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RESISTANCE, DEFIANCE AND DISRUPTION IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS – AN OVERVIEW

One of the myths surrounding the German occupation of the Channel Islands, outside of the islands, was that there were no acts of resistance. This is simply not true. Many Channel Islanders risked serious consequences by carrying out various acts throughout the occupation with some paying the ultimate price.

I will be dealing with this in detail on the blog during the course of this year. I thought an overview in advance of that might be of interest. Particularly as I have been interviewed by History Rage on their podcast on this subject. If you missed the podcast you can find it here and also on the all the usual podcast services. It is Series 8 Episode 2.

Whilst there were no acts of armed resistance, such as in other occupied countries, there were many acts of resistance, defiance and disruption. These acts caused some Channel Islanders to be deported to prisons or camps in mainland Europe. A number of these people paid the ultimate price, eight from Guernsey and twenty one from Jersey. There were over 4,000 prosecutions for breaking German laws in the Channel Islands.¹ The list is acknowledged to be incomplete and doesn’t include those deported to internment camps under the mass deportations. In the context of a total population of the Channel Islands of approximately 68,400 this a large percentage.²

Why was there no armed resistance?

A broad explanation for no armed resistance or partisans was for a number of reasons :-

1. These islands are small and lacked any mountains or forests to disappear into after such acts. In other occupied countries they could be forty or fifty miles away after an attack.

2. Most men of military age had left the islands to join the British armed forces.

3. All weapons had been confiscated at the start of the occupation.

4. They had made it quite clear that any acts against the occupying forces would result in severe reprisals. These threats were not unfounded as the islanders were to find out.

5. The population was faced with ratios of one to three or one to two Germans at various points during the war.

6. The British had removed all weapons when they demilitarised the islands.

7. At no point did the British attempt to supply weapons or organise any resistance. The reason for this was that just as they viewed the Channel Islands of no strategic value they also felt that there was no value in encouraging such resistance. It would have just led to reprisals without actively aiding the war effort.

That isn’t to say that the Germans were not worried about the possibility of armed action being taken against them.

So what resistance was there?

There were many different types of resistance, defiance and disruption during the occupation of the Channel Islands. It varied from small personally significant acts, that made the perpetrator feel better, to organised groups disseminating news from the BBC, acts of sabotage or disruption, escapes and sheltering those that the Germans were looking for.

Small personal acts

Small personal acts were many and varied. Probably the most well known was the “V” sign campaign. The campaign came about because the BBC were encouraging those in all of the occupied territories to make the Germans feel threatened and uneasy. Channel Islanders took this onboard and started utilising the “V” for victory sign.

Xavier De Guillebon – Photograph of the display at German Occupation Museum

Xavier De Guillebon was the first Channel Islander to be punished with imprisonment in Caen Prison. As the “V” sign campaign escalated the Germans threatened to have any perpetrators of this shot. Fortunately this didn’t happen.

Other personal acts were the wearing of V for victory badges made from coins. These were usually worn under the collar of a jacket and upon sighting a friend it was turned over to show the badge.

Examples of the badges fashioned from coins. These examples are on display at La Valette Museum in Guernsey.

Another example of actions taken against the Germans was an incident where two police constables spotted a very drunk German on the streets of St Peter Port. He was near the top of some steps and they gave him a shove resulting in him falling down the steps and sustaining significant injuries.³ They then called an Ambulance and were thanked by the Germans for helping their colleague. If they had been found out they would have probably been sent to prison for three months and fined two years pay.

News sheets

There were at least two organised groups that circulated news sheets after radios had been confiscated for the second time. These groups produced news sheets that were circulated at great risks to themselves.

One group was known as GUNS (Guernsey Underground News Service) and I wrote a blog post about them. You can read it on the link below.

Guernsey Underground News Service

The other group was called GASP (Guernsey Active Secret Press). GASP were lucky as they weren’t betrayed and carried on until Liberation.

Display at the German Occupation Museum which tells a little of the GASP story.

The article below also tells the story of GASP.

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail – Saturday 19 May 1945
Image © National World Publishing Ltd. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Sabotage

There were acts of sabotage of varying levels during the course of the occupation. I have picked a few as examples.

Probably one of the longest running acts of sabotage was in Jersey. The Germans had kept on the civilian controller of the airport, Charles Roche. It is estimated that he was responsible for at least twenty eight German aircraft being written off between 1940 and 1942. Jersey War Tours wrote an excellent piece on this which is worth a read. You can find it here

Another example of the type of activities that were carried out to sabotage German plans is the “Matthew’s Sark Party”. Despite being forced by the Germans to work for them they managed to use this to carry out acts of sabotage. A summary of this is in the article below.

Dover Express – Friday 06 July 1945 – Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Other acts of sabotage included cutting telephone cables or removing wooden poles from fields. In the latter case it is entirely feasible that some of these wooden poles were removed by Germans desperate for firewood.

The poles had been placed there to inhibit the landing of gliders or parachutists and were rigged with explosives. It was therefore a very risky endeavour to go near them. Fortunately the only account I can find of a casualty is of a cow which wandered in amongst them.

Sheltering escaped forced workers and others

During the course of the occupation many escaped forced workers were sheltered by locals. Some were successfully hidden for a number of years and, some until liberation in May 1945.

Probably the best known story is that of Louisa Gould and Russian Bill. You can read about this tragic story here.

As well as forced labourers there were instances of prisoners of war being helped to escape. You can read about two Americans here.

Escapes from the Channel Islands

An estimated 225 people escaped from the Channel Islands over the course of the occupation. These escapers were able to provide valuable intelligence to M.I. 19, a branch of military intelligence. This consisted of not only the state of islanders but also the defences on the islands.

This was a risky proposition because of the risk of being shot whilst trying to escape and the risks of being at sea in boats that were often unsuitable for the task.

Defiance

One of the best known acts of defiance is that of Major Marie Ozanne. I wrote a blog about her on the link below.

