Channel Islands

Living with the Germans - News

My father was in charge of a milk depot at Cliffdale, where all the farmers from Torteval brought their...

Living with the Germans - rifles are heavy

At the Salines they were digging foxholes, this was probably near the invasion time I suppose, and this...

School life under German occupation - learning German 1

I can remember learning German; we had to learn German, because I was at an intermediate school, which was...

Occupation School Meals - watery soup

The mothers had a rota and each day we children were taken across the road into a cottage and given a bowl...

Red cross messages

We were able to send a message of, I don't know how many words, say 10 or 12 words, possibly once a...

living under occupation - shoe shortage

I only had one pair of wooden clogs because my mother wouldn't put me in those wooden shoes, so she...

Living under occupation - shoe shortage

And shoes, we had those wooden soled ones they brought over from France, very rough inside, we used to put...

Living with the Germans - search for crystal set

But we had a little drawer in the hall stand, and there was clothing over it and somehow they missed that....

Living with the Germans - crystal sets

These little crystal sets were made of course during the occupation; they were very, very important to the...

living under occupation - carrageen jelly

There was carrageen moss, which we were allowed to collect from the beach....

Living under occupation - clothes shortage

The clothing, there was a little shop in St Martins, I can still very plainly remember that dress, and I...

Living under occupation - soap shortage

I know children would say now — “ Oh good, we don't have to wash or we don't have to...

German Occupation - School sports

We played football on Home Farm I can remember, but it seems, from what I can remember, that it was mainly...

Liberation - Emergency Transport

So many people wanted to go to the Liberation that Wally Tostevin tied a box cart behind the tractor and...

Living with the germans - large horses

The Germans imported large ‘purple’ coloured horses which they used to let loose to gallop from...

Living under occupation - bicycles

I eventually had to walk to school because the bicycles fell apart, there was no tyres. We did try the hose...

Living with the Germans - starving slave workers

I remember after digging potatoes the Germans would come and turn over the patch for the gleanings, and the...

Occupation after D-day — Germans short of food

I remember my father digging parsnips and a German coming with a fixed bayonet and demanding to have what...

Living under occupation - cycle tyres

Peter Girard got hoses for the bike tyres, as I had to cycle from St Saviours, the Lohier, every day....

School life under german occupation - German Leaflets

Mrs. Tait was the German mistress, a German woman who had married a Scot. She also translated the RAF...

Occupation after D day - school moved

After 6 June 1944 we were sent to the Haye du Puits to school for a time, for safety's sake, as planes...

Waiting for Liberation - the Sunday before

On the Sunday before, after the service the organist played all sorts of patriotic tunes, ‘Rule...

German occupation - Artilllery firing

We could hear the shells going over when they fired the Mirus battery guns, they used to fire over Herm and...

Living under occupation - shortages

I picked daffodils from the fields, and sold them to the Germans at the Wayside Cheer in exchange for...

Living with the germans - two types

When I was working at the Telephone Exchange there were soldiers on guard, one would tell us the English...

Living under occupation - bicycle tyres

Eventually, on our bicycles, we weren't riding on tyres we were riding on hosepipes, which made a...