The Channel Islands At War

by Peter King

  The Germans on the Islands were arrested and sent to British POW camps from which they were released within three years. Although detailed statements were taken from escapers, deportees and the Islanders in 1945, the result was that the evidence was stated by the next home secretary, Chuter Ede, to be inadequate for prosecuting any Islanders or Germans. The Treachery Act of 1940, and the Trading with the Enemy Acts were not extended to the Islands, and no attempt was made to make actions like fraternizing and informing into criminal offences.

  It is often said that no executions of Islanders as a result of German action took place, although a number of death sentences were passed. This is true, but it omits a group whose numbers and fate still remain uncertain: the Islanders sent to prisons on the Continent. Somewhere between 70 and 100 Islanders served sentences in Europe, and at least 20 of them died there in captivity, or shortly afterwards. This penalty was exacted not for murder or sabotage, but for acts like insulting a German or listening to the wireless.

  Channel Islanders were scattered in at least 30 places in France and Germany. They found themselves in German gaols with ordinary criminals, or in French ones with captured resistance workers, SOE operatives, and RAF personnel. Stanley Green sentenced for having a wireless set at West's Cinema in St Helier which was not his, found himself at Fresnes at the same time as Wing-Commander Frederick Yeo-Thomas when he was being beaten up and taken for daily torture at the Avenue Foch. Green, like Yeo-Thomas, was destined for Buchenwald. Islanders would end in Belsen, Neuengamme, and Ravensbruck among well-known names in Germany and Romainville, Cherche Midi, and Fresnes of equal infamy in France.

  On 17 April 1944, Charles Machon, ill with his ulcer, was the first of those sentenced for his part in producing GUNS to leave the Island. He was transferred from Potsdam Prison to Hameln-Weser Hospital where he died on 26 October 1944. The other four men concerned: Falla, Duquemin, Legg and Gillingham were sent to the Continent on 4 June just two days before D-Day. They were destined first for Frankfurt prison and remembered hearing the D-Day news at a wayside station as they travelled there. The prison contained over 800 inmates among whom, according to Falla, were 15 Island prisoners. Some were there as a result of acts of defiance, but others were there for crimes like the policemen involved in the black market affair on Guernsey. Gillingham, Legg, and Falla were confined in one cell, and Duquemin with two French prisoners. The four men were at Frankfurt for two months. Among those they met was Percy Miller, who had been informed on for listening to the radio. He became ill, and died in the infirmary there in August that year, aged 61.

  In August, the four GUNS prisoners, together with seven other Channel Islanders, were transferred to the much grimmer prison at Naumburg south of Leipzig. Its 300 inmates were a complete cross-section of German prisoners, and a range of Allied nationalities. Falla managed to get a pencil, and wrote on tomato paper hidden in his shaving-stick the names of those who died there. They included Joseph Gillingham, George Cox, William Marsh, Frederick Page, Emile Paisnel, Sidney Ashcroft, and Clifford Querde. Falla, Duquemin, and Legg were subjected to periodic beatings, and Falla saw Legg thrown down steps so that he suffered from a permanent limp. Legg had such bad dropsy, that a bucket and a half of water was drained from him. Medical treatment was minimal because the doctor was hoarding medicines of every conceivable kind, presumably to sell on the black market. When Falla got pneumonia, the doctor refused him aspirin, and he had to cope with it by himself.

  Falla admitted English prisoners were treated less harshly than others although he received a beating for climbing on the table to look out of his cell window. Among those Falla met at Naumburg were two other Islanders. They were victims of informers being punished for listening to the radio, and had formed part of the group around Canon Clifford Cohu.

  John Nicolle sentenced to two years was to die at Dortmund in 1944. Falla met the Canon himself and Joseph Tierney. They believed they were being moved on to Laufen, but in fact were in transit to other camps. Tierncy died at Celle and was buried at Kaschitz. Cohu was lost sight of in the prison system. His wife heard from him in June 1944, but it was not until December 1945 that she heard from a fellow prisoner at Spergau of his fate. Ill though he was he had been compelled to work, and sleep outdoors in a tent. Dysentery had overtaken him, and he had died. Under his shirt was found a small Bible.