Death of an Occupation Resister -Salvation Army Major Marie Ozanne

Repercussions of these acts

There were various different threatened repercussions in response to these acts. Ranging from being made to provide guards to patrol in the case of sabotage or “V” signs to threat of the death penalty. Examples of various notices published threatening serious consequences.

From August 1st 1942, all inhabitants of the Channel Isles who are held in custody for any reason by the German Authorities, either in the Channel Islands or France, are liable to the DEATH PENALTY if any attacks or acts of sabotage are made against the Occupying Power in the Occupied Territory.

In addition, I declare that, henceforth, I reserve to myself the right to nominate certain members of any Parish who will be liable to the Death Penalty in the event of any attacks against communications, as for instance harbours, cranes, bridges, cables and wires, if these are made with the assistance or with the knowledge of the inhabitants of the Parish concerned. In their own interest I call upon the population for an increased activity and watchfulness in combating all suspicious elements, and to co-operate in the discovery of the guilty persons. The population

of the Island are once more reminded that, in accordance with the German Military Law and in agreement with the Hague Convention, penalties are as follows.

Espionage: The death penalty.

Sabotage: The death penalty.

High Treason: The death penalty or penal servitude for life.
Der Feldkommandantur, Gez. KNACKFUSS,
Jersey, den 27.7.42. Oberst.

Memorials

There are memorials in both Guernsey & Jersey to those that died as a result of their acts of protest, defiance and resistance.

You can read about the Guernsey Memorial here

The Jersey Memorial has a similar inscription which reads:

During the period of the German occupation of Jersey, from 1 July 1940 to 9 May 1945, many inhabitants were imprisoned for acts of protest and defiance against the Occupation Forces in H.M. Prison, Gloucester Street which stood on this site. Others were deported and held in camps in Germany and elsewhere from which some did not return.”
Jersey Memorial

Conclusion

As will have become clear from this post there are many stories to explore in this area and I will be dealing with these future blog posts.

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 categorized 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 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.

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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.

Footnotes

Jersey Archives L/C/24/A/5 – Lists of Channel Islanders 1940-1945 (political prisoners, deportees and escapees) List incomplete.
Cruickshank “The German Occupation of the Channel Islands” Page 59 Only 6,600 out of 50,000 left Jersey and 17,000 out of 42,000 left Guernsey.
Bell, William (1995). I beg to report. Bell (1995).

LIFE IN JERSEY AS A SCHOOLBOY DURING THE OCCUPATION

Just a brief blog post to flag this two part interview with Bill Morvan by his Granddaughter. An interesting account about his life, as a schoolboy, during the Occupation of Jersey.

If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.

You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.

Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.

NATIONAL SERVICE AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS – AN UNUSUAL SITUATION

At the outbreak of war in 1939 Channel Islanders were only able to be conscripted into the British forces to serve outside of the Channel Islands for limited purposes. The Islands had militias but their purpose was for the defence of the Islands themselves.

For centuries it had only been a requirement that Channel Islanders would serve overseas in two specific sets of circumstances. To accompany the Sovereign in person to recover England or to rescues the Sovereign if they were captured.

There was some confusion in Whitehall at the outbreak of war about the position was and what exactly to do about it. The War Office not being sure if they could liaise with the Islands directly or whether this had to be through the Home Office. Eventually the Home Office agreed that the War Office could liaise directly with the Lieutenant Governors of Jersey and Guernsey.

Whilst this was going on Jersey had already passed a resolution on the 16th September 1939 placing all their resources at the disposal of the Crown.

Jersey was first to pass a law which meant that all men, of British nationality, between the ages of eighteen and forty one could be directed by the Jersey Government to join the British armed forces. Jersey passed this law in January 1940 with the input of the War Office into the drafting of the law. The drafting of this law would prove to be a problem later on as they had unintentionally created a loophole.

The Guernsey Government had also passed a resolution of a similar nature in September 1939 to draft a law to enable the Guernsey Government to direct men to enlist in the British Forces in a similar manner to the Jersey proposal.

The Guernsey law was sent in draft to London for their agreement in mid February 1940, a month after Jersey had passed their law. It was during the discussions about the draft Guernsey law that it became apparent that there was a problem. If a Guernseyman was was invited to enlist under the law, all they needed to do was answer no to the question on the enlistment form “Are you willing to be enlisted for general service?”. This would then enable them to avoid being conscripted.

They then discovered that this was also a problem with the law already passed by the Jersey Government. This left them in a bit of a bind as to how to resolve this with drawing attention to it.

This discrepancy was noticed by the Guernsey Government and there was a bit of a an argument about whose fault it was, with the blame being put at Jersey’s door. In the end it was discovered that it was a hasty amendment made by the Home Office that had introduced the problem and that the original draft sent by by Jersey had been correct.

The Lieutentant-Governor of Jersey wrote to the War Office on 24th April 1940 outlining the problem with the legal position and that the calling up of men would have to be delayed until the matter had been resolved. There is extensive correspondence around the matter.

B/A/W19/1 Baliff’s Chambers Occupation Files – Jersey Heritage Archive

It was eventually concluded that only option to resolve the situation, without drawing attention to the loophole, was to amend the legislation in the UK. The bill received it’s second reading on 30 May 1945 in the House of Lords.

My Lords, I crave the indulgence which I believe is usually granted to a newcomer to your Lordships’ House, more especially as during the short period since I was called to my present office we have been living under great strain. I have not been able therefore to give that time to a study of the procedure and forms of debate in your Lordships’ House which I certainly would have been able to give at any other time.

The purpose of the Bill to which I now ask your Lordships to give a Second Reading is to legalise the enlistment of men called up in the Channel Islands under the local national service laws for service in the armed forces of the Crown.

