The story of Guernsey's Nazi occupation

Telegraph

09-05-2025

Eighty years ago, on May 9 1945, the people of Guernsey lined the streets to celebrate their liberation from the Nazis, after five years beneath the jackboot of Hitler's Reich.
Today, their descendants (and some surviving veterans) will line those streets again to celebrate the 80th anniversary of that liberation, in the presence of the Princess Royal.
It promises to be quite a party, but it'll be a celebration tinged with sadness, because today is also a commemoration – of the many lives that were lost, and the many hardships these brave islanders endured.
The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Nazis. What was it like, living here under Nazi rule? If mainland Britain had been invaded, would the rest of us have shared the same fate?
Hitler turned the Channel Islands into a floating fortress, and though Jersey is larger, he chose Guernsey as his HQ. Its handsome, historic capital, St Peter Port, boasts the archipelago's deepest harbour, and its westerly position guarded the other islands from the Atlantic. Hence, the biggest fortifications were here on Guernsey.
To mark this anniversary, I've come to see what relics of that dark epoch have survived.
I begin my tour down a leafy country lane, a stone's throw from Guernsey's compact airport. Hidden within a row of whitewashed cottages is the German Occupation Museum.
Over a slice of Gâche, Guernsey's distinctive fruitcake, the museum's founder and director, Richard Heaume, tells me how he assembled this amazing haul, a labour of love which has endured for over 70 years.
Born in 1944, Richard grew up here. His family have farmed this land for centuries. As a boy he scoured these fields for spent ammo. His incredible collection grew from there. In 1966, he opened this intimate museum.
It's full of wartime artefacts, everything from military hardware to propaganda posters, all found here on Guernsey. It's not only incredibly informative – it also conjures up the eerie atmosphere of the war.
Richard and his friends have also spent countless hours restoring the many German fortifications around the island. After the war, for a lot of islanders, those fortifications were reminders of a time they'd far rather forget. Hence, a lot of them fell into disrepair. Richard recognised their historical importance, and thanks to local volunteers like him, many of them have been spruced up. A tour around them is a great way to see the island. It's also a great way to get inside the sinister story of the occupation.
Tour guide Amanda Johns shows me several of the most impressive structures (like Richard, she spends her spare time keeping these landmarks spick and span). We begin at Batterie Mirus, the largest artillery emplacement on the island. What you see above ground is just the tip of the iceberg.
Below lies a vast network of cellars, built to service this gigantic gun. You can still make out the German inscriptions on the walls.
Our next stop is Pleinmont Observation Tower, built by the Germans to look out for Allied warships. Perched on a craggy clifftop, high above the angry sea, it's the most imposing of these haunting monuments.
Over a lunch of local sea bream at a breezy seafront restaurant called Coast, Amanda tells me the story of Guernsey's occupation. After Dunkirk, the Channel Islands became impossible to defend, so the British troops departed, to spare the islanders any bloodshed.
Tragically, the Luftwaffe thought the lorries lined up on the quayside at St Peter Port were full of armaments, so they dive-bombed them, and dozens of civilians died. In fact, they were merely loaded with tomatoes.
The Wehrmacht arrived, unopposed, on June 30 1940, and Guernsey became an open prison. No-one was allowed off the island. Even the beaches were out of bounds. Newspapers were censored and radios were confiscated (islanders listened to the BBC on illicit crystal sets).
Out of a population of about 40,000, around 20,000 Guernsey islanders had already been evacuated (mostly children and men of combat age). They were replaced by around the same number of German soldiers. The Germans built no barracks. Instead soldiers were billeted with local families, turning them into hostages, making RAF raids impossible.
Initially, Hitler planned to use Guernsey as a springboard for Operation Sealion, his invasion of England ('Wir fahren gegen England' – we sail against England – reads a slogan on a bunker wall).
After he lost the Battle of Britain, Hitler had to abandon this plan, and as the Allies got the upper hand Guernsey became a defensive redoubt. Slave labourers were imported to build this section of Hitler's Atlantic Wall. Of all the concrete poured into his 1,670-mile 'wall', nearly 10 per cent was poured into Guernsey.
