The Channel Islands

In a issue of World War II magazine there was an interesting article on the Channel Islands. The German military there did not surrender till the end of the war. They didnt surrender til 9 May 1945. Way after being bypassed by the Allies when they landed in Normandy. They fought till the end . Amazingly they even staged a raid on the artificial harbor at Granville on 9 Mar 44. 90 German troops destroyed the port facilities and rescued 67 german prisoners,killed 2 US Marines and 6 Royal Navy sailors.They also captured 6 Americans. They were able to get away with a collier with 112 tons of coal. They sank all the other colliers there. I didn't know that there were US Marines killed in France. IMO to be cut off for a long period of time with out resupply and to even strike back shows the courage and iniciative of the German military there.

 

One of the better books on the occupation of the Channel Islands is titled Islands in Danger. Sorry, don't have the authors right off (can't find my copy). It is an excellent social and political history on a very personal level of the occupation.

 

When the officer of the Guernsey garrison (forgot his name) requested his troops to surrender witht the Nazi salute, his soldiers told him to go to hell and refused to do so. They were just fed up and wanted to go home. Similar raids were made in the Lorient pocket. It was bravery but it was mostly dictated by despair and starvation. The example you mention is about coal, but sometimes soldiers died for a patato field (example near Lorient). The main reason why the Guernsey pocket remained almost intact was because the soldiers had no chance to desert. Those in pockets on the continent often crossed the lines and surrendered to French or U.S. troops. I'm not certain that the 60 men who were freed at Granville who thought the war was over for them, were particulary happy to follow these soldiers to the front, luckily for them it was a short period.

 

I found this about US Marines in Europe on another site .


On 15 July 1941, the Marine Corps established its first embassy detachment at London, England. It was commanded by Major Walter I. Jordan. Initial strength was approximately 60 officers and men, but this was doubled in size by December 1941 with the arrival of a second echelon from Marine Barracks, Washing ton, D.C.

The detachment was billeted in the American Embassy Annex at 20 Grosvenor Square. Initially, the duties of the detachment were primarily security and messenger service for the embassy. However, with the arrival of Admiral Harold R. Stark as Commander, Naval Forces, Europe (ComNavEu) on 17 March 1942, there was a realignment of duties to focus more upon the naval headquarters and less upon the embassy.

Major Jordan was succeeded by Captain Thomas J. Myers in October 1942. At that time the detachment was in activated and its personnel transferred to Rosneath, Scotland, to establish a Marine Barracks at the U.S. Navy Operating Base at that location. The detachment was re-established in London on 21 January 1943, and resumed its original designation and duties. Myers was replaced by First Lieutenant Alan Doubleday, who served until August 1944. He, in turn, was succeeded by Captain Harry W. Edwards, who remained in that post until April 1946, at which time the unit was given a new designation as the Marine Detachment, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe.

The detachment served as the principal administrative headquarters for Marines in Europe throughout World War II. Muster rolls for the unit reveal the names of the numerous Marine personnel who were sent to Europe and Africa for staff duty or as observers and trainees, both before the war and during the war. This included many Marines who served with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

Principal duties for the detachment included: ensuring security for the naval headquarters, supplying orderlies for flag officers, operating a motorcycle and motor vehicle messenger service between various military and diplomatic offices, supplying escorts for State Department couriers, and performing of ceremonial duties as required.

About 35 Marines operated with the OSS throughout North Africa and Europe. Few details exist as to what the did though.

On 5 February 1942, the U.S. Navy established its first base on the European side of the Atlantic, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on the banks of the River Foyle. That forward base had become necessary be cause the fleet could not operate efficiently for any length of time more than 2,000 miles from a naval base.

Orders quickly followed for a Marine unit to provide security for this "naval operating base" (NOB) and the 1st Provisional Marine Battalion was organized in 1941 at Quantico, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Lucian W. Burnham. His executive officer was Major Louis C. Plain. In preparation, the Marines of that battalion received some rigorous and varied training, because one could not predict what duties their assignments would require of them.

The 400-man battalion left the U.S. in May 1942, on the Santa Rosa, a converted cruise ship of the Italian-American line, headed across the North Atlantic for a destination known to very few. A month later, an augmentation force of 152 enlisted Marines arrived on board the SS Siboney, led by Second Lieutenant John S. Hudson.

Marine Barracks, NOB, Londonderry, was assigned the mission to guard the dispersed facilities of the large base, which was about three miles from the city.

Headquarters and Service Company was billeted at Springtown Camp, as was Company B, which was assigned to guard the repair facilities. Company C, which guarded the Quonset storage ammunition dump at Fincairn Glen (five miles outside 'Derry), was billeted on the grounds of an old estate called "Beech Hill." Company A guarded the Naval Field Hospital at nearby Creevagh, a couple of strategically located radio stations, and a major supply depot at Lisahally. Those Marines were billeted in Quonset huts on the grounds of "Lisahally House," an estate on the River Foyle.

