a message system had not yet begun.
He took the decision, approved by the Controlling Committee, to take this speech and pass the message to those in the UK that their families were safe, that they were being well treated, at that point of the war, and to allay the fears of Channel Islanders in the UK.
Some of what he said may have been slightly naive or maybe it was just a case of at one month in to the occupation he hadn’t as yet get to grips with what he may or may not be allowed to say and hedged his bets. Better to get his message across to those desperate for news rather than recording something that the Germans then refuse to broadcast.
What he probably hadn’t have foreseen was how the German propaganda machine would use it with an introduction stating that it was proof that it wasn’t so bad to be living in an occupied country and that rumours of ill treatment were untrue.
For those that thought Sherwill was going too far and being too co-operative with the Germans and doubted his loyalty to the King they were soon to be proved wrong. In October 1940 he was sent to prison in France for helping Symes and Nicolle when they were here on a commando mission. You can read about that here.
Conclusion
Looking at all the evidence available I really think that it is harsh to say that Sherwill shouldn’t have made the broadcast. He did so with the best of intentions to quell the worries of those that had been evacuated. He had after all been left ‘holding the baby’ when the British government decided to withdraw from the Channel Islands.
In the end the broadcast did no harm to him as he received a knighthood post war and became Baliff of Guernsey from 1946 to 1959. For those not familiar with the role of the Bailiff he is the head of the judiciary and the most senior islander with a non political role. The Baliff also acts as the equivalent of the speaker of the House of Commons in the Guernsey parliment.
I hope that you have enjoyed reading the blog post.
I also co-host a podcast with Keith Pengelley in which we talk about the occupation of the Channel Islands month by month using first hand accounts, diaries and our research in the archives. You can find us on all the major podcast services. Just search “Islands at War” or visit our podcast page here.
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