Voices from the Past: Channel Islands Invaded

The evacuation and subsequent German occupation of the Channel Islands during WWII, told through personal accounts, newspapers, and political decisions.

In the summer of 1940 the British Isles stood isolated and alone facing the might of a seemingly unstoppable German war machine. Never before had the United Kingdom been in a state of such uncertainty and possible peril. Fortunately the full breadth of the English Channel held back Hitlers armies, and his ambition. Not so for the Channel Islands which stand just a few miles from the French coast.

To abandon British territory to the enemy was unthinkable, yet the defence of the Channel Islands was impracticable, if not impossible. It was decided, therefore, to evacuate as many as wished to leave.

This is the story of the muddled evacuation, of homes, animals and families left behind, of the German bombing of the islands, the fear of those left behind, and of those first days of German Occupation, told by the Islanders themselves through memoirs and letters, the local newspapers, and the politicians who decided the fate of tens of thousands of men women and children.

SIMON HAMON has grown up with a keen interest in history which was sparked by his grandfather who was the first president of the Guernsey Ancient Monuments Committee, a position he held for thirty-three years. As a teenager, Simon focused on local history and in the 1980s joined the Channel Island Occupation Society. Having come into contact with what he describes as ‘Living History’, Simon has subsequently spent many hours talking with people who lived through the German Occupation, all part of his aim to research and record the events that affected the Channel Islands during the Second World War.