The Marines were needed in Londonderry not only to protect the naval base from sabotage from German units which might have been landed by submarine, but also from local infiltrators. The Irish Free State (Eire), just across the border from Ulster, maintained its neutrality throughout the war. With German and Japanese embassies in full operation in Dublin, there was the fear of sabotage attempts against Allied installations, prepared with the cooperation of militant elements of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). There were no IRA-supported sabotage attempts, however, and history reveals that the number of voluntary Irish enlistments in the British Army from Eire equalled the number from Ulster, where the draft was in effect.

The Marine Detachment, which had been on duty in London at the same location in Grosvenor Square since June 1941, became also a naval security detachment. However, it retained its American Embassy designation and continued to perform security duties for the Embassy. Additional duties included: providing security for the naval headquarters; supplying orderlies for several flag officers, including ComNavEu; and augmenting the motorcycle courier service linking the various military headquarters in London. In their capacities as special naval observers, the detachment commander, Major Jordan, and his executive officer, Captain John Hill, continued to visit various Allied commands throughout the United Kingdom.

Three U.S. Marines were to have participated in the Deippe landing originally scheduled for 3 July as part of a Royal Marine commando force landing from HMS Locust. The Dieppe landing was postponed because of bad weather and after further postponements, the US Marine participation was cancelled, and they went on to complete their commando training.

There was a slight American presence in North Africa prior to the Allied invasion, working among the French in an effort to ease the way for the landing force. The two most prominent individuals were Robert Murphy, U.S. counselor accredited to the Vichy Government, and his principal military assistant, Marine Colonel William A. Eddy, who had been assigned to the American Legation in Tangier, Algeria, as an assistant naval attache for air in April 1942. Their diplomatic efforts helped to modify the resistance to the eventual landing operations. Eddy's assistant, Marine Lieutenant Franklin Holcomb, contributed to the cause by locating and smuggling out of Morocco two boatmen from Casablanca who were familiar with the complex hydrographic problems in the area. They helped to pilot the landing force. Eisenhower, favorably impressed, appointed Colonel Eddy to be the senior military attache for Africa.

It was determined that weapons training was needed for U.S. Navy boat crewmen who would be involved in the Algerian portion of the landing as part of the Eastern Task Force. In September 1942, Marine Corps instructors were brought in from Londonderry and London to establish a three-week training camp at the naval base in Rosneath, Scotland.

From Londonderry, Lieutenant Colonel Louis C. Plain and Captain William E. Davis led a detail of 25 enlisted Marines. The London Detachment sent First Lieutenant Fenton J. Mee and 15 enlisted men. At the end of the training period these three officers and 30 of the enlisted group were divided up into six teams and assigned to six different ships as a part of the landing force; the remaining 10 enlisted men returned to their base in Londonderry.

On 31 October 1942, the Marine Detachment in London was disbanded and most of the unit transferred to Rosneath to establish a Marine Barracks there. Captain Thomas J. Myers, formerly a company commander with the unit in London, was placed in command. Some key enlisted personnel remained in London on detached duty, to carry on their original assignments at ComNavEu.

 

Nice details thank you for sharing these it's always intersting to learn more. It may take a while but somewhere in my photo archives I have a picture of German soldiers posing in front of an English tearoom. It's possibly Guernsey or Jersey. If I find it I will post it for you. I have opened a threat showing my stamp collection. On it I will post some of the German Guernsey occupation issues.

 

You are welcome. I am always looking for the lesser known details from the war. And I will have to check your thread out too .

 

Here are some very interesting files on the fate of the Jews on the British Isles during the occupation. I found these last month and they are for very interesting reading. Apparently, they faced the same fates as those on the continent: They were forced to wear the yellow star of David, some were deported and murdered in camps, some were pressed into forced labor, and others were hidden and ultimately saved.

http://www.jerseyheritagetrust.org/edu/resources/pdf/cijews.pdf


The Jews of the Channel Islands www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

 

Actually the last German troops in the Channel Isles didn't surrender until the 23rd May 1945. A small group of troops were based on the small Island of Minquiers, and somehow when the rest of the Channel Isles garrison surrendered to the British they were forgotten about. It wasn't until they 'flagged down' a French fishing boat which took them to England were they able to surrender

 

Thats pretty sad to be forgotten in that way. But I guess that the Allies Had bigger things on their minds LOL.

 

The small island, which is 9 miles south of Jersey, is normally uninhabited.

 

Sheep mainly? LOL

 

When you visit the 'War tunnels' museum on the island (Jersey) your entrance ticket is a facsimile of an identity card for a real person, who's fate you discover as you progress through the museum.
All but one of my little group of mate's 'personalities' ended up either imprisoned, in a concentration camp, or dead.

(the other chap escaped from the Island by rowing boat and on arriving on the South coast of England after c.3 days rowing was taxed by the port authorities for importing the boat!)