Though compulsory service has always existed in the Islands in some form or another for the purposes of defence, the islanders have by ancient charter been immune from serving outside the Channel Islands, except for the purpose of rescuing the Sovereign. Shortly after the outbreak of war the States of the Islands waived this traditional right and decided to offer men who were fit for service abroad to serve in the armed forces of the Crown under the same conditions as men in this country.
Lord Croft requesting the second reading of the bill, 30 May 1940, Hansard

During the debate several Lords spoke of the loyalty of the Channel Islanders.

I would also like to re-echo what my noble friend Lord Strabolgi said about the patriotism of the ChannelIslands.
Lord Jessel, Hansard, 30 May 1940, Hansard

I must also state the pleasure which we feel in observing that the Channel Islands, that most interesting part of these Islands, join as they have always done in the past in making their contribution to the welfare and defence of the Empire.
The Marquess of Crewe, Hansard, 30 May 1940, Hansard

On 3rd of June 1940 the Government of Guernsey had reported to London that the relevant local legislation had been passed in the States of Guernsey and that Alderney had also ratified the application of the law.

Hansard records that the UK legislation, the National Service (Channel Islands) Act, 1940, had received Royal Assent on the 13th June 1940.

The Privy Council approved the Guernsey law on 26th June 1940. This made the law somewhat academic as the majority of those that wished to leave the Channel Islands had already done so. It was also only two days before the Germans bombed St Peter Port and St Helier and only four days before the Germans landed. The majority of men who would have been caught by the legislation had already left the Channel Islands and volunteered before the law was in place. This long drawn out process and somewhat confused administrative procedure turned out ultimately to be for nothing.

If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.

You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.

Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.

FLIGHT LIEUTENANT JOHN SAVILLE – TYPHOON RAIDS ON GUERNSEY JUNE 1944

Today, 5 June 2023, I attended the memorial service for Flight Lieutenant John Saville who was killed during a Typhoon raid on Guernsey in the Channel Islands. This blog tells the story of the two raids that happened and also shares some footage of the memorial service.

Flight Lieutenant John Saville was a Canadian who flew two raids against St Peter Port in Guernsey, in the days preceding D-Day on 6th June 1944. He was a pilot in 439 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force, ‘Tiger Squadron’, flying Typhoon 1b aircraft. Often when these raids, and Saville himself, are written about there is only a passing mention of the first raid.

I thought it would be useful to provide some detail on both raids, as well as some photographs to provide the reader with an insight into what they were attacking. Hopefully this will bring to life the events recounted in this blog.

Photograph of John Saville from Canadian War Dead Records

I wasn’t able to find a photograph of John Saville’s aircraft but I was able to find a picture of another aircraft of the same type from his squadron.

(IWM Photo, MH 6864)
Hawker Typhoon Mk. IB (Serial No. RB402), coded 5V-P, of No. 439 Squadron, RCAF

What were they attacking and why?

The target that they were attacking was a Freya Radar station in Fort George overlooking Havelet Bay and St Peter Port Harbour.

German Freya radar installation near the entrance to Fort George, St Peter Port manned by the Luftwaffe.
Image © The Priaulx Library via Occupation Archive

There was concern that the radar, with a range of 100 miles, would pick up aircraft and ships approaching Normandy for D-Day on 6 June 1944. The map below shows the proximity of the Channel Islands to the Normandy beaches used for D-Day.

Google maps showing the proximity of the Channel Islands to Normandy.

Below shows the target area, Fort George in the centre of the picture. Top centre is Castle Cornet along with the emplacement that forms the south side of the harbour.

Fort George, Havelet Bay and Castle Cornet. http://ncap.org.uk/frame/1-1-44-537-48 Taken 7th November 1942 by 140 Squadron RAF.

The Google Maps image below shows how it is today.

As the Fort, Bay and Castle look today. The Fort has mostly been redeveloped as housing.

A current day view from Fort George looking out over Havelet Bay to Castle Cornet and St Peter Port Harbour.

View from Fort George. Photograph ©️Nick Le Huray

View looking from Castle Cornet across Havelet bay to Fort George. The radar installation would have been roughly in line above first boat on the left of the picture. Photograph ©️Nick Le Huray

The first raid on 3rd June 1944

Eight aircraft carrying 500 lb MC bombs with instantaneous nose fusing attacked the radar installation at Saint Peter Port on the eastern coast of the heavily defended Channel Island of Guernsey. The attack was made without a hitch from a south westerly direction at an altitude of 12,500 feet led by Flight Lieutenant Dadson. The squadron half rolled into a dive on the target and succeeded In scoring a large number of hits in the target area.

No bombs were seen to burst outside of the target area. As the aircraft individually half rolled into position, then heavy flak opened up and lateral errors only were all that kept a number of our aircraft from severe damage. The dive was carried out from 12,000 feet to 3000 feet, with the aircraft being followed all the way by both light and heavy flak and finally crossing out at over 500 mph amid a barraged of incendiary bullets.

Miraculously only two of our aircraft suffered minor damage, one flown by Flying Officer Burgess was struck in the radiator and the other flown by Flying Officer Porritt was nicked in the tailplane. All aircraft returned safely operations successful.
Squadron 439 RCAF Operations Record Book entry for the first raid on 3rd June 1944. National Archives AIR 27/1879/8.

The second raid 5th June 1944

Although the record book recorded the raid on 3rd June as a success photo reconnaissance photographs revealed that the Germans were making repairs to the radar installation. It was decided that a further raid was required to ensure that it was disabled permanently.

This time Saville was leading a flight of eight Typhoons from 439 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force, “Tiger Squadron”.

Squadron 439 RCAF Operations Record Book entry for the first raid on 5th June 1944. Listing the aircraft and pilots involved. National Archives AIR 27/1879/8.

Having received confirmation of the fact that the last raid on the radar installation at saint peter port was 75% complete this squadron set out to finish the job by knocking over the one remaining Freya radar installation in the northeast corner of the target area.