After D-Day, the islanders thought their salvation might be at hand, but the islands were so heavily fortified that the Allies decided to bypass them. Cut off from France, islanders were reduced to near starvation. Weakened by hunger and deprived of medicine, many died of curable ailments. Liberation didn't just mean freedom. It also meant a square meal.
I finish my day out with Amanda at Fort Hommet, overlooking Vazon Bay. Today this broad sandy beach is a prime site for paddling and sunbathing, but for centuries it was a target for invaders. The fort on this windswept headland was built by the British, several centuries ago, to guard against the French, and then modernised by the Germans.
Amanda shows me a pristine mortar launcher, still in its original position. It's thanks to volunteers like her that Guernsey's unique wartime heritage has survived.
The most spooky, spectacular site is the German Underground Hospital. Paul Bourgaize, from the wartime heritage organisation Festung Guernsey, shows me around. From the outside it looks like nothing, a small doorway dug into a wooded hillside. Inside it's colossal, an endless labyrinth of tunnels. If Paul wasn't here to guide me round, I'm sure I'd get completely lost.
I spend the night at the Old Government House in St Peter Port. Built 300 years ago, it's been a hotel since 1857 (before then it was the home of Guernsey's Governor).
During the Second World War it was a 'Soldatenheim', a rest room where German soldiers went for R&R. From my bedroom, I look out across mottled rooftops, over the yachts and fishing boats in the harbour, to the other islands beyond: Herm and Sark in the foreground, Alderney and Jersey on the horizon.
A French ferry is chugging into port. A cruise ship is anchored in the bay. It's one of the most stunning vistas I've ever seen. I could sit and gaze at it all day.
Next morning, after a hearty breakfast of kippers and poached eggs, I walk through ornamental gardens to the Priaulx Library. This elegant Georgian townhouse holds a precious archive of wartime documents. Chief Librarian Sue Laker shows me the highlights, including the newsletters of the Guernsey Underground News Service (GUNS).
This clandestine, uncensored newspaper was produced and distributed at great risk by its heroic citizen journalists. Betrayed by an informer, five members of the editorial team were sent to German prison camps. Only three of them survived.
These illicit newsletters were preserved by Sue's wartime predecessor, Ralph Durand, an acclaimed novelist who risked his life to hide them here for locals to read in secret. After the war Durand wrote a book called Guernsey Under German Rule. Sadly, he didn't live to see it published. He died in December 1945, of cardiac failure brought on by malnutrition.
I finish up at Castle Cornet. Built on a rocky island, in the bay beyond St Peter Port, this antique fortress has guarded Guernsey since 1206, when the Channel Islands forsook Normandy and threw in their lot with England. During the Middle Ages the French retook it twice.
It rebuffed Napoleon and the Kaiser. During the Second World War the Germans reinforced it to repel the Royal Navy and the RAF.
There are three museums within the castle, devoted to the Royal Guernsey Militia (who defended the island in previous centuries), the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry (who fought so bravely and suffered so grievously in the First World War) and 201 Squadron (RAF) who guard the island today, but the best exhibit is the castle itself. Every era is reflected in its architecture. There are fantastic views from the battlements, inland and out to sea.
As I walk back along the causeway which links Castle Cornet to the mainland, I think of all the sacrifices these islanders have made to defend their freedom – from the French and then the Germans – and it makes me feel very small. I hear the noonday cannon from the castle, fired every day, a stirring symbol of independence, and I recall the last lines of Shakespeare's King Lear:
The oldest hath borne most: we that are young,
Shall never see so much, nor live so long.
How to do it
Aurigny flies direct to Guernsey from London City, London Gatwick, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds-Bradford, Manchester and Southampton. Guernsey's only five-star hotel, the Old Government House, has all the usual luxury mod cons, but its greatest assets are its rich history and friendly staff.
Doubles from £252, including breakfast. The best meal I ate, by far, was at Le Nautique, where amiable German chef-patron Gunter Botzenhardt, a resident for 25 years, serves fresh local fish in simple, classic style. Gunter's love of the island, and his superb contribution to its culinary scene, is the best example of Anglo-German reconciliation I know.
William Cook travelled to Guernsey as a guest of Visit Guernsey.