We also were informed there that the first German casualty on the Island was a trooper that covered himself in pig-fat and fell asleep while sunbathing; gaining severe burns in the process...

Talking to people who were there at the time underlined that the occupation was a grim experience on the whole, though ironically they all said that nearing the end the German garrison was finally on worse starvation rations than them as Red Cross ships brought in supplies for the islanders while the German supply ships stopped coming.

Cheers,
Adam.

 

I confirm. I have read a the journal of a German who said he had to make a bitter choice between "wasting" his last amno trying to shoot sea gulls for survival or eat roots. Soldier night patrols would often consist of getting a few eggs and patatoes.. if available because the vilagers who obviously hide or sell things at very high prices.

 

These guys have spent decades exploring and restoring the wartime fortifications in the islands-
Channel Islands Occupation Society CIOS- Contents

 

Thanks Gordon, I know these islands are full of Bunker architecture. They have been preserved in a great way. I really must go there some day. It's only a short trip from Granville or St Malo. I know they have day trips. Besides I've always wanted to step in Victor Hugo's paces.

 

Its great to see people discussing the history of the Occupation on this site as it is one of those events that's so easily overlooked. I was particularly interested to see JCFalkenbergIII's comments about the Granville raids in the opening post. I recently published on the web an interview by a German soldier called Artur Bock who directly referred to that event and how it was viewed as a suicide mission. The interview is at In Toni's Footsteps: The Channel Islands Occupation

I myself had the pleasure of growing up in Guernsey until I left for Uni in 1996. It was as idealic a childhood as one could ever hope for and part of that was down to being surrounded by the most amazingly preserved examples of WW2 fortifications virtually anywhere in Europe. I used to play around the bunkers with my brother and all my friends, playing "Germans and British" in the day and scaring each other witless by exploring and telling ghost stories in the night. It wasn't until I was older and got speaking to my grandad that the realities of the Occupation hit home including the famous near starvation of everyone, the deportations to German POW camps, the SS camp in Alderney, the shameful collaboration and betrayals that affected many people's lives.

Since then its a subject that's fascinated me- its been covered in books, magazines anda few documentaries but few ever seemed to do the full story justice. I myself produced a documentary called In Toni's Footsteps: The Channel Islands Occupation Remembered that tried to look at all sides including the German experience (in all honesty most Islander personal account books treat them as cardboard cut out bad guys rather than human beings), which I was interested in because no-one of the older generation ever used to mention the soldiers themselves.

If anyone on this site is interested in eye witness accounts from the Occupation, then please keep an eye on my website In Toni's Footsteps: The Channel Islands Occupation as I am creating a blog archive of personal interviews and written accounts about the Occupation that I've accumulated during my research for the film, which I'd love to expand to a true online archive if I can get the backing fo the States of Jersey and Guernsey. We interviewed over two dozen German soldiers and islanders from Jersey and Guernsey about the events of the war years and all these interviews are being transcribed and put online along with any other third party submissions people can provide me with, clips of the film, a shop containing every Occupation related book I could find and image galleries.

If you know anyone with any info that can help expand the site, please encourage them to submit them as I would love to hear from them.

Also I have set up an account on Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing if you search for group "Occupation Archive" there's a bunch of images relating to the general Occupation, Toni film and more (submissions again very welcome!).

If anyone has any questions about the Occupation I'd be glad to try and help answer them!

Thanks

Carl Timms

 

Carl -- My mother and her family were evacuated from Guernsey the night before the Germans landed. She was very young at the time but I have asked her to write down all of her memories. I hope to get them from her around July 4 and I shall send them to you for your archive. If you are in the UK, I may also be able to connect you with one of her older sisters who would have been about 8 years old at the time of the evacuation and who may be able to give you more information. Let me know if you are interested and I shall try to get her contact information for you.

Cheers!

David

 

Thanks Slipdigit, I'd be more than happy to add more info here as and when. I'm doing the site in my spare time and have something like 22 interviews to transcribe so its going to take me a while.

There's some amazing stuff in there though- I've not looked at the footage we filmed for over 6yrs and as I'm transcribing the interviews I'm finding so much great stuff that we couldn't use in the final film, which was a mere 52min. I've uploaded the first two part interview with a solider called Artur Boch who was a raw 17yr old recruit in the latter stages of the war and has quite a different viewpoint of things compared to older soldiers. Read it here and here

This weekend I should be uploading an interview with Bob Le Souer, a Jersey man who was part of an underground group who hid escaped Russian workers from the Organisation Todt camps. A truly remarkable man with some great and tragic stories.

Other interviews deal with tales of starvation, which forced many into crime, tales of punishment and firing squads, the Red Cross ships, the invasion, post-war POW camps in the UK and a few of the soldiers read out extracts from diaries and letters home.

As I have updates relating to the Occupation and anything readers might find interesting I'll post it on this site.

Cheers

PS David, thanks for mail, I will speak to my grandfather and see if he knows them. Its a small island!