Carrying two nose fused instantaneous 500lb M.C. bombs each the squadron led by Flight Lieutenant Saville attacked the highly defended target in a long dive from 12,000 feet to 4000 feet in an easterly direction. All the bombs appeared to burst on or very near the target itself.

A large disturbance was created in the sea about a mile offshore and at first it was believed to have been bombs. Flight Lieutenant Saville was not seen after the dive and it was later presumed that his aircraft had been hit by intense flag and failed to recover from the dive. The remaining seven aircraft and pilots returned unharmed.
Squadron 439 RCAF Operations Record Book entry for the first raid on 5th June 1944. National Archives AIR 27/1879/8.

A further report gives more insight into what was observed by another pilot.

On 5.6.44 at 08.20 hours, eight of the 439 Squadron aircraft took off to dive-bomb a Radar installation at Fort George on the Island of Guernsey.

The formation which was led by F/L Saville encountered very heavy flak over and near the target. As F/L Saville went into the target, six bursts of heavy flak were observed in front of him. This officer was seen making an aileron turn to port, which, on pull out, would have brought him out over the Island instead of the sea.

His No. 2 pulled out towards the sea and did not see him again. Shortly after F/L Saville’s No. 2 called him on the R/T twice, but received no reply.

The rest of the Squadron returned to base at 09.20 hours. Subsequently, an A.S.R. search was made in the face of very heavy flak which failed to find any trace of F/L Saville.
Circumstantial Report: Can J. 8146, F/L J. W. Saville, 439 Squadron, RCAF missing on Operations. w.e.f. 5.6.44. Typhoon MN210. – The Typhoon Project .Org

At the memorial service on 5th June 2023 an eyewitness account was read out, which had come to light in 1987. The eyewitness had seen the level of anti aircraft fire and was certain that the aircraft had been hit by fire from a flak ship in the harbour.

Swastika Over Guernsey – Victor Coysh – 1955

You will probably have noticed in the operations book extract above that twelve aircraft are noted as having flown that day. This is because four aircraft took off to search for Saville in the hope that he had been able to bail out of his aircraft and was in a dinghy at sea. If that had happened it would have been likely that he would have been captured by the Germans in any case. The aircraft searched in the face of heavy anti aircraft fire but to no avail.

The chance of being able to call in a seaplane or ship to rescue him would have been slim in any case due to the heavy fortifications on the island.

On the 16th June 1944 John Saville’s commanding officer wrote to his mother to report that he was missing in action.

Letter to Mrs. Saville, from Commanding Officer of 439, S/L Norsworthy, LAC, Ottawa. – The Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Five weeks after the aircraft crashed the body of a Canadian airman was washed ashore, although it wasn’t able to be positively confirmed that it was the body of John Saville.

As can be seen from the letter below he was officially declared dead in 1952.

Outcome of the raids

Unfortunately, despite the valiant efforts of those involved in both of the raids, all of the radar equipment remained in working order. As had been feared they detected the incoming invasions ships and aircraft on the evening of 5th/6th June and a message was radioed from the German Naval Signals Headquarters in St Peter Port to Berlin warning of the attack. You can read and see pictures of the Naval Signals Headquarters here.

Fort George. Original image here taken on 7 February 1945 by an aircraft of 541 Squadron RAF

The above is a zoomed in part of the previous photo which shows what appear to be bomb craters around the area where the radar was based. These are most likely from the June 1944 raids and just haven’t been filled in.

Discovery of the wreck of Typhoon MN210

In the 1960s what was believed to be aircraft wreckage was found in Havelet Bay. It wasn’t until 1982 that the site was investigated further by local diver Mick Peters and it was established that this was the wreck of Saville’s aircraft. It was subsequently designated as a war grave following identification of personal items which confirmed that Saville had gone down with his aircraft.

Panoramic picture of Castle Cornet, Havelet Bay and Fort George in the distance. Photograph ©️ Nick Le Huray.

Memorials

John Saville is commemorated on two physical memorials in Guernsey. One at the Castle Emplacement overlooking Havelet Bay and Fort George.

Information board on the Castle Emplacement, St Peter Port. ©️ Nick Le Huray

Plaque next to the information board on the Castle Emplacement, St Peter Port. Photograph ©️ Nick Le Huray

The second memorial is at the airport in Guernsey where his name is inscribed. The airport also has a virtual memorial which you can view online here.

Memorial to all Allied Aircrew lost near Guernsey during the Second World War. Photograph ©️ Nick Le Huray

He is also commemorated on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede in Surrey, England.

Annual memorial service

Each year there is a memorial service held in Guernsey at the site of the memorial plaque on the Castle Emplacement in St Peter Port. Provided I am in Guernsey at the time I attend the service. Fortunately I was able to attend today, 5th June 2023.

Below you will find a couple of video clips from the service which I attended today. It was pleasing to see a good turn out for the memorial service despite the chilly easterly wind. Apologies for the wind noise but it was blowing a force 4!

Part one of the memorial service held on 5 June 2023. Video ©️ Nick Le Huray

Deputy Bailiff Jessica Roland reads a poem “RIP John Saville” Video ©️ Nick Le Huray

Last Post at the memorial service. Video ©️ Nick Le Huray

Gallery of photographs from the service. ©️Nick Le Huray

RIP John Walton Saville. Per Ardua Ad Astra.

Thanks to all involved in organising the memorial service and all that attended.

If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.

You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.

Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.

OPERATION CONCERTINA – RECAPTURE ALDERNEY! 1943

If you have read my previous posts about proposed raids on Alderney then you will understand why this blog post could have had a multitude of titles! As with the other proposed operations this one was very much the brainchild of and driven by Lord Louis Mountbatten.

This operation was a sub operation of Operation Constellation the others were Operation Coverlet against Guernsey and Operation Condor against Jersey. In this blog post I will be dealing with Concertina. I will deal with the other operations in future posts.

