For Months, Food Could Not Simply Be Sent Into the Channel Islands

For Months, Food Could Not Simply Be Sent Into the Channel Islands

As many of you know, over the past few days we have been finding out more about the Channel Islands during the German occupation.

Last time, we looked at just how serious the shortages had become by 1944. This time, I wanted to find out if people were going hungry, why did help take so long to arrive?

The answer was that getting food into the islands was not just a matter of loading a ship and sending it across.

By late 1944, the Channel Islands were still occupied by German forces. Britain wanted to keep the garrison isolated, but the civilian population also needed help. Any relief plan therefore had to satisfy both military and humanitarian concerns.

The British government also wanted assurances that food sent for civilians would not be taken by the occupying forces. For several months, discussions took place involving the island authorities, the German occupiers, the British government and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

An agreement was finally reached in early November 1944.

The German authorities agreed that the relief supplies would be for civilians and gave assurances that they would not be confiscated or interfered with. Britain, in turn, agreed to allow a relief ship through the exclusion zone around the islands.

The vessel chosen was the Swedish ship SS Vega.

She sailed from Lisbon carrying Red Cross supplies and reached St Peter Port, Guernsey, on the 27th of December 1944.

Her cargo included 119,792 standard food parcels, 4,200 special dietary parcels, soap, salt, cigarettes, medical and surgical supplies and some children’s clothing.

After unloading in Guernsey, Vega continued to Jersey, reaching St Helier on the evening of the 30th of December, with unloading beginning the following day.

This was not Vega’s only visit. She made six voyages to the Channel Islands in total, including one after liberation.

What interested me most about this story was that the arrival of the food was only the final stage. Before a single parcel could be unloaded, months of negotiation had taken place simply to make the relief mission possible.

Did you know that bringing Red Cross supplies into the Channel Islands had required this much negotiation?

Image info:

St Peter Port and harbour, Guernsey, c.1890–1900 - Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division / Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.