  The women sent to the Continent were usually confined in French prisons. Caen Prison received among others Mrs Winifred Green, for her remark about Hitler and the rice pudding, and Mrs Le Norman and Mrs Kinniard convicted of displaying the V-for-Victory signs. Mrs Michael and Mrs Mulholland arrested for helping the British agents in 1940 were sent to St-Lo and placed under house arrest. But others suffered more. One woman placed in solitary confinement by the Germans became mentally disturbed and returned to the Islands after the war a broken woman. The most tragic case was the death of Louisa Gould. Together with her brother Harold Le Druillenec, and her sister, Mrs Ivy Foster, she had been sentenced for harbouring a Russian fugitive, and possession of a wireless. Harold and Louisa travelled to St-Malo together, and were then separated. By an unknown process, possibly connected with her Jewish name, Mrs Gould was sent to Ravensbrück, the women's concentration camp 50 miles north of Berlin. This camp killed at least 50,000 women, and among them were several British victims like Violette Szabo, Lilian Rolfe, and Denise Bloch shot in the back of the neck in the yard behind the crematorium. A number of English prisoners including Odette Churchill survived to give testimony when the commandant, Suhren, and the assistant commandant, Schwartzhuber, were brought to trial and hanged. Among the camp guards was a kapo or trustee from Guernsey where she had been trapped by invasion in 1940. Mrs Julie Barry admitted she had treated other prisoners brutally as part of her duties, and was able to describe the usual method of execution by a bullet in the neck although a gas chamber was built to kill 7,000 of the women, and Mrs Gould could have died in either way.

  Harold Le Druillenec survived, but only just, a nightmare prison journey through no less than six European prisons after a short stay in Guernsey prison. L'Espcrance, St-Malo was followed by Camp Marguerite at Renncs, and Fort Hartry at Belfort before he arrived at Neuengamme, the parent camp of Sylt. From there he moved to Wilhelmshaven, and eventually to Belsen where he became the sole British survivor. Ncuengamme was responsible, like Ravensbruck, for some 50,000 deaths. There Le Druillcncc found Frank le Villio, aged only 18 who was to die shortly after his release, but he did not see James Houillebecq, who died later at Neuengamme. At Wilhelmshaven, Le Druillenec worked as a welder. He was liberated on 16 April and spent nine months in various hospitals before he recovered at a convalescent home at Chelwood Gate in Sussex, and was able to return to the Island in December only to hear Louisa had not survived. The Russians honoured him for his deed in helping the Todt worker. And finally in 1966 the only British survivor of Belscn was given £2,000 compensation by the British government.

  A number of Islanders spent periods of time at Buchenwald, six miles from Weimar. Stanley Green, the cinema projectionist, left Fresnes for Buchcnwald in one of the SS death transports. At Buchenwald, Green was shaved and put in prison costume. They had to sleep in the open until death provided them with places in the huts. Green found William Symes, Sandeman Bill of 'The Dive'. Both men were extremely lucky because they managed to get letters out of the camp. As a result they were transferred to Laufen. Other Islanders imprisoned at Buchenwald included Paul Gourdan and J.T.W. Quick.

  In 1941 Edward Chapman, an English criminal who had been released from Jersey Prison, and his black market associate Anthony Faramus, were arrested, and sent to St Denis, and then on to Romainville, an old-fashioned fort used to keep a stock of hostages for shooting in reprisal. The two men were horrified when hostages were taken away and shot after their names were read out when they were working. Chapman's account must be taken with a pinch of salt. He was a convicted criminal, and later became a double agent for Germany and Britain in ord
er to avoid further imprisonment. He described how informers were planted among the prisoners. Chapman referred to an Italian shot dead for waving from a window. The food was sometimes reduced to boiled vegetables with worms floating in the mess. There was no fuel for the stoves, and they removed rafters to make firewood. Chapman was interviewed three times at the prison after he had expressed his wish to be a German agent, and in April 1942 he was taken away. He said goodbye to Faramus who was moved on to Buchcnwald where he managed to survive.