The previous blog posts are Operation Attaboy (1941) which you can find here and Operation Blazing which (1942) which is here . If you haven’t already read these I would read them first starting with Attaboy then Blazing. This will give you a good background to how Constellation and then Concertina came about.

I considered “Operation Concertina – third time’s a charm”, “Alderney here we go again or not as the case maybe!” or just a graphic of Alan Brooke shouting “Oi Mountbatten no!”. Anyway enough of being flippant and on with the story.

Having read those you may well be wondering why on earth they were considering what looked like a very similar operation to what had been proposed in February & March 1941 and 1942. This is especially pertinent as they had evaluated the Islands as being “of no strategic importance to either us or the enemy.” as early as mid 1940 and an assessment that was repeated almost every year thereafter.

At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 the possibility of a large-scale raid on the Channel Islands was again discussed. This was to be given the name Operation Constellation, the sub operations were Operation Coverlet against Guernsey, Operation Condor against Jersey, and Operation Concertina against Alderney.

On 17 January 1943 Mountbatten, at the Joint Chiefs of Staff 53^rd meeting, made the very bold statement that “He would capture the Channel Islands without help from the United States.”¹

On 22^nd January 1943 a note by the Combined Chiefs of Staff was presented for cross Channel Operations. Part of this was to undertake “Small scale amphibious operations, such as the progressive reoccupation of the Channel Islands. (Note: Raids are already adequately taken care of by the existing organisation.)”² The note suggest that such a raid should be along the lines of Dieppe. We all know how Dieppe ended!

At the meeting on 23^rd January 1943 the American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, asked about the dates proposed for the operations. In his reply Mountbatten said that the date for the Channel Island operations had been chosen so as to fit in with Operation ‘Husky.’³ The difficulty being the number of landing craft that the Americans required for ‘Husky’ some of which would need to come from the British Channel Assault Force.⁴

Mountbatten later goes on to explain that the landing craft resources would only permit an initial assault by 2 brigade groups with an immediate follow up of one brigade group with some armour. This could only be increased with American assistance. This the Americans declined to help with this as they required all their landing craft for ‘Husky.’

Despite the lack of support from the Americans the feasibility of a large-scale operation to retake one or more of the Channel Islands continued. On 17th February 1943 a memorandum was produced by the Chief of Combined Operations, Mountbatten, for the War Cabinet Chiefs of Staff Committee and the name Operation ‘Constellation’ appears.⁵ It refers to an outline plan for an operation against Alderney. Regarding the other islands, he states that “examination has not yet reached a stage when it is possible to say that attacks on Guernsey and Jersey are practicable.” The attached outline plan refers to ‘Constellation’ as a whole but the operation against Alderney as a sub operation ‘Concertina.’ The sub operation against Guernsey was named ‘Coverlet’ and Jersey was called ‘Condor’ although these names are not mentioned in this plan.

Interestingly for the first time, having previously been discounted, the plan to retake one of the Channel Islands, specifically Alderney, is referred to as “strategically desirable.” The plan records that the reason for this is that it would assist with ‘Husky’ because the Germans would become nervous of a landing on the Cherbourg peninsula. This would also prevent them from moving men and equipment away from France.

It also notes that ‘Concertina’ would have an impact on the proposed, but never enacted, Operation ‘Lethal’ the capture of the U-boat bases in the Brittany peninsula of German-occupied France and Operation ‘Hadrian’ combined operations attack to seize Cherbourg.

The plan notes that if ‘Concertina’ went ahead it would mean that ‘Lethal’ would not be impacted but that ‘Hadrian’ would probably become more difficult because the Germans would strengthen their defences.

The memorandum of 17^th February notes that the preliminary air bombardment of Alderney would involve the following:-

Night of D-2/D-1 the island is attacked by a force of 500 to 600 heavy and medium bombers.
D-1 daytime daylight attacks to be carried out by American heavy bombers.
On the night of D-1/Day the island is again attacked by a force of 500 to 600 heavy and medium bombers.

This would be an incredible amount of bombs to be dropped on such a small target. At the lower end this would be somewhere around 2,300 tons to 4,500 at the higher end depending on the mix of heavy and medium bombers.

The Naval force was to be:-

One Monitor
1 AA Cruiser
A/S Destroyer escort
8 Hunt Class destroyers
12 M.T.B.
12 M.L.
6 L.S.I. (H)
Landing Craft as required for the force
6 M.S. Trawlers
6 A.S. Trawlers
One Boom Defence Vessel

The memorandum considered that the military force required would be:-

One Brigade Group
Two Commando Units
One Field Company R.E.
Two Heavy and two light A.A. Batteries
One Battery of 4.5” Gun Howitzers for coast defence
One Squadron tanks
Ancillary units

Apart from the bombers they would require:-

One Squadron A.S.V. Aircraft
One Squadron striker aircraft – torpedo and bomb
Forty to fifty squadrons of S.E. fighters
At least two aircraft of P.R.U.

This memorandum was discussed at the War Cabinet Chiefs of Staff Committee meeting on 19^th February 1943.⁶ Mountbatten said that he had come to the conclusion that the only option was Alderney given the discussions in Casablanca, referred to above, because of the requirements for landing craft for ‘Husky’ and the Americans requirements.

As with its forerunner “Blazing” Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, thought the plan unsound feeling that the peculiar granite construction of the island that the bombardment would be unsuccessful. Sir Charles Portal, Chief of Air Staff, on behalf of the RAF doubted that it would bring about the air battle predicted by Mountbatten.

The meeting went on to approve the operation being further investigated but that a raid on the submarine pens in L’Orient was also to be investigated.

On the 19th February 1943 Brooke notes in his diary a long COS meeting.

A long COS meeting at which Dickie Mountbatten gave me a heap of trouble with a proposed attack on the Channel Islands which was not in its proper strategical setting and tactically quite adrift .
Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff

At a subsequent meeting on 1^st March 1943 the meeting noted “the Committee took note of a report from the Chief of Combined Operations, Mountbatten, on the result of a reconnaissance of an island in the “Constellation” group.⁷

After this mention of “Concertina” dries up and it is likely to have been killed off by that final meeting and the lack of available landing craft or crews for them as well as the unwillingness of the Chiefs of Staff.

