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Life on a farm in Guernsey during the German Occupation.

Joyce Brache nee Stacey interviewed for Radio Guernsey. Transcribed from CD by John David 28/11/05

I………. Where did you live, where were you born?
I lived at Rocque Balan, my father and mother owned the farm, that’s why they said, you see, the farmers to not leave their cattle, don’t be yellow, don’t run away. My father said ‘we’ll either all go or we’ll all stay’. So we stayed.
I………. Was your family name Brache?
Stacey.
I………. And Rocque Balan is l’Ancresse, is it?
Yes, that’s down right on l’Ancresse, we were there, my mother, she’s passed on now, but we were there for years, fifty-odd years, I think.
I………. So how many brothers and sisters did you have?
Well, I did have one brother, but unfortunately that’s the only thing that happened during the war, I lost my brother, I think he had one month to go before his eighteenth birthday, and they used to have a ration, when you were eighteen, you got a ration of cigarettes, but he never got to his ration. He died of kidney trouble, we used to go out and see him on our bicycles and that, you know. That was very unfortunate, my father was very upset about that, well we all were, you know.
I………. So how old were you when the Germans arrived?
Eighteen. Eighteen to twenty-three, eh?
I………. And were any of your family evacuated?
No, there was just us there.
I………. So you stayed to look after the farm?
My father and mother, yes. I was at Le Riche, you know, this is what we did
I………. So at the start of the Occupation there was plenty of food around, was there?
Well I was on a farm, you must remember, and we had a lot more than what was in Town, I was very fortunate. But my mother made sugar-beet syrup, she did all sorts of things, you know, and she was very good with a hay box, and everything else, but I wouldn’t have liked to have been her. I was in the best position, at eighteen, I could get on my bicycle and go, couldn’t I?
I………. And was there plenty of food for sale in the shops in Town?
Ooh no, no. At first, yes, but when everything went, the rations were terrible. But you see, we had milk, we had good milk. When my father milked the cows at four, five o’clock, we’d put it in glasses on the sideboard, or on the dresser, we had a dresser, and the cream used to all come to the top, and we’d have that before we went to bed, and that was a great….. I didn’t like milk as it was, so I used to put sugar-beet syrup, make it a [slime?] I’ve got a few more weight now.
I………. How aware were you of the German occupying forces, at l’Ancresse, for instance, did they come to the farm?
Oh yes, yes. Actually my father should have gone away. He decided that he would perhaps borrow a bicycle that somebody had left, but he had to get his hay in, and the war ended, and he never went. He was very lucky. My father was wicked, he used to do all sorts of things, nothing bad, but he didn’t worry about anybody.
I………. So when the Germans first came to your farm, what did they want? What did they take?
No, they didn’t take anything, no, no. But we were lucky, we had the car under the haystack, we covered it with hay, you see, it stayed there right through the Occupation, once a German said to him ‘Auto?’ and pierced it, but he said ‘Nix Auto’ That was the only time. But when we took the hay off, after the Germans had gone, the car started. But if we’d have taken the mats out, of course all the mats were eaten, but otherwise it started.
I………. They would have taken the car, if they could have found it?
They would have taken us, probably, as well, and everything else. And then we had a radio underneath the floorboards, I had a boy friend that liked to mess with radios and that, he took the speaker out, and he put it underneath the floor, the actual radio, and the speaker, we had an old range in the farm, and my mother had a basket by the side with her sewing, you know, socks, mending socks, so we put the speaker in there, so if anybody was coming we just, I don’t know how they did it but that’s what happened. And then we had crystal sets, and of course we used to go up on our bed with our crystal set, they were marvellous.
I………. Well, you had a few close shaves, what with the…
Well that’s why I tell you, you see, this is my father, but there you are.
I………. But he got away with it, right to the very end?
Yes, we were very lucky, we thought he was going away, but the war finished just in time.
I………. Did you have any Germans that might have come to live with you, that might have been billeted?
No, they never did that, we were very lucky. A lot of people either had to get out of their houses or they had somebody billeting. No, we were very lucky, I don’t know why that was. But of course we had fowls, and we had rabbits, and we had everything. My father also had a fight with the OTs — do you know the OTs, they were restricted labour that came over from France and all the Benelux countries, you know, and they had sort of brown uniforms, but they were very poor and they had nothing on their feet, only sacking on their feet, and everything, and they were very hungry - and of course we put potatoes in the garden. Somebody was taking our potatoes, so we had Harry Marley, when my brother died, we had Harry Marley came and lived with us, and he and my father decided to do a night vigil, you know, they came back, and they had a fight with them, but nobody knew anything about it except that Harry had something wrong with his leg, somebody did something, I don’t know. Quite a night it was. I think it’s in one of the books, I think it’s in Mrs Bachmann’s book, about this fight with the OT’s. I tell you, it was a witch hunt down there.
I………. So were there a lot of Germans around the Vale area?
Well, you see, we were next to the Common, weren’t we? We didn’t have anybody in front. The Rocque Balan is right on the Common, you see, so… We used to see them up on the rock, we took photographs of them up there on the rock, but we weren’t even supposed to take photographs.
I………. Were you allowed on l’Ancresse beach at all?
We weren’t allowed on l'Ancresse Bay, we could have a swim over by the Vale Church, we could go there, where there’s a little harbour there, you know, we used to cycle there, we cycled everywhere.
I………. Was there barbed wire on l’Ancresse and Pembroke?
Yes, yes, you couldn’t get on l’Ancresse, not at all, and that’s where the OTs were making a wall, the OTs helped make that wall along l’Ancresse, you see. There was so much going on, but you were young. I was eighteen, it was my mother I felt sorry for, she was the one who had to worry about food, and one thing and the other, but us, as long as we had our bikes, losing my bike was quite a thing.
I………. What time was the curfew?
Well, for my twenty-first birthday it was half-past-nine, so I had an awful job, and I had friends in Town that came down for my Birthday, I think they came down about five o’clock, and then they had to get back, you know, that was my twenty-first.

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