Island at War

[Peter_Suciu]

Anyone catching the mini-series Island at War, which is currently airing on Masterpiece Theater on PBS? It is about life on (fictional) St. Gregory of the Channel Islands during WWII, and how the residents deal with the German occupation. The story is based on actual events on the Channel Islands however.

Very interesting story...but there is a scene where the port on the island is bombed shortly before the Germans arrive. Does anyone know if the Germans actually bombed any of the islands prior to invasion?

I think the only other time the Channel Islands have been depicted was in The Eagle Has Landed.

[DJT]

Hi Peter,

Yes, the Germans did bomb the islands (St Peter Port on Jersey I believe?). As depicted in the show, they were trucks full of tomatoes. The Germans thought they were supplies/troops.

[coastie]

It's not a bad show, Notice the baron/colonel is wearing a German Cross and it's 1940? Also the young flier wooing the girl talks about the Eastern Front.
I'm sure there are plenty more to pick at,stiill it's pretty good over all.

[Richardxyz]

I went to Guernsey last year principally to run a series of races, secondly to visit some of the military sites and thirdly to treat my girlfriend to a nice Easter break I well recommend a visit to either Guernsey or Jersey. In Guernsey there are some great museums, the Occupation museum, and theres another on the sea front in a long tunnel. It was a feast of militaria tunics, helmets, medals galores and some great history on how the civilians coped with the occupying forces and their hardships. I even bought a pair of good collar tabs at one of the museums! Theres a lot of traces of the occupation still left, there is still a large underground hospital ( now a museum ) in the centre of the island, the Organisation Todt organised slave workers to do the digging. Pill boxes still exist around the Island. The impression I got was the lack of food and other supplies particularly towards the end of the war, the reliance of red cross parcels. I read one account of even soldiers killing civilians cats for food.

And Des yep it was St.Peters Port in Guernsey, tomatoes were one of the islands big exports.

[coastie]

I went to Guernsey last year principally to run a series of races, secondly to visit some of the military sites and thirdly to treat my girlfriend to a nice Easter break I well recommend a visit to either Guernsey or Jersey. In Guernsey there are some great museums, the Occupation museum, and theres another on the sea front in a long tunnel. It was a feast of militaria tunics, helmets, medals galores and some great history on how the civilians coped with the occupying forces and their hardships. I even bought a pair of good collar tabs at one of the museums! Theres a lot of traces of the occupation still left, there is still a large underground hospital ( now a museum ) in the centre of the island, the Organisation Todt organised slave workers to do the digging. Pill boxes still exist around the Island. The impression I got was the lack of food and other supplies particularly towards the end of the war, the reliance of red cross parcels. I read one account of even soldiers killing civilians cats for food.

And Des yep it was St.Peters Port in Guernsey, tomatoes were one of the islands big exports.

Were the Germans later abandoned by the High Command, left to fend for themselves?

[Peter_Suciu]

Were the Germans later abandoned by the High Command, left to fend for themselves?

No! You'll ruin the end of the mini-series for me!

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Peter, I watched it but missed the last episode!


Like Coastie I noticed the same errors.
Cheers, Ade.

[Peter_Suciu]

Hi Peter, I watched it but missed the last episode!
Like Coastie I noticed the same errors.
Cheers, Ade.

I saw it is on DVD already. I'll watch the whole thing and then decide if it is worth buying it.

Yeah, a lot of the Germans are highly decorated. It seems like everyone has some awards! These guys must have been busy in Poland, Belgium, Holland and France!

[Si1964]

I have a friend who is a Gurnseyman and I am sure that he advised me that there was for some time after the war a lot of bitterness towards some over what was considered to be fraternization.

As a footnote and its dreadful to admit, wasn't the channel island by passed on the 6th of June invasion and where only liberated sometime after the proper invasion?

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Si, you are correct about the Islands not being liberated. Between D Day and the end of the war the Islands were left alone. There was a real problem with food shortages; people were starving. The Islands were not invaded and British troops didn't land there until May 9th 1945 as the Germans had surrendered the previous day.


Cheers, Ade.

[Si1964]

Hi Ade,

So my next question is, did they continue to control the Island or did they hand power back to the local authorities? And what about Jersey and Sark/Alderney were they any where else??

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Si, the British "invasion" was undertaken by "Force 135". The code name was "OP Nestegg".Guernsey - 9th May. Jersey - 9th May. Sark - 10th May. Aldernay was not liberated until May 19th. British Military govt ran the Islands under Brig. Snow, until the civil authorities could be organised. Although the date given for Sark's "liberation" is the official one, not enough troops could be found to be sent there from the force of 6000 men, so the Dame of Sark was put in charge of the German garisson!

Cheers, Ade.

[Si1964]

Ade,

Thanks for that insight, greatly appreciated

Does anyone know a good book about this?

Thanks

[Peter_Suciu]

DVD Box Set

Well a resounding thumbs down to the DVD box set!

I watched the show on PBS and decided to buy the box set. For some reason the DVD box set features shorter episodes than aired on PBS as part of Masterpiece Theater. Not sure if the longer versions were "extended" but I can't imagine why these were cut. The running time seemed to be about an hour and 20 minutes on TV, and they're closer to an hour and 10 minutes on the DVD.

Some interesting, but not exactly key, scenes are cut including a scene at the nightclub in episode one with the British soldiers. This scene set up why one certain character wasn't in the army, and also showed that the younger singer had been performing at the club before the Germans arrived. This is annoying.

[Simon O.]

There's another interesting operation launched from the channel islands in March of '45 against Granville on the Cotentin peninsular. The Germans raided the port, sank some shipping and released some German POWs iirc. At least 1 RK was dished out for it.

After the Battle magazine did a great article on it a few years ago.