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The Germans in Guernsey

The German attitude and method of dealing with occupied territories is quite an interesting study, the soft approach to win over followed by ever-stricter threats and demands to force subjection. During the summer of 1940 things were fairly easy going and the first Commandant appointed was a German of the old school who sort to make friends and win over the population. I remember all Glasshouses were commandeered by the States under the management of a newly formed 'Glasshouse Utilisation Board' known as the 'GUB'. Glasshouse property owners then became the Forman who worked under States overseers whose job it was to go from property to property to see that each property was properly administered, however in most cases the overseers were in sympathy with the owners! Glasshouse workers themselves were paid at the rate of thirty-two shillings per week, owners according to how many workers were under them. Pierre earnt thirty-eight shillings. Owners took time off and the summer afternoons saw them and their families relaxing on the beaches enjoying the lovely hot weather, but all were awoken to reality at one period on witnessing the sight of hundreds of huge black German Bombers flying low overhead on their way to the south of England, it was such a depressing miserable sight brought closer by news heard through hidden radios. The futility of the GUB soon became apparent which produced results similar to those experienced by State Control in Communist Russia. Owners were invited to take back their greenhouses who then started their own businesses growing market garden crops suitable for the local population. Supplies were also sold to Timmer Ltd for resale to German Authorities. George Timmer was Dutch/German origin and as such was a suitable person for this position, and although he was highly criticised for this, in reality it proved to be for the best under the circumstances, for if the Germans had been unable to obtain supplies in this way they would have stepped in and commandeered them leaving the Guernsey population in a far worse position.
As time went on following Commandants became more aggressive and more oppressive orders followed. Guernseymen who flaunted German orders and those distributing allied news together with all men, single women and widows born in the U.K. with their families were deported to Germany. When the islands became short of essential food in order to ease the situation for the population and also themselves the German Authorities allowed a States Representative of the Essential Commodities to travel to France to buy supplies on behalf of the States. Raymond Falla, fluent in the French language, a grower and farmer filled this very important role. He was a very brave and skilled negotiator often taking his life In his hands in danger from allied bombing while on the sea and in constant danger while in France from many factions. Had it not been for this man the islands would have starved much earlier on. There was one occasion when a British Naval boat known as the Charybdis had sunk off the islands and many Naval Ratings bodies washed ashore and buried at Le Foulon Cemetery. A funeral service was held there prior to burial and it was attended by a vast number of the population. The Germans were unprepared for such a show of patriotism and made sure that it never happened again by issuing an order prohibiting large gatherings. The majority of islanders left in the island were intensely patriotic and anyone becoming friendly with Germans or girls dating them were considered to be traitors. The intentions in those days was that at the end of hostilities these people would be dealt with, but this never took place everyone being too thrilled, happy and excited to be once more free.
The Germans were highly disciplined, ruthless lot even towards their own troops. During the last year when the islands were cut off from the mainland of France the troops became very hungry and I often wonder why they did not plunder all the island stocks. Perhaps the officers in charge were well aware that the writing was on the wall for them and were concerned as to their eventual fate when the Allies finally repossessed the islands. One day, early in the morning a soldier had taken his billy can and was milking a cow, which had been tethered on the grass verge at Vazon when a German officer caught him in the act. He was immediately shot on the spot and his body left there all day for everyone to see and to act as a future warning to all their own men. We remember only too well the suffering of the Algerian and white Russian prisoners who had been detailed to dig a trench for a telephone cable to link up with the telephone exchange housed in a large hole excavated in our garden at Rue a L'Or which in turn was to link the surrounding coastal bunkers. The poor wretches were in rags, pitifully thin and starving, forced to work with picks and shovels being watched over by SS officers with whips, which were in constant use. This was the worst type of cruelty witnessed and opened many eyes to the horror of the Nazi regime. Later when we heard of the fate of these white Russians in the islands who were sent back to their own country only to be shot as traitors, we felt how terribly unfair their lives had been for they had done absolutely nothing to justify their fate just being unwanted by any country.
In our area of St Saviours situated at the rear of the property were the 4mm Anti-Aircraft guns of Les Hougues and to our left at Le Frie Baton were the 16inch Naval guns, when they were fired there was the most tremendous unexpected bang which brought down many ceilings in houses within the vicinity. At Rue de L'Arquet on the border of St Saviours and St Peters is a bunker, which was sealed soon after the Liberation. It is vast and goes down a long way into the earth and reminds me of Hitler's own bunker in Austria. It had a large living area for troops, a first aid post and recreation room and a modern plotting room with very advanced equipment from which could be seen the Guernsey coast for many miles around. Anyone approaching the area on land above could be monitored even if hiding in the gorse, boats could be clearly seen even to reading their names and people on the beach could be studied with ease. Here they could activate all guns over a large area, it was one of the most interesting of the island fortifications. Immediately after the Liberation Dr. Rose took us into this bunker but warned us never to go again as the air was becoming foul lacking oxygen and would very shortly, without warning, cause immediate death for anyone walking into it unless air circulation and conditioning was introduced prior to entrance.

Lily Mauger.
Written from notes in 1995.

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