If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.

You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.

Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.

Footnotes

United States Joint Chiefs of Staff – https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/History/WWII/Casablanca3.pdf page 371
United States Joint Chiefs of Staff – https://www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/Documents/History/WWII/Casablanca3.pdf Page 113
Husky was the operation to take Sicily.
National Archives – CAB 80. Memoranda (O) Nos. 1-100 – War Cabinet and Chiefs of Staff Committee Memoranda – page 131
National Archives – CAB 80. Memoranda (O) Nos. 1-100 – War Cabinet and Chiefs of Staff Committee Memoranda – page 331
War Cabinet Chiefs of Staff Committee 19th February 1943 – National Archives Reference – CAB 79/59/24
War Cabinet Chiefs of Staff Committee 1st March 1943 – National Archives Reference – CAB 79/59/31

A PLOT, AN EXILE AND THE LIBERATION OF HERM – 12 May 1945

Oberstleutnant Hans W von Helldorf was the former aide-de-camp to Graf von Schmettow who was Commander of the Channel Islands until February 1945. You can read about how von Schmettow was ousted by Vizeadmiral Friedrich Hüffmeier here. Helldorf was part of the undermining of von Schmettow along with Hüffmeier.

Despite this he was implicated in a plot to assassinate Hüffmeier in April 1945. Each day Hüffmeier used to walk to Castle Carey and have a glass of milk. Along with others von Helldorf had planned to poison Hüffmeier but they were betrayed.

As a result von Helldorf was stripped of his rank and banished to the island of Herm pending a court martial.

The eight people who lived on the island saw him put ashore on April the 28^th 1945. He was carrying a parcel containing a few personal belongings and with his head bowed walked slowly up the hill from the harbour in search of a place he might sleep.¹ Accounts record him as having stayed at the Manor House on the island but was hardly ever seen to leave the house.

It was fortunate for him that the war ended before he could face the court martial as Hüffmeier, an ardent Nazi, would likely have had him shot.

The Germans only briefly had a garrison on Herm and they had left in 1942 after their flak battery had shot down one of their own aircraft. Other than this brief period where Herm had a garrison they mainly used it as a place of recreation including shooting pheasants and rabbits.

As the only German on the island on the 12th May 1945 he surrendered to a British officer that came to Herm.

If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.

You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.

Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.

Footnotes

Liverpool Echo and Evening Express 1 April 1965.

JERSEY GOVERNMENT PROVIDING FUNDING FOR FILM ABOUT OCCUPATION RESISTANCE!

A quick post to highlight the excellent news that not one, but two films are in the process of being made. They are about two ladies that committed acts of resistance in Jersey during the German Occupation.

At least one of the films has received funding from the Jersey Government. Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore put notes in German soldiers pockets or left them in German cars inciting them to revolt. They created many of these messages under the German pseudonym Der Soldat Ohne Namen, or The Soldier With No Name, to deceive German soldiers that there was a conspiracy amongst the occupation troops

They were arrested in July 1944 for listening to the BBC and inciting the German Garrison to revolt. Imprisoned until May 1945 it is amazing that they survived the war as they were sentenced to death.

Bailiwick Express have written an article about this which is well worth a few minutes of your time to read. Follow the link here to read it.

You can read more about Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore here as there is an ten page article here from Jersey Heritage with photographs.

It is great to see that these films are going to be be made to tell their story.

I have a number of long blog posts in the works which will be out in the coming weeks.

If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.

You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.

Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.

OPERATION BASALT – 80th ANNIVERSARY AND COMMEMORATION

On the 3rd October 2022 I was lucky enough to attend the unveiling of the new plaques on the monument and walk some of the route that they took as well as listen to various speeches at a lunch held afterwards. The purpose of this blog post is to share some videos of events at the commemoration, some photos and discussion around some aspects of the raid that came up during the day. Also included are some other things that I have found over the years in respect of the raid.

The order of the day – just to give you some idea of what to expect in this blog.

I had the great pleasure of talking at some length to Eric Lee, who wrote the definitive book on the operation Operation Basalt: The British Raid on Sark and Hitler’s Commando Order. It also proved a good chance to catch up with an old school friend Simon Elmont who lives in Sark and spoke at the point where we reached the “Cassino Tree” and explained the significance to us of the tree. There is a video later down the blog post of the story of the tree and it’s importance. Russ Guille whom I have been in contact with on twitter also provided insight into the raid and it was great to meet him and his dad Reg.

THE STORY OF THE RAID

Operation Basalt was a commando raid on the Channel Island of Sark originally planned for 18/19th of September 1942 that attempt had to be abandoned. The raid then took place on 3rd/4th October 1942. The raid would have a much wider impact on operations in the European theatre of operations as it led to Hitler issuing the “Kommandobefehl (Commando Order)”. You can view a translation of the Commando Order here.

The sign explaining the raid and showing what is on the memorial stone. The text is reproduced below. The signs were wet due to a shower earlier in the morning. Photo © Nick Le Huray

The landing point and route that they took. Photos further down the blog of the sites as they are today. Photo © Nick Le Huray

Details of the Germans that died during the raid. Photo © Nick Le Huray

Operation Basalt (Op Basalt) was a raid by Commandos of the Small-Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) on the Island of Sark.

The object of the raid was to gather information on conditions in Sark and to capture one or more German soldiers to take back to England for interrogation. The objectives were achieved.

The raid was led by Major John Geoffrey Appleyard and he, with his Commandos, including the Danish Second Lieutenant Anders Lassen, made their way across the English Channel, to make landfall on the end of this headland known as the Hog’s Back which they scaled.

