good swimmers, were saved, but their boat was blown to bits.'
Mounted in the fortifications was a formidable array of anti-aircraft and other artillery. In Jersey alone there were 15 heavy batteries, containing 59 guns, and 137 anti-aircraft positions including 37 with the renowned 88mm 'flak' guns. Practices were frequent, with shells roaring over the Islands, and many gun positions brought disruption and misery to families that lived near them. Molly Finigan wrote that, 'Although our curfew hours were 9 p.m. or sometimes 10 p.m. - some early mornings Germans would knock on our doors and tell us to get out and leave the house -usually this order came at approximately 4 or 5 a.m. "Achtu ng, achtung", would be the cry. All along the top of Le s Cotils were several gun emplacements with very big guns and we would all have to leave the house while the practicising of these great guns was carried out. All doors and windows had to be left open and off we had to go.'
Besides the daily misery inflicted there was a more permanent result -the systematic damage to historical sites, property, and attractive views. Mrs Cortvriend summarized the effect of the fortifications on the environment as, 'Famous beauty spots became vistas of incredible ugliness covered with huge excavations, massive concrete blockhouses and gun emplacements. Houses, cottages, gardens, trees, or anything that was in the way were ruthlessly swept aside before the encroaching tide of steel and concrete.
Part 2
Ruled by the Third Reich
The German Rulers and their Organizations
Hitler's new Order in Europe, of which the Channel Islands formed a tiny fragment, was not based on any rational theory of government or long considered plan for European unity. He knew how to force conquered territories to pay the cost of their own occupation. Up to March 1944. the Channel Islands paid over two million marks in occupation costs although later the Germans bore the brunt of the fortification costs. Hitler's government knew, too, how to imprison, enslave, execute and torture the virtually endless enemies of an Aryan-dominated Europe. "Shoot everyone who gives you a black look', he once remarked, and his personal responsibility for such decrees as the Final Solution, hostage-taking, and commando extermination is well known. All F ü hrer orders increased and never decreased suffering. Gradually the powers of the Gestapo and SS prevailed until much of Europe, in Michel's famous phrase, 'became a prison until such time as it became a graveyard".
But in day to day administration Hitler's empire was an administrative jungle. Rival individuals and organizations jockeyed for power, and systems created for one purpose were soon overturned by some new F ü hre r order, or Reich authority responsible only to himself. Each Western country had a different regime. The Channel Isles were in the war zone, and could not have a civilian government, or even the presence and help of Switzerland, the British protecting power during the war. The Islands therefore had a military government, and eventually became four fortresses with a resident civilian population.
Those who arrived in charge of the occupying forces in June 1940 were temporary commanders, and their rule lasted eleven weeks. Major Albrecht Lanz on Guernsey and Captain Erich Gussek on Jersey were, however, responsible for issuing on 2 and 8 July the ordinances regulating the German government, stating the Germans had 'taken over the military power of the Islands', leaving the existing civilian government and law courts intact, but subject to veto by the commandant. Sark was to be automatically included in any Guernsey orders, while Alderney had no government until February 1941, and no formal commander until July that year. The ease with which the Germans accomplished their task, and their belief that they were going on to the mainland before long, meant that the early months of occupation as far as the
Mounted in the fortifications was a formidable array of anti-aircraft and other artillery. In Jersey alone there were 15 heavy batteries, containing 59 guns, and 137 anti-aircraft positions including 37 with the renowned 88mm 'flak' guns. Practices were frequent, with shells roaring over the Islands, and many gun positions brought disruption and misery to families that lived near them. Molly Finigan wrote that, 'Although our curfew hours were 9 p.m. or sometimes 10 p.m. - some early mornings Germans would knock on our doors and tell us to get out and leave the house -usually this order came at approximately 4 or 5 a.m. "Achtu ng, achtung", would be the cry. All along the top of Le s Cotils were several gun emplacements with very big guns and we would all have to leave the house while the practicising of these great guns was carried out. All doors and windows had to be left open and off we had to go.'
Besides the daily misery inflicted there was a more permanent result -the systematic damage to historical sites, property, and attractive views. Mrs Cortvriend summarized the effect of the fortifications on the environment as, 'Famous beauty spots became vistas of incredible ugliness covered with huge excavations, massive concrete blockhouses and gun emplacements. Houses, cottages, gardens, trees, or anything that was in the way were ruthlessly swept aside before the encroaching tide of steel and concrete.
Part 2
Ruled by the Third Reich
The German Rulers and their Organizations
Hitler's new Order in Europe, of which the Channel Islands formed a tiny fragment, was not based on any rational theory of government or long considered plan for European unity. He knew how to force conquered territories to pay the cost of their own occupation. Up to March 1944. the Channel Islands paid over two million marks in occupation costs although later the Germans bore the brunt of the fortification costs. Hitler's government knew, too, how to imprison, enslave, execute and torture the virtually endless enemies of an Aryan-dominated Europe. "Shoot everyone who gives you a black look', he once remarked, and his personal responsibility for such decrees as the Final Solution, hostage-taking, and commando extermination is well known. All F ü hrer orders increased and never decreased suffering. Gradually the powers of the Gestapo and SS prevailed until much of Europe, in Michel's famous phrase, 'became a prison until such time as it became a graveyard".
But in day to day administration Hitler's empire was an administrative jungle. Rival individuals and organizations jockeyed for power, and systems created for one purpose were soon overturned by some new F ü hre r order, or Reich authority responsible only to himself. Each Western country had a different regime. The Channel Isles were in the war zone, and could not have a civilian government, or even the presence and help of Switzerland, the British protecting power during the war. The Islands therefore had a military government, and eventually became four fortresses with a resident civilian population.
Those who arrived in charge of the occupying forces in June 1940 were temporary commanders, and their rule lasted eleven weeks. Major Albrecht Lanz on Guernsey and Captain Erich Gussek on Jersey were, however, responsible for issuing on 2 and 8 July the ordinances regulating the German government, stating the Germans had 'taken over the military power of the Islands', leaving the existing civilian government and law courts intact, but subject to veto by the commandant. Sark was to be automatically included in any Guernsey orders, while Alderney had no government until February 1941, and no formal commander until July that year. The ease with which the Germans accomplished their task, and their belief that they were going on to the mainland before long, meant that the early months of occupation as far as the
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