Channel Islands

Living with the Germans - Slave worker's huts

In the fields behind the Vauxbelets School,, there were lots and lots of huts built there by the Germans to...

School life under German occupation. Bullets in the fire

And then there used to be a cry of ‘Lids up’, and he used to start throwing chalk, blackboard...

A Plane for a Penny

Having escaped from France to Jersey in June 1940 the platoon of soldiers of which I was a member were...

Almost Everyone Else Had Gone...

One thing, of course, that was brought home to me, soon after the Germans arrived was the fact that I'd...

School life under German Occupation. Shortage of Reading Books

School life under German Occupation. The schools inspector was a German and made a great impression on me...

A Remarkable Coincidence: Cologne 1946

In late 1946 I was walking along the embankment of the river Rhine in the much bombed city of Cologne......

Guernsey & Jersey

My uncle, a Guernsey farmer from the thirties until the seventies, left the island only on a very few...

Air Raid - Guernsey 1940. Hiding under the stairs

Hiding under the stairs. It had been decided by my father that the safest place was underneath the stairs,...

German Slave Workers

There were Algerians, there were Polish, there were all nationalities, there were French, they were brought...

Liberation of the Channel Islands

I commanded 24 bomb Disposal Platoon RE and landed in Guernsey on the 12th May 1945. Our first duty was to...

Living under occupation - clothes shortage

A pair of sandals I grew out of; my mother cut off the toe-piece to let my toes stick out and sewed...

Living under occupation - dentistry

I lay on the kitchen table, the dentist asked for a fine kitchen sieve and a flannel, and dropped ether or...

Should We Evacuate? Gordon and Len

Gordon Hotton and his sister were at St Saviours School. GORDON HOTTON and LEN LE RAY....

Living with the Germans - Germans next door

And this beret had a little Mickey Mouse on, and I remember him saying to me when he'd been into the...

School life under German occupation. School at the Haye du Puits

As we got older, we were moved to the Haye du Puits. Now that was Jurat Roussel's house, the Haye du...

School life under German occupation - leaflets

She was married to an Englishman and they were really holding a gun to her head because if she didn't...

Living under occupation - early apples and the result

One day there were these apple trees, again by Le Manoir in the Forest, and I thought well, the Germans...

Living under Occupation - shortages

We have a local dish called a ‘Bean Jar’, a very nourishing dish with meat and various...

Living under occupation - Cinema

There were also German films of course. I went in one of these German films but I couldn't understand a...

Occupation - free milk out of jam jars

We were allowed a certain amount of milk every day but glasses were in very short supply, and probably as...

Occupation after D-day — Food shortages

And one day my father gathered all these onions, and we stored them in the attic, but I'm afraid the...

A Remarkable Coincidence

Walking along the River Rhine embankment at Cologne with the famous Hollenzale-Hollenzale bridge to my...

Journey into the Unknown

On the day on which I became 21 & eligible for War Service 23rd July, 1939, my sister Josephine and I,...

Should We Evacuate? -Myrtle Tabel

They would have walked out of a fairly new house in Amherst, and it would have meant leaving all their...

School Life under German occupation - German test

We knew he was coming, and the doors flew open, and this German with his big wide pantaloons and big...

The Germans Arrive - Guernsey 1940. The First Plane

I remember when they actually arrived to occupy the island, I was with my Mum and Dad in the fields tending...