The Occupation Was Over - And the Occupiers Became Prisoners

The Occupation Was Over - And the Occupiers Became Prisoners

For nearly five years, German troops had controlled the Channel Islands.

By May 1945, that was finally coming to an end.

On the 8th of May 1945, Islanders gathered around radios and in public places to hear Winston Churchill announce the end of the war in Europe, including the news that the Channel Islands were to be freed.

On the 9th of May, the formal surrender of Jersey took place aboard HMS Beagle. British forces began arriving, Union flags appeared again and crowds filled the streets.

For the Islanders, liberation had finally arrived.

For the German servicemen who surrendered, their situation had changed completely.

They were now prisoners of war.

By the 12th of May, photographs show German prisoners being taken from Jersey to vessels that would carry them to captivity in England. Others remained temporarily in the islands under British supervision.

There was still a huge amount of work to be done.

Years of occupation had left fortifications, weapons, ammunition, beach defences and extensive minefields that now had to be made safe or cleared.

German prisoners were among those put to work dealing with what the occupation had left behind.

In Guernsey, photographs taken shortly after liberation show German prisoners involved in mine-clearance work.

Their presence did not disappear within a few weeks either.

Records from Jersey show German POW labour was still being organised during 1946 as the island continued its post-war recovery. One particularly unusual record from June 1946 shows German prisoners being retained for work connected with controlling the Colorado beetle.

It is one of those small details that makes the end of the occupation feel much more complicated than simply saying the war was over.

Crowds welcome British forces in St Peter Port, Guernsey, 10th May 1945.

Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

For years, these men had belonged to the occupying forces.

Now they were disarmed, guarded and waiting to find out what would happen to them next.

I think this is a good place to finish my Channel Islands series for now, because what happened to those surrendered soldiers leads directly into something I want to look at next.

Prisoners of war.

British servicemen held abroad. German prisoners brought to Britain. The camps they lived in, the work they carried out, the rules they lived under and what happened when the fighting finally stopped.

☕ Have a cuppa and let’s discover history together.

German representatives meet British officers aboard HMS Bulldog during the surrender of the Channel Islands, May 1945.

Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.