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.
Occupied Guernsey – Herbert Winterflood
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.
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.
Image © Johnston Press plc. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
Image © National World Publishing Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
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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© Nick Le Huray
