大象传媒

Towards the end of the Occupation, France was liberated, thus cutting off food supplies to both islanders and also from the German occupying forces. Everyone was getting hungry. Luckily for the islanders, the Red Cross parcels started arriving via SS Vega and this eased the situation to some extent. The Germans however, no longer in touch with France, were seen gathering stinging nettles and also collecting limpets (not a very tasty fish) from the sea shore.

About this time, pets started to disappear. My sister, Vivienne, was walking our black Scotch Terrier when a car pulled up and a German soldier just picked him up and drove off with him. She returned home very upset. On another occasion, I saw two German soldiers walking near our house and one picked up a cat that was sitting on a wall and pushed it under his cape type jacket and walked on. I was about 14 at the time and rushed to a neighbour and told her and we both ran after them and demanded them to return the cat. At first they pleaded innocence but the cat was struggling under his jacket and eventually they let go of it. A very lucky cat!

On a completely different subject, two of my older sisters were in town waiting to meet a friend and happened to be standing in an arcade near the main road. Two German soldiers passed by and got the wrong impression and tried to flirt with them. When they were rebuffed, one of them got hold of the younger sister and pushed her head back very roughly. At that moment, an ARP officer came along and said "All right girls?" and saved the situation. My sisters decided not to tell our parents as they would have forbidden them to go into town!

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