The raiders were transported on MTB 344 (Nicknamed “The Little Pisser”), which had the ability to run very fast (33 Knots / 40MPH / 64KPH) but with quiet auxiliary engines for close to shore work. The MTB Skipper was directed to wait until 3 am, then leave. This gave the shore party some two hours to conduct the mission.

Having scaled the cliff of the Hog’s Back, the party made their way inland, coming across the house Le Petit Dixcart which was unoccupied. The next building they came to also seemed deserted, but on breaking into La Jaspellerie, they discovered a Mrs. Pittard, who was most helpful in providing them with information on where some German soldiers could be found, a few hundred yards away in Dixcart Hotel. She also provided information on the deportations that had happened in September.

The Commandos made their way silently to Dixcart Hotel; discovering a sentry, Lassen was sent to deal with him, which he did quietly by knife. Entering the Annex of the Hotel, the Commandos captured five German soldiers and restrained them, by tying up their hands and then moving them outside to take back to the MTB. However, the German soldiers realising how few men had them captured, started to resist and cry out. In the ensuing melee two of the prisoners were shot dead, two escaped and the Commandos beat a hasty retreat with their one remaining prisoner to the Hog’s Back.

Fortunately for the Commandos, the MTB skipper had waited beyond his ordered time to leave and was still waiting for them when they arrived alongside, in their canoes at about 3.30am. Mission accomplished, the MTB went to full speed and headed north to arrive in Portland at about 6.30am.
Text from the memorial.

An initial German report notes that Oblt Herdt, the former Company Commander of the 6./IR 583 was relieved of his command and was to face a court martial. Senior Gefreiter (Orderly Corporal) Schubert was also to be court-martialled.

The Germans put their own spin on the raid on 9 October 1942 in an article on the front page of the Guernsey Evening Press.

The English & Irish newspapers also contained articles very shortly after the raid. A selection of them are below.

Interestingly the newspapers also reported some months later that copies of both of the local newspapers were being received in England. Some of these would have come from the raid. Others from those that escaped.

Western Morning News – Saturday 19 December 1942
Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

For a quick overview of the raid there is a copy of Eric Lee’s speech from the 75th Anniversary here.

If you want a comprehensive read on the raid I recommend the book by Eric Lee. You can also watch Eric speak from Sark on WW2 TV at the link below.

THE COMMEMORATION

The commemoration took place on the 3rd October 2022, the 80th Anniversary.

The photograph below gives you an idea of the scale of the cliffs on the coastline of Sark. This one is taken looking out from the path on the Hog’s Back where they landed across Derrible Bay.

The path out to the Hog’s Back. Photo © Nick Le Huray

Whilst waiting for the proceedings to start two members of the British Legion from Sark stood ceremonial guard at the monument. As you can see it is on an exposed point near the top of the cliff.

Lt Col Reg Guille MBE briefed the crowd at what was about to happen. Proceedings were to commence with a recreation of the cliff climb by The Guernsey Military History Company. They were wearing the correct period kit, which it had taken a long period of time to assemble, and were all former or serving members of the forces. Russell Doherty who heads up the Guernsey Military History Company told me that it had taken eighteen months to assemble the kit and out of all of the re-enactments he had been involved in this one had made him the most nervous. The commandos were instructed to ignore those assembled and move as they would have at the time.

Recreation by the The Guernsey Military History Company Photo © Nick Le Huray

Below is a short video of them coming up the cliff.

Lt Col Reg Guille said: “We have added two new names to the 10 that we listed five years ago, a corporal Jimmy Flint and Bombardier Eric Forster.”

“Additionally we have corrected a spelling error in the rank of one of the German soldiers on their plaque.” The reasons for the new names are explained later on in the blog.

Many thanks to Russ Guille for this photo Photo © Russ Guille. This was taken immediately after the ceremony.

The plaques were unveiled by Simon Wood – a nephew of the commando leader Major Geoffrey Appleyard – and Captain Karsten Adrian of the Bundeswehr, a German Officer serving in the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC).

As we moved off to follow the route they took we passed the memorial further along the Hog’s Back to Hardtack 7. Operation Basalt meant that the Germans laid 13,000 mines in Sark some on this route which proved disastrous for this later mission. I wrote about Operation Hardtack 7 here.

We then reached the point where they turned down the track to the Petit Dixcart house. They heard a German patrol so had to take cover and wait for them to pass before moving off down the track.

The route they would have taken to Petit Dixcart. Photo © Nick Le Huray

Moving down the track to Petit Dixcart Photo © Nick Le Huray

Once we reached the Petit Dixcart the current resident explained what had happened there. He was standing roughly where the commandos left the Bren gunner to cover them in case the patrol they saw earlier returned. The Bren gunner was facing back up the track in the above photo.

They broke into the house by breaking the glass on the door to turn the handle only to find that the door was unlocked. Finding the house empty they found some newspapers which gave details of deportations which they took with them. Although the Germans did not refer to these as deportations instead they used the term “evacuation”. This was obviously an attempt to justify the deportations.

It didn’t take long for news of the deportations from these papers and the additional papers they were given later in the raid to make it into the the Channel Islands Monthly Review just one month later. The Channel Islands Monthly Review was produced monthly in England to keep all of those that had been evacuated before the occupation up to date with news of their friends and relatives and conditions in the Channel Islands.

Extract from the Channel Islands Monthly Review November 1942 which was published in Stockport. Picture is of one of the original reviews in my collection.

Next we moved on to the site of “The Cassino Oak” which was planted on their route to the next property that they went to.

At this site we paused again where my friend, and Sark resident, Simon Elmont gave an explanation of the significance of the Oak and how it came about.

Thanks to my friend Simon Elmont for permission to share this video I took of him explaining the story of the Cassino Oak in Sark. Video © Nick Le Huray

The path they would have taken up to La Jaspellerie which is the white house in the photo. Photo © Nick Le Huray

Due to time constraints on the day we didn’t go all the way to La Jaspellerie. On the night of the raid they did where they encountered Mrs Pittard who is described as an elderly lady when in fact she was only in her early 40s. I guess if you were as young as the Commandos then you would have thought that she was elderly in comparison!