  One of the saddest of the camp stories concerns a father and son, Peter and Peter C. Painter, arrested in 1943. Betrayed by an informer for listening to a wireless, the Germans took a serious view of the matter because Mr Painter had not turned in a First World War souvenir pistol. The two of them were sent to the Chcrche Midi, and eventually ended at Natzweiler concentration camp in Silesia. Nothing more was heard of the Painters until after the war when Mrs Painter received an account of their end from a French prisoner. They had to work in the bitter winter of 1944-5 for Krupps and on a canal. Peter got pneumonia and died in his father's arms. Mr Painter struggled on, but the prisoners were moved west to prevent their liberation by the advancing Russians. On the third day travelling unfed in an open truck through freezing rain and snow, Mr Painter also died.

  As far as is known only one Islander ended in Dachau. Marcel Rossi and his father, Jcrseymen, were interned at Kreuzburg, and transferred to Oppeln. His father last heard of him in Dachau. Among other Islanders imprisoned in German camps were the two young cscapcrs, Maurice Gould and Peter Hassall. Gould died at Wittlich. Herbert Gallichan spent his sentence for publishing the Bulletin of British Patriots at Wolfenbuttel and Peter Ozard was located at Neoufingcn Prison at Ulm and repatriated in June 1945. In France, Herbert's brother, George, served his shorter sentence at Dijon in Fort D'Hauteville. Clifford Querec was imprisoned there first before going on to Frankfurt and Naumburg. Cherche Midi in Paris contained 17 Islanders imprisoned in 1940. At Grande Caserne, St Denis, there were a number of British prisoners said to include eight Channel Islanders. Among those known to have been imprisoned there were A.L. Tardiff, a Guernsey policeman, and Mr P. Healy William, deported from Jersey in January 1943.

  There are also a number of prisoners whose place of imprisonment is not given. Jack Soyer, sentenced for listening to the wireless, managed to escape from a French prison, joined the resistance, and was killed fighting for them. Mr Ogicr and his son were deported for making insulting remarks about the Germans. Mr Ogier died in a camp somewhere in 1943. Harry St Clair Dean was deported from Guernsey in 1944, and repatriated in May 1945. Edward Peter Muels sentenced to 15 months hard labour was removed from Jersey in May 1944.

  Through the summer months of 1945 those who had survived came back, and gradually news filtered through. Frank Falla who had seen the deaths at Naumburg wrote bitterly about the aftermath of these events. As far as the Islands were concerned nothing happened. There was no memorial. There were no honours in December 1945. Above all the Island governments gave no compensation, or pensions, and these had to await the settlement between Britain and Germany arrived at in June 1964. The agreement excluded all POWs, internees, and those imprisoned in ordinary prisons in France. These people were told by the Foreign Office their claims would have to await a final peace treaty with Germany. The Island authorities appointed no officials to help anyone put in their claims which had to be handled individually. It is true some of the prisoners had been convicted of genuine offences, but others were clearly innocent, and none of those who died had been convicted of capital offences.

  Airey Neave noticed the British government like the Island governments would not contribute to memorials to the victims. It seems as if both governments simply wanted to forget the past. Forgotten by the authorities, Falla described how on the last Saturday in April each year he and a slowly dwindling band of camp inmates - Legg, Duquemin, Dexter, Laine, Domaille, and Bill Symes, would meet in a hotel to toast 'Absent Friends'.

  Epilogue

  The Liberation Days

  After a meeting on 26 March 1944 when it was decided the Channel Islands would not form part of the D-Day operation, the formation and maintenance of a task force for liberating the Islands took a back seat in military considerations. Task Force 135 was seen as a pool from which troops could be removed for other tasks such as guard duty at Sandringham over Christmas, and early in 1945 the main infantry component of the force was sent to Germany. It was replaced by the 312th Brigade.

  The plan of liberation was Operation Nestegg, and was to be preceded by a reconnaissance called Operation Omelet in which advance parties would see if resistance was offered before the main force came within range of German defences. The operation had two main purposes. The first was to remove the German and Todt presence from the Islands. The second was to restore the life of the Islands to as near normal as possible, and to enquire if any action needed to be taken against collaborators, informers, and fratcrnizcrs.

