1940 – July 1st, Air raid on the 28thJune, German Planes had been over that morning,
lived on the avenue sea front, woken by German planes saw two recognized as German bombing planes
two parachutes dropping out – not human beings , long cillenders, containing letters addressed to commander in chief of armed forces in Jersey there was no commander
islands could not be defended in a military way, they were not of any military value
6am in the morning, heavy bombing, no warning, swept with tanks across the Belgium front
British did not want to admit they were leaving the two islands completely undefended, the people of England did not know, the German’s did not know
Governor and wife had already left the island the bailiff was the one who received the messages from the parachutes
They had 24 hours to surrender or there would be carpet bombing – Bailiff felt he couldn’t just surrender without some kind of authority, London told them to ‘stay at their posts and do the best they can’
Bailiff summoned emergency sitting of government, the future lay in the hands of deputy and constable of st Saviour, no one voted to not surrender
Bob was In the royal square ‘War time is a time for people to leave unseen’
Area of the royal square cornered off, asked the workmen what was going on with response of ‘not allowed to tell you mate’
Two women immediately in front ‘when this is all over we must hurry back home and barricade the doors, there will be a lot of women raped before nightfall’ – this never happened – tense atmospheres
Captain Bennet got everyone to stand in line for the Bailiff to come out – heavens sent moment – captain bennet pooped on by a pigeon, everyone broke out laughing- heaven sent moment in time of fear
St helier:
Terraced houses very similar built in time of William 4th– grovners street – two floors up of no.7 – two men bob new housed and kept Russian prisoners
Germans fortified the island strongly more then any part of defensive line Hitler was conducting Norway to Spain– had the war been won by them they would not have occupied the whole British isles
Not enough labour to do all the work that the Germans wanted they brought in forced labor from other countries – Spain, Russia
Handed over all the able bodied Spanish men who had taken safety in France, were paid but not physically ill treated unless being punished
Slav Race – As called by German (Russian, Poland, Ukraine) were taken as unpaid and ill treated slaves, seen as unhuman, highly rightwing times for German (Racism)
One Russian, coming home from school 15years old, German trucks at both end of streets, the boys were herded up onto a truck at revolver point, cattle truck, they were finished up in Jersey in 5 mile road, no contact with parents
Grover terrace two boys sheltering Russian – sharing their rasions, got a hold of illegal identity card the Russian had a rassion card, (If you lost your card you had to go with a sob story – you would be told to be more careful and given a new one )
kept them going with vegetables and occasionally other things – story for friends was that he was polish and was here to study the Jersey Cow and had got trapped and that is why he was here and living with them , very few people knew he was Russian, knew it would only take 1 person who spoke too much for cover to be blown
Frequent parties, very resilient boys
To be the last day, September 1944, when there would be a gas supply, this was going to be the end of a way of cooking, only now can cook on the open fire or in a stove not many people had
These men had the view of having party as the last day to use the gas stove- have two big stews – if you really want to make a party go make sure your guests haven’t eaten a full square meal in 12 months and serve calvados (cider) (110%) —- the Russian had got a hold before anyone else, went to the floor and was moving legs and arms, loudly singing songs that could be heard down the streets, German Soldiers below also too singing
Liberation:
Knew was coming, but not sure when ,by this stage of the occupation there was no gas supply – mid January 1945 the last electricity supply ended
Knew that Berlin had fallen April 30th, first important labour day in solvient union
Knew that Hitler was dead
JEP was split down the middle, one side Jersey news, one side German
Hitler had appointed a Navy General
Knew that an amascite was now being discussed early hours of 7thMay, May 8ththe war was finish, all arms had to be laid down 1 minute after midnight (which would be May 9th, Liberation day) 7:14am the surrender of the whole of the channel islands was signed on the deck of the destroyer in st peter port – around 12pm the specific Jersey surrender signed
Bob was with 2 girls from his office, British destroyer seen coming round noirmont point, bob’s hosepipe tier broke with the sound of a pistol and it sent two German soldiers to the floor turned towards him with riffles, they didn’t shoot, they looked at the rubber and smiled and laughed