Frances Pittard’s ID Card Photo from The History Press.

Mrs Pittard was rightly recalled at Eric Lee’s lunchtime talk as being the heroine of the raid. Once she realised that they were British Commandos she invited them in to her house and gave them information about the troops on the island and more copies of the local papers.

She offered to accompany them to show them to where the Germans were nearby. They declined this offer and instead offered her a trip on their MTB to return to England because of the danger she would be in from assisting them. She declined this offer and was to pay the price later when the Germans discovered her broken window and then shipped her to prison in Guernsey for three months. Fortunately she was not deported.

They left the house with the newspapers and proceeded towards Dixcart Hotel where Mrs Pittard had indicated the nearest Germans were to be found.

Path heading up through the woodland heading up to Dixcart Hotel. Photo © Nick Le Huray

Woodland heading up to Dixcart Hotel. Photo © Nick Le Huray

We arrived at the Dixcart Hotel, the site of the altercation with the Germans.

We then moved on the nearby Stocks Hotel for a lunch and speeches.

Lt Col Reg Guille MBE said a few words of introduction and Captain Karsten Adrian of the Bundeswehr, a German Officer serving in the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) said a few words.

*Captain Karsten Adrian of the Bundeswehr, a German Officer serving in the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC*) Photo © Nick Le Huray

Eric Lee explained at his lunchtime talk why it had been difficult to identify exactly who had taken part in the raids. Whilst it was easy to identify the officers through official records it was often difficult to find the lists of other ranks. This was doubly difficult because of the raiding party not knowing each other and being made up of different nationalities.

Lt Col Reg Guille MBE then showed everyone a Fairbairn Sykes fighting knife often called a “Commando Knife” and invited Patricia Falle to tell the story of this particular knife.

Lt Col Reg Guille MBE With the knife. Photo © Nick Le Huray

Mrs Falle then explained that she had lived at Petit Dixcart in the 1960s when the house was in disrepair and had renovated it with her husband. During the course of this they found this knife. It is possible that it could have been dropped by one of the commandos on the raid.

The knife had been used as a poker for a fire by Pat Falle until someone told her what it was.

As you can see the knife guard has deliberately partially bent. Photo © Nick Le Huray

Simon Elmont & Eric Lee examining the knife Photo © Nick Le Huray

Russ Guille, Nick Le Huray, Eric Lee with the knife, and Simon Elmont. Photo © Nick Le Huray

You can watch the news report from ITV Channel Islands and some drone footage here.

It was a pleasure to take part in the day and the opportunities to talk to so many different people during the course of the day as well as pay my respects.

If you enjoyed reading about this raid you can read about other raids on the Channel Islands here. Other planned Allied Operations can also be found here.

If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.

You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.

Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.

“MRS CHURCHILL” DEPORTED 25 SEPTEMBER 1941

Probably one of the best known people for carrying out individual acts of defiance against the Germans during the occupation of the Channel Islands is Winifred Green. If you consult almost any book about the occupation Winifred gets a mention.

She became quite well known in the UK Newspapers in May 1945 when her story was widely reported. Some extracts below from a couple of newspapers.

Below is a photo of the display at the German Occupation Museum in Guernsey.

You can read more about Winifred at the Frank Falla archive here

If you have questions or information to share you can contact me by email on Contact@Island-Fortress.Com.

You can also find articles, podcasts, TV appearances and other social media etc here.

Also happy to be contacted with questions about the war in the Channel Islands, media appearances, podcasts etc.

DON’T MISS ‘CHANNEL ISLANDS WEEK’ ON WW2TV.

Paul Woodage of WW2TV is running a ‘Channel Islands Week’ starting this Monday (26 September). Links are below to the various shows as they stand at the moment. Promising to be a cracking week of excellent content.

Really pleased to have been invited to talk about ‘Commando Raids on the Channel Islands’ on Wednesday. I will be dealing with all the raids except Operation Basalt as Paul has the wonderful Eric Lee doing that on the anniversary on 3rd October 2022 live from Sark. I am also planning on being in Sark that day for the re-enactment on the anniversary.

Don’t worry plenty of other raids for me to talk about! Come along and ask questions.

Ever so slightly in awe that I am in such esteemed company as Duncan Barrett , Eric Lee , Phil Marett talking about various aspects of the occupation.

If you haven’t seen WW2TV it is a free to view history resource with lots of fantastic content covering all aspects of the Second World War. Either click the links below or go give the channel a follow on the various social media below. If you enjoy what you watch Woody would appreciate a sign up on Patreon.

Social Media links – https://twitter.com/WW2TV https://www.facebook.com/WW2TV https://www.instagram.com/ww2tv/

Monday 26 September 2022 – live at 7:00pm (BST) – or catch up anytime after that.

Tuesday 27th September 2022 – live at 7:00pm (BST) or catch up anytime after that.

Wednesday 28th September live 7:00pm (BST) – or catch up anytime after that.

Monday 3rd October 2022 – live at 7:00pm (BST) – or catch up anytime after that.

If you would like to receive email notifications of future blogs, you can sign up to the right of this blog post. 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 follow on Twitter at @Fortress_Island where I share other information and photographs.

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.

Why was there no armed resistance?

So what resistance was there?

Small personal acts

News sheets

Sabotage

Sheltering escaped forced workers and others

Escapes from the Channel Islands

Defiance

Repercussions of these acts

Memorials

Conclusion

Footnotes

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What were they attacking and why?

The first raid on 3rd June 1944

The second raid 5th June 1944

Outcome of the raids

Discovery of the wreck of Typhoon MN210

Memorials

Annual memorial service

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Footnotes

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Footnotes

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THE STORY OF THE RAID

THE COMMEMORATION

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