  When they landed, Task Force 135 found there were 26,909 German POWs to be processed and removed to camps in Britain. They brought with them the staff of two British POW camps, set up filtering centres, and then concentrated the Germans at Les Blancs Bois in Guernsey and St Peter's Barracks in Jersey. With the exception of those needed for other purposes the Germans began to leave on Sunday 13 May. Disarmament left the British force responsible for masses of military hardware including 50,000 tons of ammunition. 600 machine-guns, 400 mortars and flame-throwers, 100 anti-aircraft guns, anti-tank and field guns by the score, and more valuable materials like lorries and wireless equipment. Some was taken to the United Kingdom, but the rest was destroyed by being sunk at sea or melted down, sealed into tunnels, or sold for scrap. Even more difficult was the question of what to do with 1,623 fortifications of one kind or another. Some were retained where they had civilian uses like sea walls, electricity, and water supplies; others like bunkers and railways were destroyed where they blocked communications, and as much camouflage and wooden superstructure as possible was demolished. Scrap merchants moved in to destroy the larger guns. Here serious mistakes were made in deciding what to preserve and what to destroy even though, as early as September 1945, the new lieutenant-governor of Guernsey was writing to the war office to suggest, that the Island authorities might be agreeable to having some of the interesting gun emplacements, control towers etc., left intact for publicity purposes and as historical relics to be shown to tourists.

  By far the most important element in disarmament was the removal of 177,925 mines located fortunately in 305 marked mine-fields. Two field companies of Royal Engineers accompanied the task force; 259 for Jersey and 618 for Guernsey, Alderney and Sark, and they were assisted by 3,200 German POWs, at least seven of whom were killed.

  Task Force 135 was commanded by Brigadier Alfred Snow of the Royal Artillery and he had under his command about six thousand men. It was accompanied by Civil Affairs Unit 20 commanded by Colonel H.R. Power whose unpleasant task was to investigate possible crimes or treachery during the occupation, and whose more congenial role was to preside over the operation to restore normal life. This ninety day task was successfully performed. The first requirement was to double the dietary level to 2,750 calories a day and 500 tons of food were brought ashore. Clothing rations equivalent to 15 months issue in Britain were made available and free gifts of chocolate, cigarettes and tobacco were made.

  Islanders watched as the Germans left their billets for the POW encampments, and inevitably looting had begun. Some of it was entirely justified as Islanders reclaimed their furniture or cars; much of the rest was inevitable after years of suffering. It was particularly galling to see vast stores of German equipment laid out in special compounds, and there was much theft of motor vehicle parts. Later there were auctions of German goods organized by the ministry of supply at which all manner of items were picked up, not least barbed-wire for agricultural purposes. John Boucherc' described how he went into St Helier where: '
Small groups of ill-clad citizens, equipped with hessian shopping bags, wandered about opening cupboards, turning out drawers, gathering up folding chairs, and unscrewing lamps and other electrical fittings in the hotels.'

  A postal unit restored postal and telephone services on 18 June. Special medical packs were brought over for the hospitals. The currency which by liberation consisted entirely of Reichsmarks was restored. On board the ships in strong boxes was a million pounds for the banks. The exchange rate was fixed at 2s 1½d to the Reichsmark, and people had to exchange at this rate by 20 June. The stability of the Island government's finances was secured by giving Jersey £3,750,000 and Guernsey £3,250,000 to discharge debts incurred as a result of lack of tax revenue, and the costs of occupation, although Sark and Alderney received no such grants.

  A third task awaiting the liberating forces was to deal with those in camps on the Islands. There were the Allied POWs among whom the Americans were the first to leave on 11 May after a liberation concert in aid of the Red Cross. The Todt Organization withdrew on 14 May, and the task of dealing with some 900 remaining displaced persons began. Spanish prisoners could not be returned to Franco's Spain, and came to Britain. The rest of the miscellany of nationalities left on 7 July for Granville with two exceptions. The French Africans were immensely popular in Jersey which they left on 15 June with other French citizens for Cherbourg.